College Sports

Hugh Nall has had myriad recruiting successes in 10 years on Auburn's football staff, not the least of which was Dontarrious Thomas.

As the oft-told story goes, Nall went to Thomas' high school in Georgia to scout another player. Once there, Nall saw another kid … skinny, 170-pound wide receiver with a certain body type and growth potential.

Who knew that Thomas would become an All-SEC and NFL linebacker?

Hugh knew.

It's one recruiting tale among many that have earned Auburn's staff a reputation for evaluating talent, and that staff has decided to trust its evaluations more. They're making scholarship offers earlier this year, and it's paid off with what's believed to be a school-record 17 early commitments for the 2009 class.

That number puts Auburn in high cotton nationally. Auburn, Texas A&M and Virginia are tied with the fourth highest commitment total among those from the 65 schools in Bowl Championship Series conferences.

Ohio State leads with 23. Texas has 19, and Cincinnati and Rutgers have 18 apiece.

Those who most closely follow Auburn recruiting say more commitments could come in the next few weeks.

"Auburn has one more camp left on July 12 that should have even more prospects than the one that produced (six) commitments last week," said Bryan Matthews, publisher of Rivals-affiliated AuburnSports.com. "I wouldn't be surprised to see AU pick up a few more commitments in July and be close to 20 total by the start of the season."

That would give Auburn almost a full class of 25 by kickoff, assuming all commitments hold until signing day and all prospects qualify academically. Those are always big "ifs" in recruiting, especially in major college football, but Auburn's staff has clearly decided to get out in front.

A hint can be found in the recruitment of Auburn's latest commitment, Peach County (Ga.) High School defensive back Reggie Taylor. AuburnSports.com reported that he received hard scholarship offers from Ball State, Iowa State and Memphis. The same report said he received "interest" from Alabama, Boston College, Florida and Florida State … a much more impressive list of football schools.

Similar "offer" and "interest" lists have appeared in stories about several of Auburn's commitments. Such language immediately draws skepticism, until one pairs the evaluation history and apparent strategy of Auburn's staff.

Auburn's staff relies heavily on player evaluations from its camps. This year, offers came immediately after the senior camp on the weekend of June 14.

"Auburn has been aggressive in evaluating recruits earlier, and, if they perform well at camp, they jump right in with an offer," Matthews said. "Often times, the first big school to offer a player has a big advantage when it's time for him to make a decision."

Jason Caldwell, who covers recruiting for Scout-affiliated autigers.com, said the strategy "is definitely a change in philosophy as compared to previous years.

"Earlier offers in the spring by everyone has sped up the recruiting process for many players. I think it's a trend that will continue."

Why is Auburn's staff seemingly among those out in front of the trend?

Auburn took at least a public perception hit on signing day this year, when rival Alabama signed what was almost universally ranked as the nation's top class. Auburn signed a top 20 class, but perceptions lingered that Auburn's staff got outworked.

This was especially true within the state of Alabama, where Auburn lost nearly every head-to-head battle with Alabama and second-year Alabama head coach Nick Saban.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville defended Auburn's 2008 class as underrated and need-based for a team that had 67 percent freshmen and sophomores in 2007. He also touted his staff's evaluation skills.

"We do a tremendous amount of evaluating," he said on signing day in February. "This was a year where a lot of people were desperate in recruiting it looked like. We got bombarded by a lot of guys who had committed, and … other schools tried to take them away. Some we held on to, some we didn't."

Now, Auburn's staff appears to be banking on being first or among the first major programs to offer top performers from its camps. The coaches hope it will pay off in commitment loyalty.

The strategy has paid off in commitments. The Tigers had three by this time last year. Auburn's seventh-ranked class of 2007 had seven commitments by July 1.

A look around the Southeastern Conference finds Auburn leading the way in commitments. LSU is second with 13, while Georgia and Tennessee have 11 apiece.

Alabama has eight.

As for the quality of Auburn's commitments, Rivals.com rates tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen, defensive tackle Jamontay Pilson and running back Rodney Scott as four-star prospects. The Tigers have seven three-star commitments.

By comparison around the SEC, LSU has a five-star prospect and six four-stars. Georgia has eight four-stars, and Florida has five.

Alabama and Auburn are tied with three four-star prospects apiece.

Besides Lutzenkirchen and Scott, Auburn's offensive commitments include three-star quarterback Raymond Cotton, three-star wide receiver LaVoyd James, three-star lineman Andre Harris and unrated lineman Aaron Moore on offense.

The defensive line corps features Pilson, three-star tackle Terrence Coleman and unrated junior college prospects Nick Fairley and Wilfred Journet, who signed with Auburn out of high school.

JUCO linebacker Eltoro Freeman was a four-star prospect when he signed with Auburn out of high school, and Auburn has pledges from three-star linebackers Harris Gaston and Jonathan Evans.

The unrated Taylor was the first defensive back to commit, and Rivals lists three-star Brandon Heavens, LaDarius Perkins and Travante Stallworth as "athletes," meaning they can play multiple positions.

Like Auburn's coaches, those who follow Auburn recruiting most closely trust the staff's evaluations.

"Right now I think Auburn's recruiting is going very well from a need standpoint," Caldwell said. "I think Andre Harris from Lovejoy is a huge commit. He's pretty good."

According to Matthews, Cotton is "very similar to Jason Campbell," who quarterbacked Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004. Auburn's defensive line class is "strong."

"Terrence Coleman is a little undersized, but much like his uncle, (current Auburn defensive end) Antonio Coleman, he's a heck of a football player," Matthews said. "Fellow Mobile native Nick Fairley should be an immediate help at d-tackle coming out of junior college.

"Auburn has also done well at linebacker with three commitments including JUCO standout Eltoro Freeman, who should make an immediate impact."

Matthews and Caldwell identify remaining needs in the secondary.

Elsewhere, "Auburn will need to focus on the offensive tackle position the rest of the way and will likely take at least on more wideout, one more tailback and possibly another quarterback," Matthews said.

While Auburn has much of its 2009 class lined up, Matthews expects intrigue to carry into the fall.

"Auburn will have to fend off other schools trying to steal their commitments," he said, "and as always, a lot of the blue chip prospects will wait until late to make a decision."

Early commitments

Auburn has 17 commitments for the 2009 football class, which is believed to be a school record. Here's where Auburn stands among BCS schools and around the SEC:

Among BCS schools

Ohio State 23

Texas 19

Cincinnati 18

Rutgers 18

Auburn 17

Texas A&M 17

Virginia 17

Around the SEC

Auburn 17

LSU 13

Georgia 11

Tennessee 11

Kentucky 10

Miss. State 9

Alabama 8

Florida 6

Arkansas 5

Ole Miss 5

South Carolina 5

Vanderbilt 4