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

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At last weekend's The Opening Atlanta Regional, one player looked better physically than perhaps anyone else on hand -- Harold Joiner. But the standout from Birmingham (Ala.) Mountain Brook also proved he has skill to go with it. After a strong showing the 6-feet-4, 218-pound Joiner got a nice ratings bump and now is the No. 2 recruit for 247Sports in the state of Alabama. Why the bump? What abilities make him a unique recruit? In this recording, Keith Niebuhr and Kipp Adams break down Joiner's game -- and his recruitment.

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Four-star receiver Justyn Ross of Phenix City (Ala.), the No. 1 recruit in the state of Alabama, arrived at Auburn for an unofficial visit Saturday morning.

He's in town to watch the Tigers scrimmage and meet with coaches.

This is at least his third visit to Auburn this year alone.

The 6-feet-4, 197-pound Ross is the No. 4 receiver and No. 31 overall recruit nationally in the 247Sports Composite.

Right now, the 247Sports Crystal Ball favors Auburn, but Alabama is very much in the mix -- and possibly others. Clemson offered last week and he hopes to visit that program soon.

Ross told AuburnUndercover.com last weekend he might not announce his college commitment until National Signing Day.

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April has arrived and with it comes one of the busiest recruiting stretches for Auburn fooball.

The A-Day game is April 8.

The NCAA evaluation period beings April 15. That's when Tiger coaches can start hitting the road to check out prospects in person.

New offers will go out. Recruits will visit.

And, commitments could come.

As of April 1, the Tigers have four commits and the No. 18 class ranking.

Here are some notable storylines for April.

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Will Auburn decide to take a second quarterback in the class?

It looked as if the Tigers would only sign one quarterback but then Tyler Queen decided he would transfer. That's something we mentioned as a possibilty awhile ago and it recently came to fruition. That means Auburn very well could look to add a second quarterback to the class.

They already have Joey Gatewood, a talented 4-star prospect from Jacksonville (Fla.) Bartram Trail, commited.

First, the staff has to decide what to do. If it's decided to sign two, everyone will have to see how that impacts Gatewood. He might care. He might not care. Time will tell. One thing we know is he loves Auburn and has recruited hard for the Tigers.

If two is the number, who could Auburn target?

The three obvious candidates would be Penn State commit Justin Fields, Ohio State commit Emory Jones and Gerry Bohanon of Arkansas. Fields and Jones are from Georgia -- and do have interest in the Tigers. Bohanon is visiting Auburn this weekend. At last check, the Tigers were recruiting him as an athlete.

Another name to know: Cameron Rising. He's an Oklahoma commit from California who knows Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey well.

But ...

We'll cross that bridge if it get there.

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Which new targets will emerge?

Starting April 15, Auburn coaches can hit the road and evaluate recruits. That's always a time of year when new targets emerge. Visiting those schools also gives the Auburn staff a feel for what kind of shot they have with prospects.

Watching recruits practice in person can sometimes earn players an offer and sometimes can cause a coach -- if unimpressed -- to look elsewhere.

All told, the Tiges have a cominbed 168 evaluation days available for the entire staff. You must use them wisely.

Per the NCAA, a coach "may use one evaluation to assess the prospective student-athlete’s athletics ability and one evaluation to assess the prospective student-athlete’s academic qualifications during this evaluation period."

One other note: The head coach can't recruit on the road in the spring.

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One week from Saturday, 3-star receiver Anthony Schwartz of Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage will visit Auburn for A-Day.

On Friday, though, he ran a race those in attendance won't soon forget.

That's when Schwartz, the defending state champion in the 100 and 200 meters, shocked the Pepsi Florida Relays crowd by running the 100 meters in 10.15 seconds.

How good was that?

Well, it broke the event record of 10.17 seconds set by former Gators football and track star Jeff Dempts back when he was in high school (2008).

Per per FloTrack, Schwartz's time is the fastest 100 time ever recorded in March at the high school level, the sixth-best all-time time for a high schooler and the second-best time for a high school junior, falling just .01 seconds short of the best.

Here's a clip of the race ...

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