The Bodda Getta

What's happened to Swain?

He's mainly playing special teams right now.

The 2010 class, we were told at the time, was a very strong "linebacker class." It is proven not to be. This is one example of why I always say every year, at signing time, it does not matter how high your class is ranked on signing day. I want to see what they look like when they've been in the program two or three years. That's when you really know how good a class was. When a certain middle linebacker signed with us we heard all the following: "he's a beast", "he's a stud", "he's a tackling machine." He has proven to be none of those. I've about reached the point that when I hear "he's a beast" said about a player I tend to lower my expections because a lot of the "beasts" turn out to be pussy cats.

This is a very enlightening series. Is it possible that selection of linebacker numbers has taken a back seat to running backs, or linemen? Do you think the linebacker recruiting was matched to the defensive schemes and thus not well suited to a penetrating down lineman defense. Auburn is hurting and maybe it;s as Dye says, at most every position. In that case, there is room for Dye's expressed doubt that Auburn will recover this season.

I think Auburn made some bad evaluations at linebacker and some guys just didn't work out because of injuries or other reasons, which happens at every school. Recruiting is not black and white. Sometimes you lose the kid you really wanted and your backup plan is just not good enough. Sometimes a kid that you think is going to be very special just doesn't pan out.

You've got to sign great players in every class so someone can step up when you do have misses. For Auburn, that just hasn't happened at a few positions like quarterback and linebacker.

The recruiting misses at LB are combinations of not as talented as first thought, bad luck with injuries and personal issues and Bama loading up on them where did Petey Smith end up (signed with Bama brother Eric played for us) and Tanner Patrick signed with Bama and has yet to crack the rotation. Instead of dumping on Jake Holland the better question is why hasn't he developed or progressed. To the point, now maybe we are having to rush McKinzy before he is ready. (But I hope that he steps it up and can be the man)
Bryan a quick questions about ratings I will use the DTs as an example. Whitaker, Wright were rated high 4 stars by most. But when I look at their home state Top 10 list, they didn't crack it. And I was wondering what is a better indication the State Top 10 (or top 25) or the recruiting ranking?
And once they get on campus its up to the player and the staff to reach that level of SEC play that we want.
The LB that we really wanted in 2010 was C.J. Mosely. But this next class would go along way toward correcting the LB issues. And the size/speed thing that fans get hung up on wouldn't be an issues if the DL play improved. (There are more small, fast LBs on college teams than the big 255 and fast 4.5 guys that big and fast do not grow on trees). And yes we hope Corey comes back, but DE is one of the positions we are stacked at and can't get them all on the field.

The state rankings are the same as the overall or position rankings, they're just sorted by state.

Reading these evaluations seem like a strong indictment of this coaching staff and their failure to develop and evaluation talent. I have been wondering for 3 years why we seem to lack depth at LB. Maybe it was Roof or who knows but we need a different direction and I think CBVG knows what he is doing when it comes to LBs but my God, how can this still be a problem after 4 years?

Good reading. Thank you.

Great post and observation. +1.