What happened to Gene Chizik's first two recruiting classes at Auburn?

[Jumbo]

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http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2012/01/what_happened_to_gene_chiziks.html

What happened to Gene Chizik's first two recruiting classes at Auburn?
Published: Monday, January 30, 2012, 5:30 AM
 By Jon Solomon -- The Birmingham News al.com
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Players from Gene Chizik's 2009 and 2010 classes continue to disappear.
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Tommy Tuberville did Gene Chizik no favors by leaving behind bare final recruiting classes. Twelve of Auburn's 28 signees in 2008 never even played a down for the Tigers, and only five of the 28 will likely exhaust their eligibility.

Tuberville's last group truly was, as the Opelika-Auburn News recently dubbed it, "The Class That Time Forgot."

So what's that make Chizik's first two classes? Because time is quickly forgetting many of those players, too.

Remarkably, 43 percent of Auburn's 2009 and 2010 signees are no longer on the team, or never joined the program in the first place. That's a brutal percentage, especially as Auburn sits with the SEC's fewest 2012 commitments and two new coordinators who inevitably will weed out some veterans.


Jon Solomon is a columnist for The Birmingham News. Join him for live web chats on college sports on Wednesdays at 2 p.m.The good news for Auburn: It sits at 24 for 24 from the 2011 class still on the team, as far as we know. But 2009 and 2010 are the classes that keep on disappearing.

The missing signees are spread out among positions. They include six offensive linemen, four wide receivers, four defensive backs, three linebackers, three running backs and three defensive linemen.

They're not just fringe players. Forty percent of Auburn's four- or five-star signees listed by Rivals.com from those years are gone. That doesn't include five-star offensive lineman Shon Coleman, who hasn't played while fighting cancer and remains in the program.

Auburn's quarterback situation might not be a mess if it didn't miss in '09 on Tyrik Rollison, the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback who ranked 17 spots ahead of Clint Moseley. Rollison was suspended and transferred to Sam Houston State, where he has since left while recently expressing interest to join Texas A&M-Commerce.

Auburn's four- and five-star misses add up. Dontae Aycock, the No. 16 running back in '09 ahead of Arkansas' Knile Davis and Wisconsin's Montee Ball, was dismissed by Auburn in '10. Then he left South Florida last year, too.

Taikwon Paige, a four-star junior-college cornerback in '09, never qualified. Neither did Reggie Taylor, the nation's 34th-ranked corner that year.

Mike Dyer, the No. 2 running back in '10, gave Auburn two exceptional years as BCS Championship Game MVP and a first-team All-SEC star. Then he was suspended indefinitely and transferred to Arkansas State.

Roszell Gayden was a massive, four-star offensive lineman out of junior college in '10. He never played a snap due to injuries.

Jeremy Richardson, a four-star receiver in '10, never qualified. Another four-star receiver that year, Antonio Goodwin, got dismissed with three-star teammates Dakota Mosley and Shaun Kitchens after they were arrested on robbery charges.

Some high-profile players still at Auburn haven't lived up to the hype, at least not yet. DeAngelo Benton was the seventh-ranked wide receiver when he signed with LSU in 2007, rated ahead of Dez Bryant. Benton joined Auburn in 2009 and has 14 catches in three years.

Some high-profile 2010 recruits such as Trovon Reed, Kenneth Carter, Jeffrey Whitaker, Eric Mack, Craig Sanders and LaDarius Owens are hoping to make names for themselves. It's still relatively early in their careers. Corey Lemonier, a member of that '10 class ranked fourth nationally by Rivals, tied for fourth in sacks in the SEC last season.

Chizik only had two months to compile the '09 class after he was hired. He did land some longterm hits such as Emory Blake, Philip Lutzenkirchen and Onterio McCalebb. And of course Cam Newton turned out quite fine in 2010, as did fellow JuCo transfers Nick Fairley and Brandon Mosley.

Chizik signed eight JuCos his first two years. That helped win a national title. But it's not a longterm recipe for success, especially when those classes disappear for reasons beyond exhausted eligibility. Auburn didn't sign a JuCo in 2011 and doesn't have any committed for 2012, at least not yet.

Some of Auburn's top targets this year remain undecided. How the Tigers close in the next few days becomes a huge story.

Auburn doesn't need another forgotten class. Time already did enough damage.

[Godfather]

Interesting to see that the guys that left us are now also leaving the schools they went to after us #bigtroublemakers

[Buzz Killington]

Interesting timing there Solomon, you worthless sack of monkey nuts.

[GH2001]

Bama is putting together a top 3 class and Solomon is worried about us and our "small" class?

#bammersstillobsessedwiththebarn

[djsimp]

I see lots of egg in face come the 2nd.

[Godfather]

I am thinking about adding Solomon and Woodberry to this..

[djsimp]

I am thinking about adding Solomon and Woodberry to this..

That would mean shrinking their heads. Is that even possible?

[Jumbo]

Interesting to see that the guys that left us are now also leaving the schools they went to after us #bigtroublemakers

It's Chizik's fault. #booooo

[Pell City Tiger]

A real journalist would have included some comparative data in the article so John Q. Reader could see where this one cherry picked stat lies in the Bell curve of other teams in the conference.

These well timed hit pieces have led me to the following conclusion. I have no doubt that should something similar to the Sandusky scandal happen in tuscaloosa, people in our state media who have proven to be nothing more than attack dogs for the tide - such as Solomon, Karle, and Raita - would be willing accomplices in its cover-up.

[Kaos]

A real journalist would have included some comparative data in the article so John Q. Reader could see where this one cherry picked stat lies in the Bell curve of other teams in the conference.

These well timed hit pieces have led me to the following conclusion. I have no doubt that should something similar to the Sandusky scandal happen in tuscaloosa, people in our state media who have proven to be nothing more than attack dogs for the tide - such as Solomon, Karle, and Raita - would be willing accomplices in its cover-up.

Worse than that.  They'd all rape kids too and try to prove it was normal. 

And then Saban would dig out the NCAA rulebook and claim that there's no specific statute against raping kids in the ass so long as you are in a car that was rented from an establishment more than 31 miles from campus. 

And then thousands and thousands of Alabama parents would rape their own kids or they'd swap it up to further bolster claims of normalcy. 

And then finally the NCAA would go "what suits?"

[JR4AU]

Worse than that.  They'd all rape kids too and try to prove it was normal. 

And then Saban would dig out the NCAA rulebook and claim that there's no specific statute against raping kids in the ass so long as you are in a car that was rented from an establishment more than 31 miles from campus. 

And then thousands and thousands of Alabama parents would rape their own kids or they'd swap it up to further bolster claims of normalcy. 

And then finally the NCAA would go "what suits?"

Dis guy, he fuckin' knows.

[AUChizad]

Let alone the obvious fact that 2009 was bound for failure under Tuberville's.

Chizik polished a turd in a month and a half.

[JR4AU]

The most obvious fucking answer: "Won a BCS Championship"!  That's what happened to them! 

I have no interest in doing the research to find out "what became of Nick Saban's first 2 classes".  I looked at them on Rivals, and to start with, there's 57 in the first 2 years, which tells me right off the bat, 7 didn't come to campus immediately.   Then I see names like Jeremy Elder and Star Jackson, which brings it up to 9 that got processed in some way.  At a quick glance I see more than half with names that leave me saying "who the fuck was that" but there  may have been some that contributed that remained largely unknown names.  So if some bammer wants to put in the work, let us know how much better bammer's attrition rate is to make Auburn's "newsworthy."

[Townhallsavoy]

Let's actually look at two of Bama's classes:

2008:
Devonta Bolten
Robby Green
Glenn Harbin
Destin Hood
Star Jackson
Alonzo Lawrence
Ivan Matchett
Jermaine Preyear
Melvin Ray
Burton Scott
Corey Smith

2009:
Mike Marrow
Darius McKeller
Brandon Moore
Darrington Sentimore
Petey Smith
Rod Woodson

15 players from two signing classes not able to contribute at Alabama?  Why does Nick Saban fail to do his homework on so many kids?

[Token]

Let's actually look at two of Bama's classes:

2008:
Devonta Bolten
Robby Green
Glenn Harbin
Destin Hood
Star Jackson
Alonzo Lawrence
Ivan Matchett
Jermaine Preyear
Melvin Ray
Burton Scott
Corey Smith

2009:
Mike Marrow
Darius McKeller
Brandon Moore
Darrington Sentimore
Petey Smith
Rod Woodson

15 players from two signing classes not able to contribute at Alabama?  Why does Nick Saban fail to do his homework on so many kids?

Yeah, but he signed 40 in each class.

[Townhallsavoy]

Yeah, but he signed 40 in each class.

You shut up.  You. 

[GH2001]

Yeah, but he signed 40 in each class.

One corrupt Saban topic at a time.

The oversigning thread is a couple of pages down. We're talking about attrition.

[djsimp]

One corrupt Saban topic at a time.

The oversigning thread is a couple of pages down. We're talking about attrition.

I thought with Saban, these two things worked hand in hand.

[GH2001]

I thought with Saban, these two things worked hand in hand.

They do, but we have to break this "process" down in pieces, aiiiiighht?

[The Prowler]

Ol' Jon Soloman forgot to add that two of uat's players (WR Melvin Ray & RB Corey Grant) are now on Auburn's roster.