Auburn Football Recruiting: Current Class Could Be Upset of the Year

I have to take my hat off to the Auburn coaches for this years recruiting class.  Right now, the Tigers are No. 4 in the country according to Rivals.  If this class holds up, the Tigers will be the big news on recruiting day because this is the upset of the year.

Auburn football coach Gene Chizik's head coaching record is 13-24.  Chizik had a fairly difficult time at Iowa State losing his last ten games in 2008.  Some flags were raised when  Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs hired Chizik because he had struggled so much.  Five wins in two years was brutal.

According to Charles Barkley, Chizik had the worst resume of all the coaches interviewed.  But Jacobs hired Chizik anyway.

But in 2009, coach Chizik got off to a great start winning his first five games and Auburn fans were thinking they should give Chizik another look.  About the time the fans got their heads up, the Tigers started falling again.

For the second time in two years, the Auburn Tigers lost their final five of six games and got beat by in-state rival Alabama and border rival Georgia.  Painful losses.  The Tigers hopeful season ended in a fifth place finish in the SEC West.

Some fans wondered if firing Tuberville was necessary.  Auburn University had to pay out $5 million to a head coach who isn't even coaching in the Plains.  Kind of an expensive way to do business.  In a state struggling economically, $5 million could have helped a lot of people out. 

Tuberville had no problem taking the big payout and walking away.  Tommy was tired of battling with the administration.  The athletic department and the football staff strongly disliked each other and everybody knew it.

In 2010, the promise to the recruits is you will get a chance to play in Gus Malzahn's offense.  Malzahn's offense worked the first half of the season and against smaller opponents like Ball State and Louisiana Tech.  Malzahn's type of offense works real well at the high school level.

Once the Tigers played the heart of the SEC, the system was too predictable.  LSU held the Tigers to 10 points and Kentucky 14.  The defense did not have enough depth for the offense to score so few points.

Malzahn would have to adjust to the college level.  Malzahn had much success at the high school level.  Prior to Auburn he had only coached at the college level for a total of three years.  His final three games at Arkansas were losses.  Gus moved on to Conference USA where the competition wasn't as fierce.

In 2009, it looked like things were fixed in the Plains.  And then came losses to Arkansas, LSU and Kentucky back to back.  A re-grouping for Ole Miss and then the dagger set in with good starts against Georgia and Alabama only to fall apart by the fourth quarter.

The best way to soothe the pain is to sign a top recruiting class. 

So the Tiger coaching staff hit the trail being creative in recruiting and showing high school players limos, promises of playing time and a lot of hope that things could be great in the Plains.

I'm still trying to connect the dots on how this group got a top notch recruiting class.  Hats off to the Auburn coaching staff and fans.