Recruiting Battles Part 2

As with everything this last couple weeks last night, everything is more speculation. But at least last night was positive speculation.

One site I regularly read suggested that a source has claimed Marcus Lattimore is leaning heavily to Auburn. The same site said that Shon Coleman has emerged from his Alabama visit not wearing any hounds-tooth, so he appears to still be relatively solid to Auburn.

The same confidence is still coming from the South Carolina side regarding Lattimore, so I'd have to believe this one is really as much of a toss up as ever.

Arkansas DT Byran Jones may announce today, or may wait until Monday. He is definitely a toss up, but based simply on recruiting this year, hopefully knows how much more successful he can be at Auburn.

DT Jeffrey Whitaker will announce Monday.

All I know is this stuff is going to give me a heart condition. I need to lay off the recruiting for awhile.

Recruiting Battles Part 1

None of this is inside information of any kind, nor do I have any inside sources. It's simply my view of the recruiting world through my orange-and-blue glasses.

Shon Coleman - OT, Olive Branch, MS

When Coleman committed back on April 18, 2009, few Auburn fans could've guessed what a highly rated and sought after prospect he would become. With Auburn replacing four starting offensive lineman after the 2010 season, OL was one of the biggest needs of this year's class.

With the early editions of guys like Coleman and Chad Slade, some fans wondered why Auburn wasn't able to attract more highly rated lineman, especially with the lure of early playing time giving the coaching staff a distinct advantage.

Jeff Grimes and Trooper Taylor, Coleman's primary recruiters, must have known what they were talking about, because it was after his committment that Coleman began his steady climb up the recruiting rankings. Soon he was moved to a 4-star recruit on Rivals, and the #1 prospect in the state of Mississippi.

After a strong performance in practices and during the Army All-American Game, Coleman reached his personal summit, a 5-star ranking and recognition as the #22 overall prospect in the entire country.

In the past couple weeks, Coleman has reaffirmed his committment to Auburn while at the same time promising to go on five official visits. How someone can firm their committment and soften it at the same time is beyond me.

Visits to Ole Miss and Arkansas have already taken place. Coleman is currently visiting Bama and will head to Miami next. Some Auburn fans have accepted the fact that Coleman is visiting the Crimson and White as a sign he is definitely not headed to Auburn.

In my opinion, it would be very difficult to take a young man who has been committed for 8 months and turn him in the matter of a couple of days. Hopefully Shon remembers which team not only gives him the best chance to play early, but also which one offered him a chance to join their team before he was rated as one of the best linemen in the country.

Right now, Auburn has the nations #1 OL class according to Rivals.com. I look for it to stay that way, and until Coleman himself changes my opinion, I think he'll be sending in a LOI to Auburn next Wednesday.

Signing Day Approaches

In a little over a week, National Signing Day will finally be here. This is a unique day, when high school football players bring great joy to their respective fanbases by signing their National Letters of Intent.

Auburn currently sits in the top 10 of every major recruiting service, and is aiming to possibly finish with their best recruiting class of all time. Whatever happens, I and many others who are obsessed with this recruiting game will be on the edge of their seats until those LOIs start to roll in.

Here's a couple names to look out for on NSD, and those who could either make Auburn fans happy or break their hearts next week:

DE Corey Lemonier

- No one has any idea how to really pronounce this guy's last name. We'll find out soon.

- Ranked the #3 DE by Rivals.com and the #35 overall prospect in the country.

- Has a 5-star ranking by Scout.com but is their #7 DE.

- Rivals.com analyst Barton Simmons predicted in a chat today that Lemonier will pledge to Florida State, but Jeffrey Lee of AuburnSports.com thinks otherwise.

- Auburn, FSU, and Miami are the 3 finalists.

RB Marcus Lattimore

- All Auburn fans know this guy, who Malzahn and co. are attempting to make their 2nd 5-star running back in this class.

- Ranked as the #1 running back and a 5-star by Rivals.com and Scout.com

- Will choose between Auburn and South Carolina in a ceremony at his church on February 2nd.

- Insiders from both AU and USC believe Lattimore is headed their way.

- Right now, I have to give USC the edge, simply because they are the in-state school, and ML can be the star of the show at that school.

- If he heads to Auburn, could combine with Michael Dyer to form one of the best running back tandems in the SEC.

DT Jeffrey Whitaker

- Huge, disruptive guy from Warner Robins, GA.

- After Michael Thornton dropped Auburn from consideration, Whitaker became an even bigger need for the Tigers.

- Ranked as the #5 DT and #54 overall prospect in the country by Rivals.com. Ranked as the #11 DT by Scout.com

- Took an official visit to Georgia last weekend, and will go to Miami this weekend.

- In-state Dawgs will be very hard to beat for Whitaker, but hopefully Auburn will get it done.

These are three of the biggest recruits that Auburn still has left. Along with DT Byran Jones, Whitaker could form an excellent combo for the Tigers, and solve a lot of the depth problems that Tracy Rocker's unit faced this year.

Another guy to watch is WR Markeith Ambles. He is rated a 5-star by Rivals.com. There were rumors going around today that he had committed to Southern Cal, but these have not been confirmed. Auburn will try to convince him to take an official visit this coming weekend. If Auburn loses anyone from their current commitments, Ambles could become a big priority.

One guy that people have written off lately is our old buddy, RB Lache Seastrunk of Temple High School in Temple, Texas. He is expected to commit tomorrow afternoon at his school. I think he's going to Oregon, but who knows, crazier things have happened. With big schools dropping Lache left and right, along with his supposed flop at the Army All-American Game have some Tigers convinced that this is not the right guy for them anyway. It will certainly be very interesting to see how his roller-coaster recruitment finishes up.

War Eagle!!

Alabama wins the MNC

So last night really sucked. I had to sit back and watch as Alabama won a national title against the Texas Longhorns. Since Colt McCoy got hurt on the 5th play of the game, we'll never know what would have happened had he been able to play the entire time. For a guy who never missed a game in 4 years at Texas, he sure picked a heck of a time to go down. So it goes.

However, since I'm an optimist, we'll say that Texas would have won with Colt, and won big. Therefore, this game doesn't count and Bama has won nothing in my mind. There ya go.

But enough about the elephants, what does the near future hold for our Auburn Tigers? Currently, our recruiting class is ranked #3 in the nation by Rivals.com. After the addition of 5-star QB Cam Newton, who starts classes at Auburn on Monday, the Tigers have filled a void that has existed for many years. Chris Todd did a great job and did everything in his power to win while he was at Auburn, but Coach Malzahn is no doubt pumped to have such an elite athlete to run his offense.

Right now, Auburn is close to or at the top for many elite prospects. These include, DT's Jeffrey Whitaker, Mike Thornton, and Byran Jones, DE Corey Lemonier, RB Marcus Lattimore, and OL Eric Mack and James Stone. Should Auburn close with several of these prospects, we could be looking at the #1 recruiting class in the country.

Before we print the infamous "Got Recruits?" shirts that our friends in Tuscaloosa busted out a few years ago, Auburn fans need to remember that recruiting is an inexact science. But opposed to the previous coaching staff, which forgot to recruit for a few years, this is definitely a breath of fresh air.

But hey, it's been awhile since Auburn has been #1 in the country in anything related to football, so if it happens let's embrace it. Hopefully I will see you at Toomer's Corner on National Signing Day. There's a lot of work to be done, but things are looking up my friends.

Oh yeah, in case you didn't hear we beat Northwestern, 38-35 in the Outback Bowl. While nerve-racking, it was totally awesome.

War Eagle!!

D-Day is Here

So Alabama plays in the National Title game tonight against Texas. It sucks either way you look at it, so there's really no point trying to find any positives from the game.

Like all good Auburn fans, I hope Alabama gets killed. There's no state or SEC pride here, just good old fashioned hate from me. The fact that James Willis, possibly the biggest traitor of all the time, has an opportunity to win a national title tonight sickens me.

But don't worry, Auburn currently has the #3 recruiting class in the nation according to Rivals, so help is on the way. Stay strong and keep the faith my friends.

Eat it Alabama.

War Eagle!!