2012 National Signing Day Recap & Review

What started out looking grim, turned into a somewhat expected and slightly acceptable signing class for the 2012 Auburn Tigers, and it might not be finished. You can read the minute-by-minute updates on the National Signing Day running post from yesterday, but let’s take a cleaner look at how the class panned out.

There are five players that are already at Auburn for the Spring semester:

Shane Callahan (4-star OL)
Parker, CO (Chaparrel HS)
-Other offers: Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington
-Notes: Callahan being a Colorado native explains most of the offers from the western schools. I like seeing that Vandy offered him. Smart kid.
-Highlights:

Patrick Miller (4-star OL)
West Palm Beach, FL (Dwyer HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee
-Notes: Miller was an LSU commit since September, then at the beginning of the Spring semester he just showed up in an Auburn classroom. Big dude, should play early.
-Highlights:

Javiere Mitchell (4-star OLB)
Leeds, AL (Leeds HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Tennessee, UAB
-Notes: Auburn needs linebackers, Auburn got a good one.
-Highlights:

Zeke Pike (3-star QB)
Edgewood, KY (Dixie Heights HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Boston College, Cincinnati, Clemson, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Purdue, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCLA, USC, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
-Notes: Pike has been on a whirlwind the past few months. He was named an Elite 11 QB, trolled Bama fans on Twitter, left Twitter, lost a star, and now is back on Twitter. He was big in recruiting some signees.
-Highlights:

Jay Prosch (FB, Jr.)
Transferred from Illinois
-Notes: Prosch is a Mobile native. His mother has been struggling with cancer recently, so he was granted a waiver to come closer to home. Illinois was moving to the spread, which didn’t bode well for his playing future, given that he is a mountain of muscle.
-Highlights:

The rest signed yesterday:

Joshua Holsey (4-star CB)
Fairburn, GA (Creekside HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Purdue, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Miss, Tennessee, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin
-Notes: Holsey can come in and play right now, and I’m not just saying that because his mom told me to.
-Highlights:

Ricky Parks (4-star TE)
Hogansville, GA (Callaway HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State, Oregon, South Carolina, USC, Vanderbilt
-Notes: Parks was wanted all over the country, which makes sense because he’s the #2 TE in the country. Vandy and Georgia Tech offers show me that he’s a smart kid, too.
-Highlights:

Jonathon Jones (3-star CB)
Carrollton, GA (Carrollton HS)
-Other offers: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Stanford, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest
-Notes: Every Auburn recruiting analyst loves this kid. Auburn fans should too, he’s been Auburn all the way. And with offers from Georgia Tech, Stanford, and Vanderbilt, he’s probably smarter than you.
-Highlights:

Gimel President (3-star DE)
Mt. Pleasant, SC (Wando HS)
-Other offers: Clemson, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Florida, Tennessee, UCF, Virginia Tech
-Notes: Yeah, he’s got a cool name, but that’s not the only positive. He committed months ago and never wavered.
-Highlights:

Robert Leff (3-star OL)
Fairhope, AL (Fairhope HS)
-Other offers: Kentucky, Lousiana-Lafayette, Southern Miss
-Notes: Leff is big (6’6″), but he’ll need to gain some weight to play on a SEC offensive line. He got started on that last night when he tried to consume 7.5 pounds of seafood in an hour.
-Highlights:

Tyler Nero (4-star DT)
Atmore, AL (Escambia County HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, South Alabama
-Notes: Another cool name that has been with Auburn all the way. He also seems to be one of a few guys who said no to Dameyune Craig at Florida State, and yes to Auburn instead.
-Highlights:

T.J. Davis (3-star CB)
Tallahassee, FL (Godby HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Carolina, South Florida, Southern Miss, TCU, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest
-Notes: Remember when the Auburn planes were down in Tallahassee and we all thought it was because Chizik was talking to Mark Stoops about the defensive coordinator position? Yeah, he might have been, but it was probably just any Auburn coach talking to this guy. Do you think alums of Godby High school say “I went to Godby, by God”? I’ll ask T.J. when he gets on campus.
-Highlights:

Darrion Hutcherson (3-star TE)
Dadeville, AL (Dadeville HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, East Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Utah, Vanderbilt
-Notes: Hutcherson’s family is all Alabama. He committed to Auburn and has helped recruit ever since. You have to like that. He’s a big guy that could play TE or DE.
-Highlights:

JaQuay Williams (4-star WR)
Tyrone, GA (Sandy Creek HS)
-Other offers: Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, South Carolina, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
-Notes: JaQuay has been committed to Auburn for a while. Georgia made a big push at the end, which led some to believe that he’d switch. He didn’t. He’ll play quickly, just like he runs.
-Highlights:

Jonathan Wallace (3-star QB)
Phenix City, AL (Central HS)
-Other offers: Alcorn State, Arkansas State, Florida International, Jacksonville State, Kent State, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Northern Illinois, South Alabama, Southern Miss, UCF, Western Kentucky
-Notes: Wallace was the only surprise on signing day, but only in the sense that we didn’t know that Chizik was looking for another quarterback. He was committed to UCF previously and obviously didn’t have many illustrious offers, but I’ve seen him play and he is fast. He may end up playing somewhere else other than QB.
-Highlights:

Cassanova McKinzy (4-star OLB)
Birmingham, AL (Woodlawn HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Arkansas, Arkansas State, Clemson, Florida State, Kansas, UAB
-Notes: Hey, did you know that McKinzy ONLY picked Auburn over Clemson because of Auburn’s on-campus Chick-Fil-A? But seriously… again, Auburn needs linebackers and Auburn got a good one… with an awesome name.
-Highlights:

Jovon Robinson (4-star RB)
Memphis, TN (Wooddale HS)
-Other offers: Arkansas, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia, Memphis, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Penn State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
-Notes: Jovon says if Auburn fans are still talking about T.J. Yeldon in a few years, then he didn’t do his job. Yeldon would have been nice, but Robinson isn’t chopped liver. He’s the 10th best back in the nation. He’ll be another piece of Auburn’s deep running back corps.
-Highlights:

Ricardo Louis (4-star WR)
Miami Beach, FL (Miami Beach HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, East Carolina, Florida, Florida International, Florida State, Miami, Ohio State, South Carolina, South Florida, UCF
-Notes: Ricardo was Auburn all the way, but the delay in an offensive coordinator announcement gave ol’ Dameyune a chance to swoop in and steal his commitment. But once Loeffler was hired, Louis left the Noles, and picked the Tigers like he wanted to all along. He’ll play next season.
-Highlights:

Avery Young (4/5-star OL)
Palm Beach Gardens, FL (Palm Beach Gardens HS)
-Other offers: Alabama, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Marshall, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina State, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia
-Notes: Young was the only guy that signed with Auburn that nobody had a clue about where he was going. He’s arguably Auburn’s biggest signee on a national level, and will add on to the third straight top-5 O-line class for Jeff Grimes.
-Highlights:

Will Adams (3-star OL)
Tyrone, GA (Sandy Creek HS)
-Other offers: Buffalo, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, South Alabama, Southern Miss
-Notes: Adams was a Georgia Tech commitment, but Auburn pushed late and got him. I’ve talked to one of his family members, and they said he is pumped about coming to Auburn. Evidently he was so excited that he forgot to fax in his LOI until later in the day, which explains why his name isn’t up on the recruiting board picture at the top of the post. Also, his dad was a USFL quarterback. So there’s that…
-Highlights:

Jordan Diamond (4/5 star OL)
Chicago, IL (Simeon HS)
-Other offers: Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Florida State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Wisconsin
-Notes: Diamond was believed to be a lock by some, but with so many finalists (Wisconsin, Michigan, Arkansas, etc. it was hard to tell. He is a huge pickup and is another addition to an already stellar offensive line class. Jeff Grimes for Heisman.
-Highlights:

Auburn is also in the running for three two more guys that will be announcing in the coming days. All three Both would significantly boost this signing class.

–Jordan Diamond (4-star OT) of Simeon HS (Chicago, IL) is announcing tomorrow night (2/3) at 7 pm CT Signed with Auburn.

–Stefon Diggs (5-star WR) of Our Lady of Good Counsel HS (Olney, MD) is announcing on 2/10.

–Alex Kozan (4-star OL) of Valor Christian HS (Castle Rock, CO) was committed to Iowa, but Auburn made a late push. Kozan ended up delaying his announcement yesterday and is now considering Iowa, Auburn, and Michigan. Some think that he waiting to see where Diamond goes.

All in all, this class met Auburn’s needs and did so in strong fashion. It is not the type of class of past years, but Auburn didn’t necessarily need that. Auburn has two top-5 classes on campus right now, most who got playing time last year and will be around for 2-3 more years. I guess it goes to show how successful you’ve been when fans are disappointed in a top 15 class. They would have killed for that five years ago.

Take another look at all of the other offers these kids received. Most were wanted all over country by every elite school. Don’t get caught up in the hats they chose from or if they even did an announcement. Yesterday may have not been exciting in terms of hat picking, etc. but that’s because Auburn had high profile guys already on campus or that were complete locks for months. The class is very strong regardless of what happened in front of a high school lunchroom yesterday.

Update: Would you look at that. Chizik and Bramblett pretty much say the exact same thing I just said in this recap of Signing Day:

We’ll see what happens with Diamond, Diggs, and Kozan, and I’ll update this post as their announcements come in. Thanks for reading yesterday. It was a banner day for the ‘Blogle.