Tommy Tuberville fingerprint?

[djsimp]

This should certainly get a rise out of some of you this morning.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/11/majority_of_key_contributors_o.html

Majority of key contributors on Auburn's roster came to Plains under former coach Tommy Tuberville
Published: Wednesday, November 03, 2010, 6:08 AM
Evan Woodbery/Auburn Bureau, The Birmingham News, Press-Register, and The Huntsville Times

Back in August, one of the reasons I thought this had the potential to be a special season for Auburn was the team's large, experienced senior class.

What is rarely said by fans is that virtually all of that group was recruited and signed by coach Tommy Tuberville and his staff.

It doesn't fit the now-familiar narrative that Tuberville's staff was made up of lazy or lackluster recruiters, but it's the truth: If Auburn wins an SEC or national title this year, the core of the championship roster will have Tuberville's imprint.



To evaluate what kind of impact Tuberville has on this year's team, I first wanted to come up with the 50 most valuable contributors on the team. For the sake of simplicity, I created three categories for those 50 players: essential contributor, important contributor and valuable role player.

The distinctions are certainly open for debate, but I thought it would be useful to look at the categories very broadly. Drew Cole is a solid special teams player, but he's obviously not in the same category as Cam Newton or Mike Berry in terms of value to the team.

Only two of the players I categorized as "essential contributors" were recruited by coach Gene Chizik and his staff. Of course, those players --  Newton and running back Mike Dyer -- might be the two most valuable on the team, which demonstrates the importance of impact players even in a sport where teams can grant 85 scholarships.

Overall, 27 of the top 50 contributors were recruited by Tuberville's staff, 17 by Chizik's. For six of the players, both coaches get credit. (These were usually cases in which a player was recruited largely by Tuberville but ultimately signed by Chizik. Philip Lutzenkirchen would be a good example of that. But I gave Chizik full credit for players like Nosa Eguae and Emory Blake who were signed during that transition year but recruited exclusively by the new staff).




One more disclaimer: Remember that Chizik and his staff still deserve credit for developing players over the last two years. Take receivers Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery. It's certainly possible they could have made similar strides under Tuberville, but they've clearly made big jumps under the new staff. Someone like A.J. Greene, who would have been higher on the list were it not for his season-ending injury, was basically a nonentity under Tuberville but revived his career under the new staff. So that stuff is important to keep in mind, too.

What does all of this mean? Just give credit where credit is due. Every time Iowa State wins a game, there's a flood of comments from Auburn fans about how Paul Rhoads' success proves Chizik was on the right track at ISU. If that's the case, why not acknowledge that Chizik's success in Year 2 owes some credit to Tuberville, too. The cupboard may have needed some replenishing, but it wasn't entirely bare.




THE 50 MOST VALUABLE CONTRIBUTORS

(27 by Tuberville, 17 by Chizik, six mixed or uncertain)




TIER 1

ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTORS (17)

(14 by Tuberville, two by Chizik, one mixed)

1. WR Darvin Adams, T

2. OL Mike Berry, T

3. DL Mike Blanc, T

4. LB Josh Bynes, T

5. K Wes Byrum, T

6. DE Antoine Carter, T

7. DL Zach Clayton, T

8. RB Mike Dyer, C

9. S Zac Etheridge, T

10. DT Nick Fairley, M

11. OL Byron Isom, T

12. QB Cam Newton, C

13. OL Ryan Pugh, T

14. DB Aairon Savage, T

15. LB Craig Stevens, T

16. WR Terrell Zachery, T

17. OL Lee Ziemba, T




TIER TWO

IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTORS (15)

(Eight by Tuberville, four by Chizik, three mixed)

1. LB Daren Bates, C

2. DB T'Sharvan Bell, T

3. WR Emory Blake, C

4. WR Kodi Burns, T

5. WR Quindarius Carr, T

6. DL Nosa Egaue, C

7. RB Mario Fannin, T

8. DE Michael Goggans, T

9. TE Philip Lutzenkirchen, M

10. RB Onterio McCalebb, M

11. S Mike McNeil, T

12. OL Brandon Mosley, C

13. RB Eric Smith, T

14. DB Neiko Thorpe, T

15. DB Demond Washington, M




TIER THREE

VALUABLE ROLE PLAYERS (18)

(11 recruited by Chizik, five by Tuberville, two mixed)

1. P Steven Clark, C

2. DB Drew Cole, T

3. DB Chris Davis, C

4. LB Jonathan Evans, M

5. DE Dee Ford, M

6. LB Eltoro Freeman, T

7. OL A.J. Greene, T

8. DL Chris Humphries, C*

9. DL Corey Lemonier, C

10. DB Demetruce McNeal, C

11. DB Ikeem Means, C*

12. K Cody Parkey, C

13. DE Craig Sanders, C

14. P Ryan Shoemaker, T

15. DB Ryan Smith, C

16. OL John Sullen, C

17. DL Jeffrey Whitaker, C

18. WR Derek Winter, T

*  Means and Humphries are walk-ons but were invited to walk on by Chizik's staff.

By the way, the entire list is open for debate. I went down this season's player-participation chart, and don't think I missed anybody, but if you think I have a glaring omission, let me know. I'm turning this blog into a column for later in the week, so I'll gladly take your input.

[Buzz Killington]

There is no doubt that Tuberville had a knack for recruiting some very good OL over the years.  They are one of the biggest reasons the offense is doing so well this season. 

[jmar]

The way Auburn was falling, Tubs would have led AU to mediocrity even if he could recruit the same talent with any coordinators and position coaches. I liked the positive things he did at AU but he was done. Chizik and the new staff are driven, have chemistry and produce better results all-around. Every player that Tub's recruited probably has some affinity for the man . But the biggest majority of them would not have progressed as they have with this team.

[War Eagle!!!]

What a stupid article. Yes, Tuberville recruited all of the OL. They are all seniors. Guess what, THAT IS ALL WE HAD LAST YEAR. if someone went down, we were fucked. Same with the LB's. We are still so thin at OL and in every aspect of the defense. Sure, we have seniors stepping up in roles now, but the main problem when Chizik got here, was we were thin across the board.

This is just another bullshit article trying to discredit the Job Chizik and his staff have done. If Tubs would have been around 1 more year, we would be LIGHT YEARS worse off than we are right now.

Fuck this clown and his implied "Saban is still better than Chizik" bullshit...

[JR4AU]

Tubs gets as much credit for the good he left behind, as he does blame for the voids he left behind.  And he left some voids.  I read that article and wondered what the point was.  Another way of claiming Chizik isn't really doing this.  Either Malzahn is the de facto head coach, or Chiz is doing it with Tub's players.  Eventually Chizik will have a bad year, and everyone will say "See, told ya he sucked as a coach".  And we wonder why coaches have no loyalty, and are always using their successes to leverage better contracts.   

[Snaggletiger]

The way Auburn was falling, Tubs would have led AU to mediocrity even if he could recruit the same talent with any coordinators and position coaches. I liked the positive things he did at AU but he was done. Chizik and the new staff are driven, have chemistry and produce better results all-around. Every player that Tub's recruited probably has some affinity for the man . But the biggest majority of them would not have progressed as they have with this team.

This^^^ TT had some great runs as Corch of Auburn but his time was through.  The excitement and the drive to improve seemed to be missing.  There's no doubt that the recruiting class with Pugh and Ziemba and Kodi etc. was one of the best ever at Auburn and yes, now it's paying huge dividends.  But they still had to be corched up and put in a system where they could succeed. 

[jmar]

This^^^ TT had some great runs as Corch of Auburn but his time was through.  The excitement and the drive to improve seemed to be missing.  There's no doubt that the recruiting class with Pugh and Ziemba and Kodi etc. was one of the best ever at Auburn and yes, now it's paying huge dividends.  But they still had to be corched up and put in a system where they could succeed.

Yeah, Ziemba would have probably been a seventh round by the Dallas Cowboys, Fairley a free agent. Pugh's value would have not been as high. From DE to TE, every player's stock would have suffered.

[Snaggletiger]

There were a lot of things that had to happen when The Chin & Co. took over on Teh Planes.  First, they had to instill some excitement back in the program as a whole.  The Tiger Prowl, a good finish to the recruiting class and the overall optimism from Corches like Trooper Taylor got the ball rolling there.  Next, they had to implement an offensive system to a program whose offense was, well...offensive. Remember, after the failed Franklin debacle, AU really had no system in place.  They ran a scaled down high school offense just to get through the rest of the season.

Part of that process involved not only finding a QB and getting the right people in place, it included getting a very talented offensive line back to where they needed to be physically.  Again, Franklin's system involved slimming the linemen way down and once he left, they were trying to man up with SEC defensive lines playing 20-30 at pounds lighter than they are now.

I don't think anyone really thought the cupboard was completely bare, but the program overall had no direction and was just treading water.  Sometimes, it's just a matter of a new staff coming in and getting everyone on the same page.

[Buzz Killington]

There were a lot of things that had to happen when The Chin & Co. took over on Teh Planes.  First, they had to instill some excitement back in the program as a whole.  The Tiger Prowl, a good finish to the recruiting class and the overall optimism from Corches like Trooper Taylor got the ball rolling there.  Next, they had to implement an offensive system to a program whose offense was, well...offensive. Remember, after the failed Franklin debacle, AU really had no system in place.  They ran a scaled down high school offense just to get through the rest of the season.

Part of that process involved not only finding a QB and getting the right people in place, it included getting a very talented offensive line back to where they needed to be physically.  Again, Franklin's system involved slimming the linemen way down and once he left, they were trying to man up with SEC defensive lines playing 20-30 at pounds lighter than they are now.

I don't think anyone really thought the cupboard was completely bare, but the program overall had no direction and was just treading water.  Sometimes, it's just a matter of a new staff coming in and getting everyone on the same page.

^^^This^^^

[JR4AU]

There were a lot of things that had to happen when The Chin & Co. took over on Teh Planes.  First, they had to instill some excitement back in the program as a whole.  The Tiger Prowl, a good finish to the recruiting class and the overall optimism from Corches like Trooper Taylor got the ball rolling there.  Next, they had to implement an offensive system to a program whose offense was, well...offensive. Remember, after the failed Franklin debacle, AU really had no system in place.  They ran a scaled down high school offense just to get through the rest of the season.

Part of that process involved not only finding a QB and getting the right people in place, it included getting a very talented offensive line back to where they needed to be physically.  Again, Franklin's system involved slimming the linemen way down and once he left, they were trying to man up with SEC defensive lines playing 20-30 at pounds lighter than they are now.

I don't think anyone really thought the cupboard was completely bare, but the program overall had no direction and was just treading water.  Sometimes, it's just a matter of a new staff coming in and getting everyone on the same page.

Agree with all except the part I put in bold.  I know a helluva lot of folks that really and truly believed there was nothing to work with left by Tubs.  NOTHING.  I disagree then, and that's showing now.  But there were plenty...I even heard some compare it to what Terry had left Tubs, and there was no way in hell any body with one eye and half a brain could make that comparison...but some tried.  There's an old saying in the sales world "A new broom sweeps clean".  Lot to be said for that way of thinking, and this staff is proof.   

[Snaggletiger]

No way The Chin had to deal with close to what CTT did when he came in.  I recall going to that last Iron Bowl in the Ham in the year that Tater Tot left.  It was depressing as hell to walk out of that place with the realization that the talent level was probably at an all-time low at Auburn.  Tuberville came in and openly said something you rarely hear a corch say, and that was he had never seen so little talent at this level.  Troy's strength corch was telling me that year that they would probably push Auburn all around the field. He was probably right.  CTT did a masterful job that year and if not for a couple of fuck ups against the Mississippi teams, might have made a bowl.

[War Eagle!!!]

No way The Chin had to deal with close to what CTT did when he came in.  I recall going to that last Iron Bowl in the Ham in the year that Tater Tot left.  It was depressing as hell to walk out of that place with the realization that the talent level was probably at an all-time low at Auburn.  Tuberville came in and openly said something you rarely hear a corch say, and that was he had never seen so little talent at this level.  Troy's strength corch was telling me that year that they would probably push Auburn all around the field. He was probably right.  CTT did a masterful job that year and if not for a couple of fuck ups against the Mississippi teams, might have made a bowl.

No doubt Tubs did a good job at Auburn....when he gave a shit and didn't feel like he was constantly swimming upstream with the administration and boosters...

[jmar]

I'm not going to let Evan Woodberry affect any opinion I have about Tubs or Chizik in an article wreaking of the tired old Miles-Saban comparison at LSU. He needs some originality instead of thunbing through the sports archives for an easy column.

[JR4AU]

No doubt Tubs did a good job at Auburn....when he gave a shit and didn't feel like he was constantly swimming upstream with the administration and boosters...

That, and I think 2004 was a bigger kick in the nuts that most can know.  Coaches don't get that many shots at a NC, let alone with an undefeated team (which is statically more rare than a NC)...and he go fucked.  I think he took some time off while on duty, and never really got back to work.  Im certain his assistants felt untouchable as long as Tubs was there, and I think he had them believing he'd be there as long as he wanted to be.   Too much job security is a bad thing.

[JR4AU]

I'm not going to let Evan Woodberry affect any opinion I have about Tubs or Chizik in an article wreaking of the tired old Miles-Saban comparison at LSU. He needs some originality instead of thunbing through the sports archives for an easy column.

"He's winning the the previous coach's players"  is, in the vast majority of cases, one of the stupidest "fanisms" there is. 

[Jumbo]

What a stupid article. Yes, Tuberville recruited all of the OL. They are all seniors. Guess what, THAT IS ALL WE HAD LAST YEAR. if someone went down, we were fucked. Same with the LB's. We are still so thin at OL and in every aspect of the defense. Sure, we have seniors stepping up in roles now, but the main problem when Chizik got here, was we were thin across the board.

This is just another bullshit article trying to discredit the Job Chizik and his staff have done. If Tubs would have been around 1 more year, we would be LIGHT YEARS worse off than we are right now.

Fuck this clown and his implied "Saban is still better than Chizik" bullshit...

Every Fucking Letter.

[jmar]

Every phuking Letter.

Auburn is the team to beat. Alabama can't do anything about that crystal football without a win over Auburn.   

[djsimp]

Wow, I figured this would get the room jumping. Anything to do with Tubberville seems to do that, and rightly so. I will say that this article is nowhere even close to Nutt trying to take credit for Malzahn "learning his offensive run schemes".

First of all, Chizik and staff has recruiting capabilities that blows Tubs & Co abilities off the map. Also, every assistant coach hired by Chizik are leaps and bounds better than the old guard. This recruiting explosion and golden assistants was a breath of fresh air like running out of the gas chamber and making love to oxygen. Yes, Tubs was good for Auburn for a long time and he brought a lot of talent through Auburn. For whatever reason he lost his touch and the new staff came in and turned everything from good to great (+10 to Trooper Taylor).

I agree with WE! To even feel the need to write an article like this is full on fucktard. Any people with common sense knows this and I don't think any of us needed to be reminded, so yeah this was pretty much just a bunch of words tied together with bs to fill up space. For sake of argument though, I will indulge. I do agree that there several of Tub recruits that are playing essential parts of this teams success. I also agree that guys like Newton and Dyer are those x-factors that Tubs didn't recruit (latter half coaching tenure) that are also very essential. But, if it was just all Tubs recruits, well we'd still
sucking ass of the other teams in the SEC. The point to me, and I'm sure for most of you, what makes
this such a facepalm of an article is the fact we were so paper thin when Tubs left. This overshadows
in many peoples minds everything else that was positive.

[JR4AU]

Wow, I figured this would get the room jumping. Anything to do with Tubberville seems to do that, and rightly so. I will say that this article is nowhere even close to Nutt trying to take credit for Malzahn "learning his offensive run schemes".

First of all, Chizik and staff has recruiting capabilities that blows Tubs & Co abilities off the map. Also, every assistant coach hired by Chizik are leaps and bounds better than the old guard. This recruiting explosion and golden assistants was a breath of fresh air like running out of the gas chamber and making love to oxygen. Yes, Tubs was good for Auburn for a long time and he brought a lot of talent through Auburn. For whatever reason he lost his touch and the new staff came in and turned everything from good to great (+10 to Trooper Taylor).

I agree with WE! To even feel the need to write an article like this is full on fucktard. Any people with common sense knows this and I don't think any of us needed to be reminded, so yeah this was pretty much just a bunch of words tied together with bs to fill up space. For sake of argument though, I will indulge. I do agree that there several of Tub recruits that are playing essential parts of this teams success. I also agree that guys like Newton and Dyer are those x-factors that Tubs didn't recruit (latter half coaching tenure) that are also very essential. But, if it was just all Tubs recruits, well we'd still
sucking ass of the other teams in the SEC. The point to me, and I'm sure for most of you, what makes
this such a facepalm of an article is the fact we were so paper thin when Tubs left. This overshadows
in many peoples minds everything else that was positive.

I think everyone here should know I wasn't a fan of the Chizk hiring, but I'm fucking about sick and tired of hearing bammer, and the media try any way possible to discredit Chizik for the current success.   It's fucking insane. 

[Buzz Killington]

Anyone that expected anything different out of Woodberry is kidding themselves.  Actually, I am surprised he wrote this...because I thought he would have been fired for his DUI offense.  I guess it's getting harder to find mindless trolls to cover the other team in the state these days.