re: 2018 Football Recruiting Thread -- Final OP Update Edition

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OFFENSIVE LINE

Jenkins is the only in-state prospect and Auburn is after him. Alabama recently hosted four-star Utah standout Penei Sewell and got good reviews. Warner Robins, Ga., four-star Trey Hill recently visited Auburn. IMG Academy standouts Daniel Faalele and Reuben Unije are also two to watch. Alabama is still after five-star Jackson Carman. Michigan commit Emil Ekiyor is set to visit Alabama.

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LINEBACKER

Alabama and Auburn are both after 2019 five-star elite Owen Pappoe, making his second trip. JJ Peterson has Alabama leading with Auburn right behind. Auburn is chasing South Carolina for Channing Tindall. Micah Parsons is a five-star DE/OLB that Alabama is after following his Penn State decommit.

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Jamil Muhammad has been busy making impressions and increasing the odometer reading this summer.

The James Clemens 2019 quarterback camped at Auburn, Vanderbilt and Louisville as he looks to add to an offer list that already features Mississippi State.

"It was a great experience," Muhammad said Tuesday during the Alabama A&M 7-on-7 in Huntsville. "I think the best one I went to was Auburn. I liked the coaching staff and the campus; all that was real nice.

"Coach (Gus) Malzhan and the offensive coordinator (Chip Lindsey) like my arm. They said keep on working and that they'll contact me after Sept. 1."

Muhammad (6-foot-2, 208 pounds) said he will attend Alabama's camp in July after getting an invitation from Tide offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

Muhammad took over as James Clemens' starter in Week 3 last season. He went through typical first-season growing pains and didn't put up eye-catching stats (503 yards, four TDs and seven picks). But his raw talent was obvious, so much so that his first offer, Ole Miss on April 24, came as a defensive back.

"Ole Miss saw my tape and how I could run. I guess they needed a DB," Muhammad said.

College teams have been looking at Muhammad more and more as a passer. The Mississippi State offer came on May 8. "I have a real good relationship with their coaches," Muhammad said. Jacksonville State, Samford and Alabama A&M have also offered.

James Clemens coach Wade Waldrop said that Muhammad had an incredible offseason. Muhammad concurred, but feels there's still plenty of work ahead.

"I'm real hard on myself," he said. "So, sometimes it's like I'm getting down, but I'm really not. Like, today, I made a couple of mistakes that I shouldn't have made. It's just stuff that I need to work on. I need to work on my mental game; that's what I'm working on the most."

Having a year under his belt has proved to be a confidence boost for Muhammad.

"I feel a lot more comfortable," he said. "It's kind of like I'm not worried about other teams. I'm not really competing with anybody. I'm competing with myself and trying to get better every day."

Among Muhammad's backfield mates will be senior Devon Atkinson, who missed last season with an ACL tear after rushing for 1,360 yards as a sophomore.

"Devon is my boy; he's a game changer," Muhammad said. "He brings a lot to the offense; a whole other dimension as a running back goes. You can just give him the ball and he'll run up the hole, and he'll come out of the backfield and make catches."

Muhammad expects the Jets' offense to be formidable, but he also anticipates big things from a defense that lost five starters to college, including three to the SEC.

"People are sleeping on our defense," he said. "Our defense is going to be something to reckon with, so watch out for them."

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Justin Fields' connection to Auburn is one of the greatest players in college football history.

The 6-foot-3, 221-pound Fields, the nation's No. 3 overall recruit and a five-star recruit, played for a 7on7 team that was coached by Cam Newton, the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers who won the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner and national championship as Auburn's quarterback.

"I'm very close with Cam," Fields said Thursday at The Opening in Beaverton, Ore. "We used to (communicate) every week, but now that the 7on7 thing is over, we've stopped a little bit. He's talked to me about recruiting some.

"He doesn't really lean towards any school. He wants me to make the best decision for me and my family."

Fields is not close to making a decision, following his decommitment from Penn State. He has visited Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Georgia since then. He may have made secret visits to other schools.

"I think I've been there once or twice," Fields said of Auburn. "Just to see how well I fit in with the players and coaches. Last time I went up there, I talked to a few players and got to see how they fit in and why they chose Auburn."

Fields has offers from all over the country, just recently adding USC. He is ranked as the nation's top dual-threat quarterback. Fields threw for 2,770 yards and 23 touchdowns and rushed for 1,176 yards and 15 scores for Harrison High School last season.

Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey started recruiting Fields when he was at Arizona State.

"Coach Chip, he's a big family guy and I love the way he coaches," Fields said. "I just like how Auburn is really family-oriented."

Auburn has a commitment from Jacksonville, Fla., quarterback Joey Gatewood, but wants to add another one. Presumed starter Jarrett Stidham will be a junior in 2018 and a young quarterback will have a chance to make his case for Auburn's quarterback of the future.

"I feel like I fit in pretty good with them and with Coach (Gus) Malzahn has done with those quarterbacks in the past, I feel like I fit in good," Fields said.

Fields doesn't anticipate having a decision before his senior season.

"I wish I had a leader, to be honest, but I have no idea," Fields said.

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MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. — Auburn football true freshman Jordyn Peters used to scare his mom by taking his time getting up from a tackle. But Natalie Burt knew something was different about one particular hit on her son in the spring of 2013.

Four years before Peters signed with Auburn as a hard-hitting 3-star safety, he was a rising ninth-grader already playing running back on the Muscle Shoals varsity team. On the final play of the Trojans’ spring game, Peters sped into the end zone for a 60-yard touchdown.

But well after he crossed the goal line, Peters crumpled to the turf — the victim of a late hit from behind.

“The boy tackled him like three or four yards in the end zone,” Burt told SEC Country. “There was no need to tackle him. So the time’s run out. Everybody’s getting their stuff to go and didn’t pay attention that Jordyn didn’t get up. So I was the only one watching, and I was thinking, ‘Jordyn, get up. Jordyn, get up.’ ”

Burt remembered how her son used to lay on the ground for a long time after a tackle in pee-wee football. Peters would stay motionless until a coach came onto the field and ripped him back to his feet by his oversized shoulder pads.

His mom wasn’t a fan of those play breaks.

“He’d do that like three or four times a game,” Burt said. “I finally got him at home and said, ‘If you aren’t dead or bleeding or have something coming out of your body, you better get your butt up and off of that grass so I know you’re OK. Don’t lay out there like that.’ ”

So when Peters did that several years later in his first taste of high school football, Burt knew something was seriously wrong. Peters felt it, too, when a swarm of coaches and players crowded around him in the end zone.

“I can replay the play in my head right now — how I got tackled, how I felt,” Peters told SEC Country. “I can remember when I got tackled, I just spit my mouthpiece out on the way to the ground. It was like, zoom, in slow motion. Then my coaches and teammates were standing over me like I was dead or something.

“I didn’t know what was happening. I woke up the next morning, and my knee was like the size of my head.”

The late hit tore Peters’ patella tendon and cracked the growth plate in his knee. The injury was a huge setback for the young playmaker who seemed primed for a fast start at Muscle Shoals High School.

As Peters describes it, Burt was “all torn up” about her son’s injury. He experienced some bumps and bruises from playing football before, and he still had a couple of scars from horseplay as a kid.

“That was our first big injury, and it was a really scary one,” Burt said.

Peters underwent surgery and was sidelined for several months. Even after rehab, doubt crept into his mind. He wasn’t sure if his promising high school football career was over before it even began.

“When I got back, I still didn’t feel the same,” Peters said. “[Making cuts] off that leg and stuff was weird. I was thinking, like, ‘Am I going to keep playing? Am I going to be able to overcome this?’ ”

Several years later, Peters can say he did more than just overcome the freak injury. He even looks back at it as a blessing in disguise.

“I thank God that I could recover and overcome that to get where I am now,” Peters said. “You never know, without the injury, I might not be who I am now. I don’t know, something else might’ve happened. So I thank God for it.”

Peters went on to start for three consecutive years in the secondary at Muscle Shoals, splitting time between safety and cornerback. The 6-foot-1 defensive back racked up 15 scholarship offers during his time with the Trojans, including ones from Louisville, Michigan, Ole Miss and Virginia Tech.

But Peters decided to play for Auburn, his lifelong favorite school. As a young offensive player, he dreamed of running for long touchdowns that would make Jordan-Hare Stadium roar. Peters said he wanted to be like Cam Newton, breaking tackles and diving into the end zone for the Tigers.

“He kept an open mind during recruiting, but I kept thinking, ‘I don’t know how he can pick anywhere else besides Auburn,’ ” Burt said. “He grew up telling us all the time that he was going to play for Auburn.”

Now, as a safety, he joins a position of immediate need for the Tigers. Coaches say he has the skill set to make an early impact.

“He’s long,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said in February. “I think he’s going to even grow and get bigger. He’s a very good tackler, a very physical guy. We’re very excited about Jordan and think he’s got a chance to be an outstanding player.”

Peters was a relentless ballhawk in high school, making a name for himself on the recruiting circuits with huge hits and a high motor.

All of that, Peters says, stems from the setback he experienced before his freshman year of high school. The new Auburn safety plays every single snap like it’s his last — because he knows everything can change with one out-of-nowhere moment.

“That just pushes me and motivates me more,” Peters said. “I came back from that. I can come back from anything.”

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Justin Fields has been recruiting topic No. 1 since he de-committed from Penn State.

In that time, he’s visited at least five programs — Georgia, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Alabama. Rumors have flown all over the place, but SEC Country went straight to the source at The Opening in Oregon to see how Fields perceives his own recruitment.

Per his conversation with SEC Country’s Chris Kirschner, the rumors all over the Internet appear to be much clearer than Fields’ own outlook.

“I have no idea. I wish I had a leader. I have to be honest. But I don’t have any idea,” Fields said. “(I will) probably not (decide in the summer) because I have no idea. I wish I knew where I wanted to go.”

Most believe Georgia, Auburn, Florida and Florida State are the four programs to watch closely, though Fields informed SEC Country that a recent visit to Alabama has the Crimson Tide firmly in the picture now, as well.

Going forward, the game for each program will be finding out what advantages that program has over the others involved.

In Auburn’s case, it might be Fields’ perception of the close-knit environment. He was recruited by offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey when Lindsey was still at Arizona State. Fields said that prior relationship doesn’t necessarily give Auburn an extra edge, but his relationship with Lindsey and other coaches on staff might.

“Coach Chip is a big family guy, and I love the way he coaches,” Fields said. “I just love how Auburn is really family oriented. I feel like I fit in good with them with what coach (Gus) Malzahn has done in the past with quarterbacks like me.”

When Fields says, “quarterbacks like me,” the immediate reaction by Auburn fans is Cam Newton.

Newton’s recruitment was the last time Auburn courted a 6-foot-5 dual-threat quarterback with a rocket arm and running ability that can alter a game. Conveniently for the Tigers, Newton has served as a mentor for Fields during much of the recruiting process since Fields plays quarterback for Newton’s 7-on-7 team.

Fields doesn’t want to overplay Auburn’s chance just because of his mentor, but Newton’s relationship with the Tigers’ program will only assist when decision time arrives.

“I’m very close to Cam. We used to communicate every week, but since 7-on-7 is over, we kind of stopped a little bit. But, he’s talked to me about recruiting,” Fields said. “He doesn’t really lean toward Auburn. Of course you know he went there. He doesn’t lean toward any school. He wants me to make the best decision for me and my family.”

With Fields saying he has “no idea” where he wants to go, it’s possible this recruitment stretches past the summer. He hasn’t set an official timeline, but said he will “probably” take his five official visits at the beginning of his senior season to help him get the situation out of the way as soon as possible.

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TigerPaw1

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Keith new class projection is a bit interesting. Only 1 OT like JLee predicted a few days ago.

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Justin Fields meets The Opening reporters

He’s the talk of the town, and he’ll be exactly that until the day he commits.

Justin Fields has become the center of the college football recruiting world. That especially held true on Thursday when quarterbacks arrived at The Opening for the Elite 11 finals. After weeks of post-de-commitment visits, Fields made it to Oregon and opened up to reporters about the hectic past and similar foreseeable future.

He provided plenty of content for SEC Country from several different team angles.

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4-star cornerback Jaycee Horn will decide between South Carolina and Alabama. Just before he narrowed it down to his top 2, I put in a prediction for the Crimson Tide. Rarely does Alabama miss on a top defensive back target it wants.

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