Big Recruiting Day

[Kaos]

Wow! Stop it, thats like a dull knife.
Seriously though, I getting pretty excited also with the way things are coming together. A lot of it has to do with not seeing this type of recruiting (on many different levels) in a long time at Auburn. So, yeah its ok to get excited. Besides, whats wrong with getting off twice?

I'm mildly encouraged with the current state of things.  I am realistic -- or pessimistic if you prefer -- enough, however, to understand that you don't start stripping down just because a girl asks if you'd like something to drink.  You end up looking stupid. 

Charlie Weiss is a cautionary tale. Solid start, great recruiting. Fizz...
 
Ed Orgeron is a cautionary tale.  Followed a good coach in Cutcliffe, slud to a 1-7 SEC record in 2005 but recruited his ass off (by Ole Miss standards).   Fizz...

Too many people around here are knee jerk reactors.  They want to plant the victory flag before the battle's even really been enjoined.  I understand their desperation to finally catch me being wrong, but the splooging is pretty comical.

[AWK]

I'm mildly encouraged with the current state of things.  I am realistic -- or pessimistic if you prefer -- enough, however, to understand that you don't start stripping down just because a girl asks if you'd like something to drink.  You end up looking stupid. 

Charlie Weiss is a cautionary tale. Solid start, great recruiting. Fizz...
 
Ed Orgeron is a cautionary tale.  Followed a good coach in Cutcliffe, slud to a 1-7 SEC record in 2005 but recruited his ass off (by Ole Miss standards).   Fizz...

Too many people around here are knee jerk reactors.  They want to plant the victory flag before the battle's even really been enjoined.  I understand their desperation to finally catch me being wrong, but the splooging is pretty comical.

What is the fun of enjoying a sport, if you refuse to be optimistic about your team's future?  Might as well cheer for Vandy...

[Buzz Killington]

I'm mildly encouraged with the current state of things.  I am realistic -- or pessimistic if you prefer -- enough, however, to understand that you don't start stripping down just because a girl asks if you'd like something to drink.  You end up looking stupid. 

Not so fast my friend...the Naked Man works two out of three times.

[Godfather]

I'm mildly encouraged with the current state of things.  I am realistic -- or pessimistic if you prefer -- enough, however, to understand that you don't start stripping down just because a girl asks if you'd like something to drink.  You end up looking stupid. 

Charlie Weiss is a cautionary tale. Solid start, great recruiting. Fizz...
 
Ed Orgeron is a cautionary tale.  Followed a good coach in Cutcliffe, slud to a 1-7 SEC record in 2005 but recruited his ass off (by Ole Miss standards).   Fizz...

Too many people around here are knee jerk reactors.  They want to plant the victory flag before the battle's even really been enjoined.  I understand their desperation to finally catch me being wrong, but the splooging is pretty comical.

Man its a good thing Ogre doesn't have that attitude, he would have never gotten laid.

[Kaos]

What is the fun of enjoying a sport, if you refuse to be optimistic about your team's future?  Might as well cheer for Vandy...

I don't refuse to be optimistic. 

I just prefer some sanity. 

Recruiting is going well.  Nobody's denying that or saying it's not a cause for optimism/encouragement. 

Some have opted to declare the Chizik era an unequivocal success already, however.  I'm not prepared to do that.  I'm still unconvinced that he's the guy long term.  I'm not hiding outside Jay Jacobs' office with a flaming bag of shit today, though. 

[jadennis]

They want to plant the victory flag before the battle's even really been enjoined. 

I think this is part of the problem.  There is nothing wrong with getting mildly (or even more than mildly) excited about the little battles that are won.  How will we do in the war?  Who knows, and that's your Charlie Weiss example...he won some battles (recruiting) but lost battles on the field so often that he lost the war.

Right now, each guy that has verbally committed to us represents a battle won.  Other programs are fighting for these kids and when one of them says "screw the rest of y"all, I'm going with Auburn"...that's a battle won, and one worth getting somewhat excited about.  As those recruiting battles are won on many fronts (RB, WR, OL, LB, etc), we can get progressively more excited.

To your point, winning recruiting battles doesn't mean we'll win the war.  Napoleon was a genius until he decided to march his troops through Russia in the winter.  All the battles previous to that were meaningless as his 400,000 that marched into Russia returned as only 40,000.  Eventually Waterloo sent him the way of Weiss.

So yeah, we can't claim victory of the "war".  But I see nothing wrong in acknowledging the battles we're winning thus far.  And on signing day, we can get excited about battles actually won.  Then we can move on to the battles on the field.  And if this year was any indication, we at least have reason to believe that more talent will lead this staff to more wins.  An absolute?  Not at all.  Reason to be cautiously optimistic?  Absolutely.

[Kaos]

I think this is part of the problem.  There is nothing wrong with getting mildly (or even more than mildly) excited about the little battles that are won.  How will we do in the war?  Who knows, and that's your Charlie Weiss example...he won some battles (recruiting) but lost battles on the field so often that he lost the war.

Right now, each guy that has verbally committed to us represents a battle won.  Other programs are fighting for these kids and when one of them says "screw the rest of y"all, I'm going with Auburn"...that's a battle won, and one worth getting somewhat excited about.  As those recruiting battles are won on many fronts (RB, WR, OL, LB, etc), we can get progressively more excited.

To your point, winning recruiting battles doesn't mean we'll win the war.  Napoleon was a genius until he decided to march his troops through Russia in the winter.  All the battles previous to that were meaningless as his 400,000 that marched into Russia returned as only 40,000.  Eventually Waterloo sent him the way of Weiss.

So yeah, we can't claim victory of the "war".  But I see nothing wrong in acknowledging the battles we're winning thus far.  And on signing day, we can get excited about battles actually won.  Then we can move on to the battles on the field.  And if this year was any indication, we at least have reason to believe that more talent will lead this staff to more wins.  An absolute?  Not at all.  Reason to be cautiously optimistic?  Absolutely.

And I'm right there with you on everything you said. 

Cautious optimism. 

Button's been touched, there might be sex.  But it isn't time to get buck naked. 

if you read the coments from Prowler on the first page and then Chopper's silly "We see bush and are about to score" (I guess the poor guy has never gotten laid if he gets that jizzed over a wink) response I think it's pretty clear that some are planting the flag of victory. 

It's premature.  If this were a heavyweight fight, round one isn't even over yet.  Chizik has proved that he can land a punch or two, but so did Gerry Cooney. 

It's a protracted battle. Chiz hasn't been knocked out yet, which does offer a glimmer of hope.  We'll see as the rounds pile up whether he can withstand the punches himself.

[djsimp]

Charlie Weiss is a cautionary tale. Solid start, great recruiting. Fizz... agreed
 
Ed Orgeron is a cautionary tale.  Followed a good coach in Cutcliffe, slud to a 1-7 SEC record in 2005 but recruited his ass off (by Ole Miss standards).   Fizz...agreed

Im not saying Chizik will be lights out as a HC but I think a lot of people are encouraged, even those that felt somewhat dismayed about his hire. Of course, you know me, I tend to be more optimistic than not. To add to that, this recruiting year has been a lot more fun to watch die to the type of recruits we actually have coming in, the likes that we have not seen in a while. Not only players with the grades to get in but positions that we are so desperately in need of. The jury is still out on what will come of them in the long run as far as production on the field but the signs that many of us are seeing is a good bit more promising than, say, two years ago.

Truth is, bama has been kicking our arse all over the place in recruiting since Saban has been there, so now that we can make this more of a level playing field in recruiting it makes me happy. bama is not only a good measuring stick because they are our rival but also because if we can continue to recruit at that level, I feel pretty good that we can perform at that level.

[Saniflush]

And I'm right there with you on everything you said. 

Cautious optimism. 

Button's been touched, there might be sex.  But it isn't time to get buck naked. 

if you read the coments from Prowler on the first page and then Chopper's silly "We see bush and are about to score" (I guess the poor guy has never gotten laid if he gets that jizzed over a wink) response I think it's pretty clear that some are planting the flag of victory. 

It's premature.  If this were a heavyweight fight, round one isn't even over yet.  Chizik has proved that he can land a punch or two, but so did Gerry Cooney. 

It's a protracted battle. Chiz hasn't been knocked out yet, which does offer a glimmer of hope.  We'll see as the rounds pile up whether he can withstand the punches himself.

I'm gonna go ahead and whack off to get that first one out of the way.  No sense going out with a loaded gun that has a hair trigger.

just ask her.