“There’s nothing any coach can do to make a prospect go to Auburn who doesn’t want to go to Auburn.”

If you’re looking for an update on Auburn’s recruiting season, look no further than right here.

While Auburn should be cleaning up in this recruiting cycle as the result of their 2010 BCS Title, to put it bluntly, they’re not.  Here’s a few of the excuses reasons for that:

* They say, in recruiting, there are often delayed reactions. A national championship is more likely to have an impact the year after it is won than the year in which it has won. But, in Auburn’s case, I wonder if the negativity that followed the Tigers throughout their run to the title and really into last season didn’t have just as much impact, or even more, than winning the national championship.

* I don’t believe the delay in naming new coordinators, in itself, had a lot of negative impact. But some opposing recruiters used that along with Mike Dyer’s departure, four players being charged with armed robbery, lopsided losses in big games and whatever else they could find or create to paint a picture of a program on shaky ground. It wasn’t an accurate picture, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re talking 17- and 18-year-olds here.

* Auburn coaches have sold the availability of immediate playing time in previous recruiting years. That’s not as easy to sell this time around.

Those are good, but this one is the absolute best:

* I believe many, maybe most, players, even those who play the game until the very end, know where they want to go from the outset. More of those players will want to go to Auburn in some years than others. There’s nothing any coach can do to make a prospect go to Auburn who doesn’t want to go to Auburn.

Unless you totally don’t follow college football, you have to know what a train-wreck-waiting-to-happen Auburn’s been over the last year or so, right?  I mean, it’s not like opposing recruiters have had to work that hard to convince a 17 or 18 year old about this.

 

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