re: Old Recruiting Thread: RIP insiders

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"The visit went well," Taumua said. "Felt like it really family-oriented, everybody treated me like family. The whole team treated me like I was part of the team already."

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Did he feel comfortable?

"For sure, even though the guys here aren’t from Hawaii, they treated me like they were from Hawaii," Taumua said. "That’s how family-based it was."

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"It was kind of weird because they don’t have no rice over here, they always use potatoes," Taumusa said. "But it’s probably going to grow on me if I do come here, the potatoes are good though, I’ll give it to them."

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While Aigamua is not his position coach, he's been the primary recruiter for Taumua so far leading up to his visit.

"Coach Ben, he’s from Samoa and my dad’s from Samoa so they talked a lot," Taumua said. "Coach Ben’s brother actually lives in Hawaii, so he flies back and forth to Hawaii and he usually visits me in Hawaii. If I was to come here I’d probably lean on him the most."

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"Coach Jake is full of energy," Taumua said. "I didn’t expect him to be that small though, he’s kind of an unusual-sized O-line coach. But he’s good, he told me what the O-line is looking like this year and I feel like if I was to come here I’d probably be a freshman starter."

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He's already taken an official visit to Arizona and has trips planned to Alabama and Nebraska, with the goal of also getting out to Oregon. From those five, he'll make his decision.

"August 24th for sure," Taumua said. "That’s the commitment date."

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How does Auburn stack up with each school? Well, it's a little too early to tell.

"I’ll see how these next two visits go and then probably compare all of them," Taumua said.

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"It was great," Poe said. "Every OV, it’s exciting and you do fun stuff or whatever, but here it was really fun. We got to build some real relationships I feel like. Got to know the coaches, got to spend a lot of time with the coaches, which is huge for me. I’m a huge relationship guy so being able to build that one-on-one connection, it was my second time back in Auburn and so really being able to be on campus, get to know the coaches better — even go to their house. We saw Coach Freeze’s house, Coach Thornton’s house, we got to just sit in with their kids. My dad read a book to Coach Thornton’s little son, so we got to see them in their natural element. It was a great time, we had a lot of fun."

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"It stacks up great," Poe said. "I’ve been on a lot of fun officials, I’ve been to a lot of different places, but this one was special. This one was really good."

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"The first time I ever came to Auburn I kind of heard the phrase of an Auburn man," Poe said. "I thought that was something that was really cool and it’s really true here. They have a thing where if somebody cusses, one of the players on campus, they have to knock out 10 pushups. To me that emphasizes the culture they have and the culture the players have bought in to. We’ve seen that in-person and we’ve seen players hold them to that really high standard, you’ve got to get down and crank them out. We’re going to do something this way and that standards not going to be lowered. That standard is really what I think about with Auburn."

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With Auburn sitting "high" in his recruitment, Poe will take an official visit to Alabama next weekend and then make a final commitment on July 12.

What has Auburn in the mix?

"Like I said, just the culture aspect and the family aspect," Poe said. "Well the relationships are great, but for me it’s really the culture that Coach Freeze is building. I really think he’s building something great here, I think he’s going to take this program back to where Cam Newton had it all those years ago. On the great stages they had been on, I think Coach Freeze can bring it back to that."

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"It went really good, I loved it a lot," Carter said. "My first time being here, pretty much everything stood out. It was a big eye-opener for everything. It was very family-oriented. I love the coaches, I love their energy, I love what they want to do with the program. Loved everything."

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"I feel like I could fit in pretty nicely," Carter said. "I was talking with the players that are currently here — I couldn’t name them, I don’t remember, sorry — but they’re talking about how I can come in and help out early on. I meshed with them really well off the field just hanging out."

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"I’m open to it, it doesn’t really bother me leaving or staying," Carter said. "I’ve been gone far from home for a couple months and didn’t really bother me."

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"To be honest, I don’t have a specific date set but I’m thinking sometime around my season," Carter said. "I’m not sure if before, during or after, but I’m definitely not going to rush it."

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"It was kind of weird because they don’t have no rice over here, they always use potatoes," Taumusa said. "But it’s probably going to grow on me if I do come here, the potatoes are good though, I’ll give it to them."

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You forgot about Riddick.

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