re: 2018 Football Recruiting Thread -- Final OP Update Edition

In-state RB target Harold Joiner ‘pushed toward’ Auburn after personal conversation with Gus Malzahn (SECCountry)

quote:

---

Harold Joiner explains recruitment shift, top 6

A seismic shift has taken place for Harold Joiner in the last two weeks.

Last month, the Mountain Brook (Ala.) running back called LSU his leader and Georgia his close second. LSU added three running backs to its Class of 2018. Georgia landed the No. 1 running back in the nation. Joiner told SEC Country both of those programs are now completely eliminated from contention.

He posted a top 6 last week that included Auburn, Alabama, Michigan State, UCLA, Southern California and Texas. It’s an intriguing top group. He’s never visited any of the last four despite telling a Michigan State reporter the Spartans are his leader. Alabama seems like a peculiar addition to the group considering Joiner’s stance on depth chart and early playing time: “I’d have eight running back in front of me at Alabama,” he said.

Joiner has always talked about Auburn with reservations, but that trend is starting to change. After LSU’s moves at running back, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn made a personal phone call to Joiner.

“He wants me to come down for a picnic. He needed to talk to me and my dad 1-on-1,” Joiner said. “Now that coach Gus Malzahn has started telling me that he only wants me as a running back right now. It has pushed me toward them more.”

Whenever a head coach gets involved in a recruitment, especially Malzahn, it raises a school’s chances with a recruit. If Joiner visits for Auburn’s summer barbecue, that sit-down with Malzahn will be pivotal in Auburn’s chances of swaying Joiner once and for all. Joiner has visited Auburn so many times that he “doesn’t even know” the total count.

He said he’s “pretty comfortable” at Auburn, which is more than he can definitively say about any other program in his top 6. Hence why I put a Crystal Ball prediction in for Auburn.

Joiner had positive things to say about a couple of the other schools in his top 6. Texas coaches tell him they like his body type and think he can start as a freshman. Michigan State has big offensive linemen and an open depth chart. But he hasn’t visited the Longhorns and doesn’t know if he will. He’s not sure how he feels about the cold weather in East Lansing either.

Again, Auburn is the one in the group that he actually knows, and the Tigers are growing on him.

There remains one thing to track with Joiner, however: The rest of the Tigers’ running back moves in the class.

“They don’t have any other commits at my position right now, so that’s pretty good,” Joiner said.

Technically that’s not true. Shaun Shivers is committed, but the 5-foot-7 Shivers and the 6-foot-3 Joiner bring such different frame and skill set that their recruitments aren’t likely intertwined. What will be interesting to track is whether 4-star RB targets Dameon Pierce or Asa Martin would be enough to run Joiner off for good.

---

Like I said yesterday, see if you can get him on board but keep going after Pierce. If you land Pierce and he decommits it's not then end of the world. Problem happens if you pass on Joiner and miss on both Martin and Pierce