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

Melters, Barton on 247 put up a national article titled 'As Signing Day nears, biggest 'what-ifs' in recent memory' with "Auburn's insane LB corps that wasn't tops the list." We are good on LBs now, but for those that desire going below 32F:

quote:

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There may be three first-round linebackers taken in the 2017 NFL Draft out of the SEC. None of them played at Auburn. All of them almost did.

Auburn was the first to offer Jarrad Davis out of south Georgia and the spring before his senior season the Tigers landed his commitment. But Florida and its hot shot assistant coach Dan Quinn capitalized on the firing of Gene Chizik, got Davis on campus for a December official visit and got him flipped. He signed in February with the Gators.

Losing one to Florida will happen. Losing one to Vanderbilt is harder to swallow. That's what happened with Pinson Valley (Ala.) High School's Zach Cunningham. The four-star recruit landed an Alabama grey-shirt offer in November. A couple of weeks later, Auburn offered him a full ride. But both were coming in behind James Franklin's Vanderbilt staff that had been working the lanky linebacker all fall. Cunningham named Auburn his leader in late January after taking official visits to Oregon and Auburn but the following weekend's trip to Nashville sealed the deal for Vanderbilt.

And then there was the infamous saga of Reuben Foster. First was the move from Georgia to Auburn High School in Alabama. There was the commitment and decommitment from Alabama. There was the commitment and decommitment from Auburn. There was the Auburn tattoo and a flurry of January official and unofficial visits. But it all ended with Alabama getting Foster's LOI. A few years later, the former No. 7 player in the 247Sports Composite became the best linebacker in college football.

As if a class of 2013 linebacking corps of Cunningham, Davis and Foster isn't scary enough, Auburn also missed out on Rashaan Evans one year later. The next in line at Alabama chose the Tide on national signing day despite a 95 percent 247Sports Crystal Ball pointing towards Auburn. Like Foster, he was a product of Auburn High School.

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