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

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LSU

The Tigers were well-represented at Thursday’s event in the form of five-star commitments Derek Stingley Jr. and Kardell Thomas. Stingley was his usual dominant self, playing both ways all day long and helping his team to the 7-on-7 championship. Stingley isn’t as loud or outspoken as some of the other top defensive backs in the country, but he let his play do the talking all day long. Thomas was also dominant during the lineman challenge, winning rep after rep as usual, showing improved technique to go along with his trademark strength.

Tigers wide receiver target Trey Palmer also put on quite a show, taking home the Gatorade award after being one of the most engaged players from start to finish. The class of 2019 is loaded in the state of Louisiana, and Tigers fans should be very happy about the potential of landing several elite players to go along with Stingley and Thomas.

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FLORIDA STATE

The most important FSU-related event was the commitment of Derrick McLendon, who committed to the Seminoles at the camp. A 6-foot-4, 225-pound prospect, McLendon is FSU’s 13th commit in the 2019 class, but the program’s solid showing didn’t end with him. Defensive back commit Brendan Gant nearly walked away with defensive back MVP honors, but was narrowly edged in the end. The same fate befell offensive line commit Dontae Lucas, who finished second the in offensive line MVP discussion. Lucas put on a show during the camp’s one-on-one portion. Quarterback commit Sam Howell led his team to the 7-on-7 finals and made a number of impressive throws in the process.

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Well article said he was there for BCW & came back 3 weeks later. Chance info is wrong

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The long-term future at quarterback

In a page views-driven industry, it didn’t take long for me to figure out what Auburn recruiting readers liked.

Quarterbacks.

Maybe it’s the closely followed recruitments and careers of Cam Newton and Nick Marshall. Maybe it’s the fallout from Jeremy Johnson’s inability to live up to unfair expectations. Regardless, Auburn fans crave information about quarterbacks.

When I came to Auburn, the quarterback position had its mysteries. I’ve covered the recruitments of Jarrett Stidham, Malik Willis, Joey Gatewood and Bo Nix. All four have been headline breadwinners for Auburn recruiting writers. They have the skill sets. They have the star power. They have the class.

The stability of that specific position has taken an unprecedented 180 in two years. That isn’t changing any time soon.

For my last article, it makes sense to look at the future of the quarterback position one last time. Nix is set in stone and will be a superstar for Auburn down the road. But he’s not the only future quarterback in the Tigers pipeline.

Auburn finds itself in solid position to take one elite quarterback in 2020 and one elite quarterback in 2021 to continue the consistent line of quarterbacks.

For 2020, the two names to watch at the top of the board are Robby Ashford and Chandler Morris.

Ashford plays for Hoover (Ala.), which makes him wide receiver commit George Pickens’ quarterback. Ashford’s reps have been limited, but college coaches are already privy to his combination of athleticism and accuracy. He’s likely priority No. 1 for the Tigers in 2020 and Auburn feels as though it is positioned nicely to land him.

Morris is the son of Arkansas coach Chad Morris. It’s reasonable to think Chandler will wind up playing for his father. He camped at Auburn for a couple of days last week. In post-camp interviews, Morris acknowledged that he needs to clear up his future some by the end of the summer. He’s likely to let other coaches know soon whether he will play for his father in college. If not, he has a close relationship with Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey that likely will make the Tigers the front-runner if he opts to go outside of Arkansas.

In 2021, the Tigers are already well ahead of the curve for two rising stars.

Aaron McLaughlin and Brock Vandagriff camped with the Tigers in the last week of the contact period. It’s still early, but I would be stunned if one of those 2021 quarterback wasn’t the figurehead of Auburn’s class that cycle. The Tigers staff loves the arm talent of both.

McLaughlin has camped at Auburn and visited several times in the last year. He works out with the same quarterback coach as Malik Willis, which can only help the Tigers. Vandagriff comes from an Auburn household, and based on his performance at camp, has the makings of the nation’s No. 1 quarterback in 2021.

The purpose of this note: Auburn is going to be set — like, really set — for the foreseeable future.

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Reflection on the SEC Country experience — and my future

Goodbyes have never been my thing, so let’s not think of it that way.

As I like to remind people, for the last two years, this space — my (mostly) daily recruiting notebooks — has given Auburn readers something lacking from an exceptional market for sports coverage.

It may be off the radar of people outside the media sphere, but there are a lot of talented people in this market. Football, basketball, recruiting, softball, baseball, you name it, there are countless writers covering Auburn athletics who do it as well as anyone in the country. I wasn’t aware of it when I arrived on the Plains two years ago, but I learned the hard way quickly.

To make a name for yourself in the Auburn market, you have to find a way to do something differently, something nobody else does. SEC Country, a free outlet committed to recruiting coverage, gave me that opportunity and wanted to find its spot in a competitive market that includes pro’s pros at the typical go-to recruiting services at 247Sports, Rivals and Scout.

So, for two years, I’ve had the honor of trying to deliver you Auburn’s football recruiting happenings for free to complement Justin Ferguson and Lauren Shute’s team coverage.

Justin, Lauren and I were an unlikely team.

We were all 24 years old or younger when we took our jobs at SEC Country. Outside of Ferg, we had no experience or sources on the Auburn beat. We were truly forced to learn on the fly. On a beat as competitive as this one, we were positioned to fail. Many might see SEC Country’s closure as proof of that, but I’ll forever argue the opposite. The outpouring of support we’ve received over the last month made it clear to me that we, as unlikely as it may have been, created a unique identity for ourselves on the Auburn beat.

Lauren’s features bridged a gap often disconnected on hyper-controlled SEC beats that limit player and coach interaction with the media. She told personal, behind-the-scenes stories about Auburn student-athletes in a way no one else does, or can, for that matter.

Justin’s analysis is second to none. That goes for anything really, but especially Auburn sports. I mean, seriously, you should see some of these spreadsheets this guy puts together to give readers Ferg’s Film Room. It gives me a headache just thinking about it, but it’s the type of thing that makes Justin tick — and, as a result, a rising star in a survival-of-the-fittest industry.

There’s no doubt in my mind these two sensationally gifted and inspiring people are destined for greatness. I’m lucky to be able to call them my colleagues, and more important, my friends. We are SEC Country Auburn, and I’m endlessly proud of that.

As for myself, I’m not sure what the future holds, but I’m looking forward to whatever it is. I didn’t know a lick about covering recruiting or covering Auburn when I signed on two years ago. I hope, to you the reader, that I’ve provided you some form of knowledge or entertainment throughout the 2017, 2018 and 2019 recruiting cycles.

There are other obligatory thank yous I need to make.

Members of the last three recruiting classes — those who chose Auburn and those who didn’t — let me chronicle their lives in ways they didn’t have to, sharing untold stories on the future faces of college football. I look forward to tracking each and every one of you trying to see out your dreams just as I still hope to see out mine.

Recruiting isn’t an easy beat to cover. Truth be told, at times, if felt damn near impossible. But the recruiting passion of my readers forced me to give you the best recruiting intel I could. It took time and trust, but eventually many loyal members of the Auburn community bought in. To anyone who has read me the last two years, the biggest thank you goes to you.

It’s not goodbye; it’s see you later.

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Edit: Apparently he's visited AU twice this summer. Did not know that

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