GREAT Article from Kevin ScarBARNsky on AU losing Evans

quote:

---

Losing Rashaan Evans to Alabama hurts Auburn more than any famous flip



There's no way for Auburn to spin this one. No amount of sour grapes will make it taste better. Losing Rashaan Evans to Alabama hurts.

More than famous flips Brent Calloway, T.J. Yeldon, Cyrus Kouandjio, Dee Liner and Reuben Foster, this one is a real loss for the Tigers.

Unlike those other players, Evans didn't flip his commitment from Auburn to Alabama, but he has to be included in the category of the ones that got away.

Evans isn't just a student at Auburn High School. He's an Auburn University legacy. He's the son of two Auburn University graduates, one of them a former Auburn University football player.

Alan Evans wasn't a great player at Auburn. In fact, he's been a recruiting cautionary tale as the top-rated high school running back in the state in the same class that included Bo Jackson, but how often do the sons of former Auburn players of any stature grow up in that area and choose to play college ball at Alabama?

Evans isn't just another five-star recruit, either. He's a five-star recruit on the side of the ball where Auburn, despite other recruiting success stories on defense since Gus Malzahn's return, still needs the most help.

No matter how many points Malzahn's offense scores, at some point, his defense has to make a stop. That was never more painfully obvious than on Florida State's final drive to come from behind to beat Auburn in the BCS Championship Game.

Conspiracy theories aside, Evans choosing to play outside linebacker at Alabama rather than the hybrid star position at Auburn makes sense from a football standpoint.

Which position is the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Evans, as a quick-twitch edge pass rusher to use Nick Saban's phrase, better suited to play in college? Outside linebacker, as his father said Wednesday.

Which program has the best combination of head coach with a defensive background and defensive coordinator in college football? Alabama with Nick Saban and Kirby Smart.

Which program has had the most success in recent years in putting its players in the NFL draft, often in the first round? Alabama.

Evans will have far more competition for playing time next season at Alabama. He likely would've had an easier path to get on the field at Auburn, which is another reason the Tigers losing him to their rival hurts more than losing any of those other players mentioned above.

Auburn didn't get Yeldon, but it didn't hurt as much because Tre Mason developed into one of the better backs in the country and in Auburn history. Auburn didn't get Kouandjio, but it didn't hurt as much because Greg Robinson developed into a soon-to-be first-round draft pick at left tackle himself.

Auburn didn't get Foster, but it didn't hurt as much because his allegiance was more to former Auburn assistant coach Trooper Taylor than it was to the Auburn program.

Auburn didn't get Calloway, who flipped from Alabama to Auburn and back to Alabama, but it didn't hurt as much because he was arrested twice at Alabama and dismissed from the program.

The jury is still out on Liner, the defensive lineman who played in one game last season as a true freshman. That leaves Evans.

He never flipped from Auburn to Alabama, as those other players did as recruits, but clearly the Auburn coaches believed they had a great chance to sign him. That they didn't, and that Alabama did, is a loss for the Tigers.

How big a loss will be determined in the next 3-4 years in general, in the next 3-4 Iron Bowls in particular.

---