Tigers addressed three major needs on Signing Day
War Eagle everyone! The Jungle Cat hopes the post-Signing Day hangover for each of you has already been remedied.
Unfortunately, there is no update on Cyrus Kouandjio’s decision. The gritty of the situation is that he made the announcement and quickly got cold feet. He never sent in the letter of intent and wanted to take time to make sure the decision he made was the correct one. Fortunately for us, this seems to be something that falls all on Cyrus’s shoulders. His brother Arie, an offensive lineman at Alabama, Tweeted shortly after the announcement, demonstrating support for his little brother. From most national media accounts (ESPN and the like), his parents and high school coach have been open-minded as well. Whatever choice Cyrus makes will be of his choosing.
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The Tigers addressed their three primary needs: the offensive line, the defensive line, and the secondary.
With or without Cyrus, O-line coach Jeff Grimes is licking his chops at this incoming class. Two highly-touted linemen – Christian Westerman and Greg Robinson – join already-enrolled freshmen-to-be Reese Dismukes and Thomas O’Reilly and likely 2011 redshirt candidate Shon Coleman in revamping Auburn’s line. Starter Brandon Mosley returns, along with junior-to-be John Sullen, A.J. Greene, who started in 2010 prior to his season-ending ankle injury, sophomore-to-be Andre Harris, and redshirt freshmen Ed Christian, Eric Mack, Tunde Fariyike, and Chad Slade. Not only will this be a position battle to watch during spring practice, but in fall practice when Westerman, Robinson, and, potentially, Kouandjio enter the fray.
Head coach Gene Chizik, in his Signing Day presser, spoke highly of the newbies on the O-line:
“One of the things as we targeted these different young men on our offensive line was we felt like we had to really do a great job of evaluating, not just are they really, really good high school players, but what is the opportunity or what is the probability that they can come in and play young? That was one of the biggest criteria as we looked at them. We were trying to not necessarily bring a guy in that we felt like three years from now could help us. We feel like every one of these guys have the ability, depending on how fast they learn, to come in here and help us immediately. That was the idea on every offensive lineman we brought in. Reese Dismukes is a great sign out of Spanish Fort here in the state. He has a great chance to come in and compete for a job right now. He’s already in school and he’s doing that. Thomas O’Reilly, the same thing. He has a great chance to come in and compete for a job and do that. So they are both here. Christian Westerman, I can’t say enough about his family, just the recruitment process of him and the ability we think he has and what he brings to the table and the opportunity to come in here and help us right now. This young man on film now, he is dynamite. It’s just going to be how fast he can get used to the college game. Greg Robinson is just another unbelievable athlete, great size, and great athletic ability. Guys like that, we think have a chance to come in and help us right now, so we feel really good about that position.”
Regarding Shon Coleman – who is recovering from leukemia – Chizik used a little more trepidation:
“We are going to wait. Medically, we have great people that are paying a lot of close attention to that. We are just going to let time go by and just kind of see how he progresses. There’s no rush for anything. He’s doing great, he looks great. He’s doing well in school and that’s our main concern right now. Our main concern is that he is healthy as a human being, and then whatever happens football-wise, that’s all icing on the cake, if and when that happens.”
Icing on the cake, huh? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Coach Chiz reads The Jungle Cat. Below is from TJC’s first post on Wednesday morning, a full eight hours before Chizik’s press conference, about Big Shon:
“Projection: We want (Coleman) 100 percent healthy. Anything else is icing on the cake.”
Is Gene a closet TJC fan? We can only hope.
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The new D-line recruits might not be equally impressive as the O-line, but they are ripe for Tracy Rocker’s tutelage.
Off the bat, defensive tackle Gabe Wright is a standout that will play immediately. His “Nick Who?” stunt came as a result of a private conversation he had with Nick Fairley at the championship celebration in Auburn. According to Fairley, who told this anecdote on ESPN’s First Take on Thursday, he told young Gabe to be his own man and to not let the obvious comparisons of the two of them rattle any personal cages. Gabe took it to heart and unveiled the “Nick Who?” hat on Signing Day, which Fairley enjoyed.
Chizik gave big praise to Gabe, a player that has been recruited by the Auburn staff for the last two years:
“(Gabe) is a guy that we have targeted for so many years, really since we got here. He was probably one of the first priorities that we had when he was a young player. We knew about him, he had come over to our camps, he had come over and visited, and that was a huge part of our puzzle defensively. We feel like he was the best defensive tackle in the country and he was a major target for us. He was a guy that was very highly sought after, and rightly so. We feel like we developed a great relationship with him. Things can get confusing down at the end, but I feel like in his heart of hearts, he was Auburn through and through. I feel like he’s going to come in here and be one of those guys that has an opportunity to have an impact immediately, and we told him that. We just want him to come in and be Gabe Wright and continue to improve and be a better football player every year, which he really has a chance to, in my opinion, be a very good player in this league. That was a huge get for us, and we’re excited to have him and his family on board.”
Gabe Wright will be a star. He joins a D-line that’s impressive for its collective age. Three sophomores to-be – Corey Lemonier, Nosa Eguae, and Jeffrey Whitaker – are expected to start. Eguae is the only returning starter, but Lemonier, who somehow got All-SEC Freshman Team honors over Eguae, and Whitaker were rotation players.
Gabe is joined by incoming freshmen Angelo Blackson, Keymiya Harrell, JaBrian Niles, and Devaunte Sigler. Blackson could be the best of the remaining bunch. He’s a sleeper, mainly because Delaware isn’t known as a football hotbed. There’s no getting around the fact that he has size: the 6’5”-300 lb. warrior could be a mauler on the defensive line. ESPN’s analysis of him suggests that he’ll be a project for Rocker, suggesting he “…needs to develop a pass rush arsenal and be sure to have a plan. Blackson is a big kid with upside. He will need to keep developing his game and adjust to a likely big jump in competition, but could be a handful with some work.”
In addition to the freshmen and the returning rotation players, ends Dee Ford, Kenneth Carter, and Joel Bonomolo and tackles Jamar Travis and Derrick Lykes will be players to watch come springtime as Auburn reloads on the front four.
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The new-look secondary has The Jungle Cat excited. Anything is an upgrade from the 2010 bunch (seriously, Tylenol is more fast-acting than Neiko Thorpe).
Thorpe will likely get pushed to the side – no joke – and Zac Etheridge and Aarion Savage have graduated. This will open the door for Erique Florence, Jonathan Rose, Robenson Therezie, and Jermaine Whitehead to play early and often.
Those four – Florence and Therezie at safety and Rose and Whitehead at cornerback – could be inserted into the defensive back rotation immediately. Don’t be surprised if the already-enrolled Rose comes out of spring practice the starter at one of the corner spots.
Chizik is thrilled with how solid the DB class shook out:
“I couldn’t be more excited. We have Erique Florence from this state. He is a huge get. Just a tremendous athlete, a great student, just one heck of a football player. He can play so many different positions like he did in high school, but obviously we think he’s going to be a great safety for what we’re trying to do. I think he brings a great speed element back there. He loves contact. I think he’s going to be really good at that. We have Jonathan Rose at one corner. He’s already enrolled, and we’re thrilled to death. Another young man from Alabama, and we feel like he was the best corner in the state. It’s really big to have him on board here with us right now. Robensen Therezie from Miami. He’s really a dual guy, can play safety or corner. That’s what we really love about him. He has flexibility in his game and what he brings to the table. He’s just a phenomenal young man. He played some tailback in high school. Again, just a great young man. Then Jermaine Whitehead, that was one that we’re really excited about. This is a great player out of Mississippi that has the ability to play probably numerous amounts of things, but we want him playing at corner. He’s another guy that in high school had his hands on the football a lot, so he was a very good and exciting football player offensively, as well. Our idea is, even in the secondary, the more they have their hands on the ball and the more they touch the ball and they’re used to doing that, then I think you build in the ability back there to get turnovers and make interceptions and things of that nature. He has great speed, good size, and we’re extremely excited about the whole secondary. That’s one of the parts that we really wanted to stress.”
With how well T’Sharvan Bell played at the end of the season and the maturation of Demetruce McNeal and Chris Davis, the Tigers’ secondary could potentially be a thing of beauty. If The Jungle Cat were a betting man, defensive coordinator Ted Roof will trot out Bell and Rose at the corners and Florence and senior Mike McNeil at the safety positions in the first game vs. Utah State.
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There are lots to like about this year’s recruiting class – let the man-crush of Kiehl Frazier commence! – but the best part is that these kids can make an immediate impact on the field this coming season, while the Auburn staff continues their position-in-need scouting process. To think Auburn was thisclose to getting the top recruiting class in the country (the consensus was that this year’s title went to Florida State, who capitalized on in-state rivals Florida and Miami undergoing coaching changes) focusing solely on O-line, D-line, and secondary. Imagine what happens next year when Auburn can look at players at skill position roles and linebackers (the sexy prospects): the excitement level will topple this year’s class.
Hope all is well and War Eagle.
The Jungle Cat is an online magazine dedicated to Auburn Tigers Football, written by David Smith.
