The 2012 College Football thread!!!

[BigTyla]

Auburn has landed arguably the best assistant coaching staff in college football. Let's go down the list.

1) Gus brings on Rhett Lashley as his OC, which was an underwhelming hire but understandable since Gus will be using him as a puppet anyway, just as he did at Ark St.
2) Gus gets Ellis Johnson as his DC. Widely regarded as a huge hire. His defenses have been top performers everywhere he's gone, most recently including South Carolina.
3) Gus brings along J.B. Grimes and Ryan Russell from Ark St as his OL and strength coaches, respectively. Grimes is underwhelming but Russell is a Yoxall protege (nationally-recognized former AU SC coach that was released by Gus) that, unlike Yoxall, actually likes to do bench press.

Then the Gus Bus really picks up steam:

4) Gus gets Charlie Harbison from Clemson as a DB and co-defensive coordinator. He's a Rivals top 25 recruiter from Clemson with a ton of coaching experience with defensive backs.
5) Gus lands Melvin Smith, another Rivals top 25 recruiter and 2011 finalist for the Broyles Award. He'll coach corners.
6) Gus steals former AU player Rodney Garner from GA to coach DL. He's yet another top recruiter and highly regarded as one of the best DL coaches in the country.
7) Gus hires Rich Bisaccia from the San Diego Chargers to coach special teams and runningbacks. Bisaccia is regarded as the best special teams coach in ANY level of football.
8) Gus convinces Daymeune Craig, former AU great (QB), to leave Florida State and come back to Auburn to coach receivers. Another Rivals top 25 recruiter.

I had some reservations after the firing of our previous staff mainly because they were so effective at recruiting big names and we had a huge class set to come in next year. I only hoped Malzahn could hire a staff that could recruit at a similar level. He's arguably put together a staff that can do even better!

My other concern was with special teams. I was upset when our old special teams coach was let go because we had arguably the most disciplined special teams play in the country. Hiring Bisaccia from the NFL wasn't just a home run, it was an out-of-the-ballpark hire. Then when I heard last night we were able to convince Craig to come back home, I was like:

[Echo419]

Surrender Pigeon!

[BigTyla]

You're just bitter because we stole your best coach.

[Echo419]

You're just bitter because we stole your best coach.

best recruiter for sure. coach...ok maybe but that D-line got walked through the last 2 games sooooo I donno. I think our defensive backs and linebackers are outstanding.

[AdamVR4]

Hahaha... so of course kstate would get beat down by uo. I was very impressed with uo's defense.

[HilbillyHomeboy]

Until K-State got rattled, and consequently out of position, they were controlling the game pretty well and setting themselves up to be right back in it. Ducks were obviously flustered with the slow, methodical pace of K-State. Once they flipped it to hyper drive, K-State lost their discipline and the score climbed. Pretty good (entertaining) game, overall.

Not sure why the ACC refs refused to call personal fouls against Oregon...

Jeremy

[AdamVR4]

Until K-State got rattled, and consequently out of position, they were controlling the game pretty well and setting themselves up to be right back in it. Ducks were obviously flustered with the slow, methodical pace of K-State. Once they flipped it to hyper drive, K-State lost their discipline and the score climbed. Pretty good (entertaining) game, overall.

Not sure why the ACC refs refused to call personal fouls against Oregon...

Jeremy

That cheap shot on klien when he was stood up was crazy... how do they miss the helmet to helmet then the attempted forearm to the head?

[HilbillyHomeboy]

Beats me. And the two out of bounds hits before that.

Jeremy

[BigTyla]

...and now we just hired Arkansas's recruiting coordinator and RB/TE coach to coach our TEs!

He only coached Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, and Knile Davis and recruited Joe Adams, Jarius Wright, and Greg Childs to Arkansas. Nothing too impressive.

AuburnSports.com - Horton completes the staff

This is awesome. Whoda thought you could put together a monster staff with proven coaching AND recruiting abilities?

[HilbillyHomeboy]

Glad that the lions share of recruiting for this year is already in the books...because that is one very stat heavy coaching staff. Nice work; looking forward to AU returning to prominence.

Jeremy