re: 2019 Football Recruiting Thread - Auburn Goes 4/7 & Land Brothers

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Elite DT QB that can run for a 1000+ yards with 10-15 TD's and can throw for another 2000-2500 Yds with 20-25 TD's.

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Auburn contending for under-mentioned Georgia athlete

Here’s a top-10 list of note and a recruitment to keep an eye on the next few months.

Zion Puckett is listed as the No. 36 wide receiver in the country and the No. 227 overall prospect nationally. Those marks make him the 25th-ranked player in Georgia.

I bring those specific rankings up for a few reasons:

- Auburn doesn’t necessarily view Puckett as a wide receiver. It’s not that the Tigers don’t think he could become a solid receiver. Simply, Auburn views Puckett as one of the highest cornerbacks on its board.

- As a result of that status on Auburn’s board, he is neither seen as the 227th overall prospect or the 25th prospect in Georgia. He’s much higher in the minds of Tigers decision makers.

His top 10 included Alabama, Auburn, Duke, Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Carolina, Stanford, Tennessee and Texas A&M. Puckett’s relationship with Auburn cornerbacks coach Marcus Woodson is among the strongest. His return visits to the Plains in the near future should be closely followed.

Also of note: Puckett plays for the same Cam Newton 7-on-7 team with players committed to or linked to Auburn such as Bo Nix, Owen Pappoe, Jaylin Simpson, George Pickens and Jashawn Sheffield. Those relationships won’t define the decision, but they can’t hurt.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Rivals 3 Stripe Camp presented by adidas made it’s debut in Music City, and the stars came out to compete. This camp produced one of the largest number of invitees to the Rivals100 Five-Star Star Challenge presented by adidas, which also made the MVP battles very competitive.

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ADDITIONAL FIVE-STAR INVITES

Bo Nix

The No. 1 ranked quarterback prospect in the 2019 class did not win his position MVP award, but he definitely showed why he is highly-ranked and heavily-recruited. Camps do not showcase how well a quarterback can read a defense, how he escapes pressure, etc., but it does show how he gets the ball from Point A to Point B, and Nix does that about as well as anyone. He has plenty of arm strength and on this day the Auburn commit was spot-on with his accuracy as well to earn a Five-Star Challenge invite.

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NASHVILLE – The Rivals adizero Combine rolled into Tennessee on Saturday, with nearly 1,300 athletes turning out to record their times and try to earn a shot at returning for Sunday’s Rivals 3 Stripe Camp event. We break down which players earned their invites and give an insight into their recruitment.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Rivals 3 Stripe Camp Series presented by adidas rolled into the Nashville area on Saturday, with prospects from 10 different states converging at Pope John Paul II High School to compete in the event. With so much talent on hand of course there were plenty of noteworthy performances on the field as well as plenty newsworthy items to come out of media availability. Here are the five of the day’s biggest takeaways.

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MISSISSIPPI — The mission was clear: Get to as many top prospects in Mississippi in a short period of time as possible. But it wouldn’t be easy. For scheduling purposes, most of the time available came last weekend. And as you know, teenagers often do their own thing when not in school.

Originally, myself and Hank South of Bama Online planned to see 5-star linebacker Nakobe Dean of Horn Lake (Miss.) two Fridays ago. But he was out of town. Another target we wanted to visit, 4-star athlete Brandon Turnage of Oxford Lafayette, had a track meet down near Jackson. That got us off to a bad start. We were 0-for-2 out of the gate.

Saturday morning, our fortunes seemed to turn when 4-star defensive lineman Jaren Handy told us he was headed to Starkville. So were we. But before meeting us, Handy went to Mississippi State to see the football staff. Once there, he had to put us on the back burner. Understood but for us, it was another fail.

Would we continue to strike outor would our fortunes turn? Fortunately, everything worked ou.

About 45 minutes from Starkville, we met 4-star Mississippi State defensive end commit Charles Moore at his family’s home. As the rain fell, Moore gave us some great insight into his recruitment. We met his mother and a niece. And as we left, Moore told us, “Hey, next time, I’m cooking for you guys.” Deal.

The hospitality shown to us by Moore was not uncommon on this trip.

Most of the top prospects eschewed their weekend plans to accommodate us and several welcomed us into their homes. In Meridian, Ole Miss defensive end commit Jamond Gordon sat with us in the driveway, let us use his restroom and then emerged with a puppy. Hank happened to mention that his wife loved puppies. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. But a few hours later, Gordon, remembering that, sent more photos of the puppy for Hank to share with his wife.

Later that day, on the outskirts of tiny Taylorsville (pop. 1,286), we met 4-star defensive end Byron Young and his parents, two of the sweetest people you’ll ever come across. Other members of his family lived in the property around the Young’s yard. They told me they had been there dating back as long as anyone in the family could recall.

While we interviewed Young, word came that tight end Tyler Fromm had committed to Auburn. I wasn’t happy. We were so far out in the country, the signal on my phone was weak. I ran to our rental car, popped open my computer and began pecking away. As the pages took minutes at a time to load, frustration set in. I’m not proud to say, but I punched the steering wheel a few times. While this was happening, Hank kept Young’s parents entertained.

Finally, I finished my story just in time to apologize to Young’s mom and dad before they had to leave. As I went to thank Byron, he showed me the puppies his dog had recently had. While they huddled around this 6-feet-4, 285-pound mountain of a man, I decided to get some photos.

As the day ended, we felt were back on path. But Sunday in a state where so many go to church would present some challenges.

Sunday morning, we reached Handy, who this time agreed to meet us at his family’s home in New Augusta, which is about 20 miles southeast of Hattiesburg. At about the same time, 4-star buck Derrick Hall said he’d be free early in afternoon down in the coastal town of Gulfport. It was risky. We previously planned to meet up with 4-star defensive end Nathan Pickering near Collins, just northwest of Hattiesburg, late in the afternoon. If we went to Gulfport, we would have a small window there.

We decided to chance it — and it worked out great. Hall, his mother and grandmother were as welcoming as could be. They seemed surprised -- and humbled -- we had come so far to interview their son. Hall talked football with us, but also academics. He wants to be an engineer. His mom makes sure he doesn’t slack in class, he told us. Not long after we were back on the road, Hall sent us a “thank you” message, something that just doesn’t happen much.

A couple hours later, outside of a Huddle House in Collins, we spent time with Pickering, his mother, his sister and her son. His mother mentioned that she was from nearby Jones County and that her parents, her grand-parents, great-grandparents and more had called Jones County home for at least a couple centuries.

From there, we were off to Batesville, about an hour south of Memphis, to get some rest. During the trip, our mutual affection for history had us checking Wikipedia often to get acquainted with the state’s past, the good and the bad. So immersed in learning about Mississippi, not once did we even turn on the radio. The state’s beauty and charm is underrated, we concluded, and we particularly were fond of the tree-lined drive north of Jackson on Interstate 55.

Monday morning, we made up for our two earlier misses by grabbing Dean and teammate Raydarious Jones at Horn Lake, then getting Turnage over in Oxford. Then we headed to Alabama. When all was said and done, we had gone down and up the length of the state and zig-zagged our way 1,002 miles on the roads in Mississippi.

We learned a great deal about the recruitments of several top prospects, we ate great meals in great towns and learned much about the state and its people. We hope it becomes and annual trip.

To the prospects of Mississippi, thank you.

Here’s a quick recap from the road ….

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-Three-star DE Jamond Gordon of Meridian: An Ole Miss commit, Gordon seems firm. But he said if one team has a shot to knock off the Rebels it would be Auburn. He visited the Tigers earlier this year and plans to return for Big Cat Weekend.

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-4-star defensive end Jaren Handy of New Augusta Perry Central: Handy has Alabama in the No. 2 spot but wouldn't say who his No. 1 is. There's a chance it could be Auburn, which he plans to visit again June 2. According to Handy there is just something different about Auburn that he likes.

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