re: 2017 Football Recruiting Thread ["N$D Bryant" Edition]

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Since 2015, there hasn’t been much continuity for defensive backs. The first defensive coordinator Carlito Gonzalez committed to in August 2015, Will Muschamp, split to become the head coach at South Carolina after a season. Defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson went with him. Gonzalez’s next secondary coach, Wesley McGriff, was in and out after one year on the Plains, as well.

All parties have been exchanged with valuable replacements Kevin Steele and Greg Brown, but that’s a lot of change for a teenager.

Gonzalez stayed true to his commitment through all of it. That’s his nature.

“I’ve always been loyal since I’ve been young. Even when my friends got me in trouble, they wouldn’t even lie to my dad. I would be the one to lie to my dad,” Gonzalez said. “It’s just loyalty, and it pays off in the end.”

It hasn’t been easy, he admits, especially during the most recent switch.

Gonzalez always liked Muschamp and Robinson, but they came along so early in his process that it seemed easier to move past when that duo darted for Columbia. McGriff was the night-light through the remaining darkness in Gonzalez’s recruitment. McGriff reassured Gonzalez that Auburn was a no-brainer for him. That move stung.

But it only took one meeting with Brown to convince him that Gus Malzahn will continue to hire the right position coaches for him.

“He’s a very nice person, very down-to-earth guy. He coached Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Landon Collins. When I found that out I was like, ‘Wow,’ because those are two players I look up to, and they’re both safeties,” Gonzalez said. “He’s just a very down-to-earth person, and he’s cool all the time. I feel like it’s going to be great.”

The 6-foot, 190-pound safety is one of Auburn’s most diamond-in-the-rough gems in the 2017 class. He looks built to step on an SEC football field already. His hard-hitting highlight tape shows Gonzalez will bring a head-chasing mentality to the league for years.

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