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re: 2019 Football Recruiting Thread - Auburn Goes 4/7 & Land Brothers
Posted on 2/8/18 at 11:22 am to RandySavage
Posted on 2/8/18 at 11:22 am to RandySavage
How close Auburn came to stealing WR Ja’Marr Chase from LSU (SECCountry)
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These aren’t always the stories fans want to read.
But they’re the ones that give the best picture of how hard these college decisions can be.
Four-star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase woke up the morning of his National Signing Day commitment with uncertainty remaining. He knew he’d be a Tiger. But in which state? At which school? The decision came down to Auburn and LSU, but ultimately the Metairie, La., native chose the in-state team.
His decision truly came down to the final moments.
“This morning when I woke up,” Chase told SEC Country. “The night before when I went to sleep, Auburn was on my mind. That’s where I wanted to go at first, but I had to follow my heart. I prayed about it. It’s been a hard few days coming back from my Auburn official, so I prayed on everything.”
In the end, family became a major factor.
Not that his family prevented him from going to Auburn, just the idea of having people close enough to attend most, if not all games, was too tough for Chase to pass up. Despite committing to Kansas and Florida throughout the process, Chase felt by the end of the process it made more sense to stay closer to home.
LSU gained from that choice.
“They just wanted to make sure they could make games and watch me play,” Chase said. “They couldn’t make every game at Auburn, so I thought about that and by them coming up there for every home game would be a 4-hour drive vs. LSU being a 1-hour drive. Them being closer will be better for them.”
Chase’s father, Jimmy, joined Ja’Marr on his official visit.
The Chases tried to come to the Plains on two previous occasions. Chase attempted to attend an Auburn home game toward the end of the season. He was injured during his Friday night game, which forced him to rearrange plans. Chase was scheduled for a Jan. 19 official visit to Auburn. That, too, had to be rescheduled.
To Jimmy Chase, as they searched for reasons to choose one, those previous trips felt like a telling omen.
“Auburn made a serious push at the end. They came on strong, but you have to understand that we didn’t have enough time with Auburn to build a relationship. Every time we were scheduled to go to Auburn, something came up,” Jimmy Chase said. “It was a sign more or less.”
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Posted on 2/8/18 at 11:23 am to TigerPaw1
Behind-the-scenes look into Auburn-relevant commitments on National Signing Day (SECCountry)
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3-star defensive lineman Caleb Johnson — Auburn
- Caleb Johnson didn’t expect to be an Auburn Tiger before the calendar turned to 2018. When I went to go see Johnson in September — shortly after putting him in my August class projection (humble brag) — all he wanted to talk about was Georgia and Tennessee. Those were the two schools he really liked. Those were the two schools he wanted to visit. As for Auburn, well, he didn’t know enough about that staff even though he’d visited there a few times and held an offer.
- Fast forward a couple weeks, Johnson started showing up on campus with more regularity, but it was almost exclusively for game days. That’s not always the best opportunity to get to know coaches because they’re doing their standard game day routines that involve recruiting after the game, which is generally a mad house. With five game visits in the 2017 season, Johnson became much more comfortable with the environment and atmosphere, but he was still yearning for more of a relationship with the coaching staff.
- That picked up in January. They weren’t making regular in-home visits, but Johnson set up an official visit. That’s when Auburn took the lead for good. Johnson and his mother spent a lot of time with the coaching staff, not just Rodney Garner, and the home feel started to creep in. It was Johnson’s last official visit, but he still didn’t know how scholarship space would shake out. In the end, Auburn came in and confirmed the spot. Johnson didn’t hesitate.
- Here’s a little anecdote on Johnson worth noting, as well. I spoke with a source after the Iron Bowl about defensive line prospects at that game intriguing to Auburn. The source rattled off a couple names there, but given the confidence at the time with Andres Fox — who was later accepted to Stanford — it was possible the Tigers didn’t add anymore. Right before the conversation concluded, I asked what the thought was on Caleb Johnson. The source stopped to prepare for a well-thought answer on the subject. In summation, Auburn was really high on Johnson: High character and supremely athletic for his position. Johnson was always a prospect Auburn planned to circle back around on if Fox went a different direction.
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