Pike has a few bigtime friends too. Keith Marshall being one of 'em.
Interesting. This could start a very good avalanche.
Recruiting is all about relationships.Zeke Pike's journey from star high school quarterback in Kentucky to Auburn commitment started with a relationship involving his dad.Mark Pike enjoyed a 12-year career as an NFL linebacker and special teams star with the Buffalo Bills - he's the NFL career leader for special teams tackles - but he didn't play his college ball in this state or even in the SEC.He played at Georgia Tech.Hey. So did Ted Roof, Auburn's defensive coordinator.Small world.They both played defense for the Yellow Jackets under Bill Curry from 1982-85. They actually roomed together at one time.Kevin Scarbinsky is a columnist for The Birmingham News. His column is published on Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.So when the older Pike began to see that his son had some football talent and wanted an outside opinion on his college potential, he sent a highlight tape to a few people he trusted. One of them was Roof."He said Zeke definitely looked like a kid who could play at the next level," Mark Pike said.That was before Zeke Pike grew to 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, before he became one of the top high school quarterbacks in the country at Dixie Heights High School in Edgewood, Ky., and one of the top national prospects in the class of 2012.Mark Pike valued more than Roof's opinion. He said he appreciated that, when Auburn really began to recruit his son, his old friend didn't take the lead but stepped aside and let offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn take over."It's nice to have someone there you have some roots with," Pike said, but Roof wouldn't be coaching Zeke. Malzahn would.About that.Pike said his son's high school team runs the spread offense, but his son, who's athletic enough to play defensive end and basketball, too, "in all reality, is a pro-style quarterback with a very strong arm. He's not a spread quarterback."Like Roof, Malzahn couldn't comment because Pike is a commitment who can't sign until next February, but how many times have we heard the offensive coordinator bristle at the notion that he runs the spread?"We talked a lot about (style of play)," Mark Pike said. "A lot of people said Zeke needed to be in a traditional pro-style system. But Gus really does adapt his offense to his personnel, especially his quarterback."See the Auburn offense with Chris Todd vs. the Auburn offense with Cam Newton.Pike said his family planned for Zeke to choose a college before his senior season began. His Auburn commitment last Wednesday, from a group of finalists that also included Arkansas (and quarterback guru Bobby Petrino), Tennessee, Michigan (and new offensive coordinator Al Borges) and Purdue, came earlier than they expected.After basketball season ended, the Pikes tried to visit as many schools as possible. During their high school's spring break last week, they hit four schools. One of them was Auburn, their fourth visit there."Everybody's got neat weight rooms and pretty player lounges," Pike said. "At the end of the day, you gotta like where you're at. Zeke just had a special feel in his heart and his gut that he was very comfortable at Auburn. It just felt right."It felt right even though he didn't grow up in Alabama or as an Auburn fan, even though so many people have spent so much time in recent months trying to find something wrong with Auburn. The Pike family noticed the negative publicity and discussed it with head coach Gene Chizik and other members of his staff."All I can tell you is the people I met there are very good people," Pike said. "As a parent, I feel they're people you can trust. We've been to some places where we didn't feel that trust."Pike wouldn't name names, but he said his son offered this comment after they returned from some other schools: "Dad, I don't know. They're just sketchy."Mark Pike offered a personal observation that gives him some empathy for the allegations and innuendo that have been hurled at Auburn, especially since the Tigers won the BCS Championship. He played on Buffalo teams that won four straight AFC championships but came up short each time in the Super Bowl."A lot of times, when you do well, when you're on top, people try to knock you down," he said.A lot of times, when a five-star quarterback commits early, other schools don't stop trying to change his mind. Pike said he's not sure what to expect on that front because he didn't get recruited until he was a senior in high school and didn't get a scholarship offer - ah, the good old days - until a month before signing day."All I can tell you is he's happy," Pike said. "He feels he's made a good choice. Mom and Dad feel he's made a good choice."Especially with dad's old friend Roof around to look after dad's son.
Zeke Pike will be Auburn's Tim Tebow in recruiting.If you don't know what Tebow did for Florida in recruiting that year, well he just brought in Brandon Spikes, a few OL & a couple WRs, Percy Harvin being one of 'em.
Can Zeke Pike offer eternal life like Tim Tebow?
OK, so even tho I am all about reserving judgment, you guys are staring to make me get all moist and stuff with the gushing over this kid. Is he all that and a bag of chips for REALZ or is this just orange and blue kool-aid? I need to know before I have to replace the batteries.
I think the kid sparked the interest of many many schools; that says a lot. We will see a QB battle like no other b/w Frazier and Pike in our near future. A great "problem" to have. Also, I believe it has been mentioned how well this kid is cruiten for Auburn. Lets just say Dyer x10
Grab more batteries...
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