AU FOOTBALL: Chizik, Tigers finish impressive recruiting haul

By late June, more than eight months before Wednesday’s National Signing Day, Auburn fans were already toilet-papering trees, a spur-of-the-moment, controversial event that propelled hopes of rejuvenating a program mired in a recruiting standstill.

As far as Gene Chizik was concerned, it was all part of the plan.

And the plan, which wrapped up its first full chapter Wednesday, was executed to near perfection.

Chizik’s first full signing class will go in the books as one of highest touted in school history, and one of the most nationally respected and recognized in recent memory. The group of 32 players Chizik and his staff were able to woo away from the heavyweights of the SEC and beyond ranked among the top-five programs in the nation — no matter what scouting service you subscribe to.

Auburn’s class, nearly half of which is filled with four- and five-star players, ranked fourth on Rivals.com and ESPN.com, while finishing fifth on Scout.com to wrap up a unanimously successful recruiting roundup.

The Tigers finished 19th last year on Rivals, when Chizik and his staff tied up a number of loose ends and worked off previous relationships to patch together a workable class.

Tommy Tuberville’s final, full recruiting class placed 20th in 2008.

“We know that as we set out a year ago, we really needed to use this class, which we had a full year to recruit, to build a foundation of what we’re trying to do here at Auburn,” Chizik said. “That foundation, this first building block, was exactly what we had envisioned.”

Less than 24 hours after they were dealt their first real bout of adversity in recruiting, when five-star running back Marcus Lattimore opted for South Carolina, the Tigers had a grand finale of sorts Wednesday. Almost the entire coaching staff filled the hallways of the Auburn Athletic Complex to watch four-star defensive end Corey Lemonier (Hialeah, Fla.) don an Auburn hat and commit to the Tigers on national TV.

The ESPNU telecast then returned to its cast of national pundits and recruiting experts, all of whom echoed the sentiment that Auburn was back as a major player for the nation’s top talent.

“I’m not sure that when Gene Chizik was hired, there was an expectation that Auburn would be recruiting with the top teams in the country,” said Barton Simmons, a regional analyst for Rivals.com. “He’s certainly proven that he’s capable of getting any recruit that’s out there. They’re not scared to go after any recruit and they’ve proven they can land them.”

The four best examples of that might just be the four biggest recruits in Auburn’s class.

Along with 11 Alabamians and 10 Georgians, Auburn landed the best overall player, according to Rivals, from Arkansas (RB Michael Dyer), Louisiana (WR Trovon Reed) and Mississippi (OL Shon Coleman), as well as the nation’s top junior-college prospect, QB Cameron Newton, who was considered to be Mississippi State’s to lose before Auburn got involved.

Newton signed on New Year’s Eve and Dyer “was rock solid from beginning to end,” Chizik said. But Coleman, who made a number of official visits to other schools after visiting Auburn, and Reed, who faced extreme pressure from teachers and his high school coach to remain in-state, made it dramatic all the way to 1 p.m. Wednesday, when Reed’s faxed National Letter of Intent landed in Chizik’s hands.

“It would have shocked me if he would have went in the other direction,” Chizik said. “I have to take my hat off to guys like that, and he’s not the only one in this class. There were a lot of guys that were that solid and never wavered. We’ve got a high level of respect for those guys.”

All but one of the 24 commitments Auburn had before Wednesday sent in their NLI before Chizik’s afternoon press conference.

Three-star running back D.J. Howard (Lincoln), who was the only player to de-commit from Auburn throughout the entire recruiting year, signed with Clemson. Four-star defensive tackle Byran Jones (Junction City, Ark.) signed with Arkansas instead of Auburn, whom he considered all the way until Wednesday.

That gave Auburn as many as five spots to fill, including one reserved for Lemonier during the wee hours of Tuesday and Wednesday morning. The Tigers left only one spot vacant.

Three-star Ryan Smith (Cordova), an all-around athlete who will likely play safety, abruptly de-committed from Kentucky and two-star Ladarious Phillips, a 6-foot-1, 265-pound tailback/defensive lineman from Roanoke, de-committed from Georgia Southern to sign with Auburn. Two-star center Tunde Fariyike picked Auburn over Duke and East Carolina.

“When things change, and different variables are in there and different things happen, our plan is to shoot right in,” Chizik said. “We don’t care who’s recruiting him, we don’t care how high or low he’s ranked.”

Auburn appeared to get the numbers and rankings on the same page with its biggest areas of need.

With four starting seniors on the offensive line set to graduate after 2010, Auburn brought in six bodies for coach Jeff Grimes, including two junior-college transfers (Roszell Gayden, Brandon Mosley) who are already enrolled and will participate in spring practice. Rivals ranked the Tigers’ group of offensive linemen, which includes one five-star (Coleman) and three four-stars, as the best in the nation.

Auburn’s four new linebackers rank sixth in the nation and its six defensive linemen significantly bolster a unit that can never be too deep for coach Tracy Rocker.

“As far as numbers on our football team, which we know were somewhat of an issue at times this year, those three positions were very important for us to address,” Chizik said. ”I think we did that.”

The experts agree.

“I think that they will continue to recruit nationally and probably pretty well,” said Chad Simmons, Scout.com’s Southeastern recruiting manager. “As long as they can keep this up and keep that staff in tact, they should do well both in Alabama and nationally.”

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2010 AUBURN FOOTBALL SIGNEES
* Joel Bonomolo DE 6-3 245 Metairie, La. (Fullerton JC)

* Kenneth Carter DT 6-5 267 Greenville (Greenville)

* Ed Christian OL 6-5 280 Valdosta, Ga. (Lowndes)

* Steven Clark P 6-5 230 Kansas City, Mo. (Park Hill)

* Shon Coleman OL 6-7 285 Olive Branch, Miss. (Olive Branch)

* Chris Davis CB 5-11 175 Birmingham (Woodlawn)

* Justin Delaine DE 6-5 225 Linden (Linden)

* Michael Dyer RB 5-8 201 Little Rock, Ark. (Little Rock Christian Academy)

* Tunde Fariyike OL 6-3 295 Thomaston, Ga. (Upson-Lee)

* Antonio Goodwin WR 6-2 170 Atlanta, Ga. (Washington)

* Jake Holland LB 6-1 228 Pelham(Pelham)