Saturday, March 17, 2007

Recruiting update

Auburnsports.com is reporting that Auburn picked up its second commitment for the 2007 class, from Pace, Fla., tight end Vance Smith.

I won’t write much about this here, because I don’t know anything about Smith—or any other high-schooler. But I do think it’s interesting Auburn continues to do so well recruiting tight ends, considering the relatively small role they play in the offense. In the last three recruiting seasons, AU has signed Gabe McKenzie, Tommy Trott, Andrew McCain, Bailey Woods and Brent Slusher. That’s five pretty touted recruits for a position that has totaled 866 receiving yards in the Al Borges era. (And around 40 percent of that came from Cooper Wallace’s 302 yards in 2004.)

(EDIT: I totally forgot about Michael Goggans, who is now a defensive end. So make that six touted recruits for that position, plus Smith. Then again, as my good friend Bryan Matthews points out, if Smiths redshirts, he’ll be a redshirt freshman in 2009 behind two seniors in Trott and McKenzie. So there you go.)

Of course, Smith, who’s listed at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, might not be a tight end for long once he gets to Auburn. That’s what happened to McCain, who signed with Auburn as a tight end but moved to defense very early in his true freshman season before moving to offensive tackle last spring.

In other news, I hope you folks watched the end of regulation in the Xavier-Ohio State game. Man, was that exciting. It just happened to coincide with halftime at A-Day, which meant I was able to watch every second, including that amazing 3-pointer by OSU to tie the game at 62 with 2 seconds left and force OT. I’m guessing the Buckeyes will pull away in overtime. Too bad.