re: 2025 Football Recruiting

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Just saw Philip Dukes interview Offord. He is locked in with OSU and said so.

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He said what he had to. I put some of the interview with On3 below

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spent time with everybody,” he said. “But Coach Crime is a good guy. He’s been recruiting me for a long time. He’s trying to get me on. They tell me to stay in Alabama and that I’m their No. 1 guy. They are the only school telling me that.

“I feel blessed. Not too many people get this opportunity.”

Does McGriff and Auburn have a chance to flip Offord from Ohio State?

“No comment,” he said.

Offord could “possibly” return to Auburn for Big Cat on July 27. He next plans to visit Oregon next weekend. Georgia also is in the mix.

“I’m still locked in with Ohio State,” he said. “We’ll really find out when it comes to December.”

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Offord is sticking around for camp today, per On3

Cole Pinkston/On3 said Freeze swung by the reporters and said this (on Offord):

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“What y’all can put in that article is this: ‘Hugh Freeze will not lose this kid’

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What y’all can put in that article is this: ‘Hugh Freeze will not lose this kid’

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Woah!

bookmarked

If he says this and lands the kid then he becomes a legend. Period lololol

Correct the next few weeks will determine if we are a Top 5 team or a Top 12 team this cycle. The groundwork is being laid for a great class.

That doesn’t mean they all commit in the next few weeks just that the foundation to get commits will be there.

If Juju flips to AU… does Gibson and Terry both follow? Not sure if their commitments are related or not but I know Gibson is high on AU. And it’s been quite outside of Autry on the absolute elite of the elite on the interior DL.

Gibson mentioned he is taking a middle of the week visit which means he will get the undivided attention of "all hands on board".

Gibson, Faulk, Grady, Scroggins this is gonna be a very intriguing edge class from a recruiting standpoint.

3* DT Walter Mathis will OV June 10-12 per JLee. His other offers include:
Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and USC

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Mathis is listed at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds.

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As a junior, Mathis recorded 44 tackles, including 22 solos, 18.5 tackles for loss, six sacks and 24 quarterback hurries.

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Any reactions from Derrick smith? Always interested in Bama flip candidates lol

Offord was supposed to go to Bama and cancelled to stay in Auburn.

Bone spin: “Offord was unable to make the trip”

I'm sure the mechanisms for enticing recruits are still largely in place at Bama, and the boosters are still engaged. This will sound crazy, but I was actually not thrilled that Saban retired, because he was clearly fading and appeared to not be enjoying the new landscape of college football. I figured it was going to be a slow slide, and the fan base would take for granted that nothing exceptional was required to keep the machine rolling. They'd just complain more and more as the results tailed off.

Saban retiring and bringing in a new coach probably injected some energy and urgency into the booster base. Thus they were able to drum up the resources to get Ryan back. They also just witnessed a case study in what can happen when a HC jumps into the SEC without a commitment to hyper-recruiting (I'm talking about Harsin). So everyone in Bama-land is now energized and wary of their recruiting juggernaut stumbling with a coaching transition. They understand that this is a moment of truth for the future of the program.

However, if DeBoer doesn't have 'it', then all the booster wariness in the world won't overcome his lack of commitment... eventually. Recruiting is truly a top down venture. I guess I was initially worried that DeBoer would be a decent enough recruiter. I'm glad to hear he's fumbling things.