Auburn’s fast start to the 2009 football recruiting season continued Saturday with a familiar name.
In a press conference in his hometown of Mobile, junior-college defensive lineman Nick Fairley announced his plans to re-sign with AU in February. Fairley signed with Auburn in 2007 out of Williamson, but didn’t qualify academically.
The 6-foot-4, 295-pound Fairley is the third junior-college player to commit to Auburn in this year’s recruiting class. He is the Tigers’ 10th overall commitment.
“I'm very excited to re-commit to Auburn,” Fairley told Auburnsports.com. “I've been waiting on this for a long time, since I went to junior college. Auburn is where I wanted to go out of high school, so I decided to stick with them.
“I'm ready to go to Auburn, work hard, get my grades and make an impact.”
Fairley earned statewide notoriety due to a controversy following his senior year at Williamson, when a report in the Press Register of Mobile revealed he had seven grades changed on his transcript. Neither Fairley nor Auburn was ever accused of any wrongdoing.
After a wait that dragged into August 2007, the NCAA Clearinghouse declared Fairley academically ineligible to play for AU. He headed to Copiah-Lincoln Community College, in Wesson, Miss., to improve his academic standing.
Several other recent AU signees, including 2008 signee Ken Adams and 2009 commitment Wilfred Journet, have started their college careers at Copiah-Lincoln.
Fairley redshirted last year, his first season at Copiah-Lincoln. He will begin his AU career as a redshirt sophomore in 2009.
cmickle@oanow.com | 737-2561
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