The Goat Pen

Obviously it's not.

Sammy Coates has declared for the NFL draft. Duke Williams is suspended, but at least he says he's coming back next year, which is huge if true.

That means our two passing weapons won't play tomorrow. With a drastically reduced pass attack, the Wisconsin D can stack the box against our running game, which will probably work.

They also have one of the best RB's we'll see all season, who will run at will against probably the worst defense in Auburn history.

Gentlemen, Auburn is in trouble.

AA?

I see that UNC hired Chizik as their DC. That's a good hire. He wasn't a very good HC, but he was a very good DC. Sorta like Muschamp.

If you're a school that's dealing with an enormous scandal, he's the man you want to prove to the world that you've cleaned up your act...er...uh...yeah

[youtube]EN_g7EYF-SI[/youtube]

Stay classy, Ducks.

Auburn hires Bama LB coach Lance Thompson, one of the best recruiters in the country. And unlike Chizik's great recruiters, Thompson can also coach up the players he recruits. He joins Travaris Robinson, Auburn grad, formerly Florida secondary coach, also one of the best recruiters in the country, and ALSO a great position coach.

This bodes well for our future. Who knows? We might even start getting good players from Auburn and Opelika high schools.

2015 (current) - #12
2014 - #9
2013 - #8t
2012- #10
2011 - #7
2010 - #4

Yeah, recruiting really sucks at AU...Look, you're not going to out-recruit Bama, even if you hire Saban and his entire staff. FSU has done great, but is still #7 with regard to overall % of 4/5 star recruits.

Auburn routinely outrecruited Bama with Dubose and Shula.

And good luck with Lance. He was getting a lot of heat here because despite great talent and depth, our LB corp has underperformed for at least two years.

AlabamAlum wrote:Auburn routinely outrecruited Bama with Dubose and Shula.

Oh I know, but those days are over. Saban has proven the power of recruiting.

Teams with the highest percentage of blue-chippers (from http://www.sbnation.com/college-footbal ... mpionships):

1. Bama
2. anOSU
3. USC
4. Notre Dame
5. LSU
6. Texas
7. FSU
8. Michigan
9. UF
10. Auburn
11. UGA

Now certainly half (at least) of those teams have underperformed but there's no surprise that 3 of the first 7 teams made the playoff either.

KeviNole wrote:2015 (current) - #12
2014 - #9
2013 - #8t
2012- #10
2011 - #7
2010 - #4

Yeah, recruiting really sucks at AU...Look, you're not going to out-recruit Bama, even if you hire Saban and his entire staff. FSU has done great, but is still #7 with regard to overall % of 4/5 star recruits.

I never said Auburn can't recruit. To the contrary, Chizik and his staff (particularly Trooper Taylor) were excellent recruiters. One of the reasons Malzahn has been successful is Chizik left him with a very full cupboard.

Chizik's problem wasn't recruiting, it was coaching. Like I said before, Muschamp, Thompson and Robinson seem to be great recruiters AND great coaches. That's a big improvement, particularly on defense, where we have sucked under 3 successive DC's. I am guardedly optimistic that our defense will significantly improve under this staff. I say "guardedly" because I also thought Van Gorder and Johnson would produce a better product. Their resumes looked great when we hired them.

AlabamAlum wrote:Auburn routinely outrecruited Bama with Dubose and Shula.

Which is part of the reason Dubose and Shula had short careers at Bama. Not as short as Price's, but still short.

AlabamAlum wrote:And good luck with Lance. He was getting a lot of heat here because despite great talent and depth, our LB corp has underperformed for at least two years.

When you had 2 whole losses this year, and you only won an SEC Championship but not a National Championship, it's clearly time to clean house. Nice problem to have.

Is Thompson getting reviled by Bama fans for going to Auburn? I remember when Bill Oliver did that, and listening to PfM's reaction at the time, I feared for his safety.

Damn, talk about prevarication. "Guardedly optimistic" that you will be "significantly better"?

Prof,

Most fans are very okay with Lance leaving. They would have been fine with Brother Bill leaving, too, if they had known the backstory.

what is the backstory?

That he was a manipulative, power-hungry underling who made frequent trips to the AD's office to tattle on Stallings. And that Stallings guaranteed him that because of that, he'd make sure that he never became HBC at Bama. So, Bill left and went to Auburn (where it's rumored he did the same shenanigans with Terry Bowden).

Or that's the rumor.