Alabama Football: Why Auburn can give up on ’23 class recruiting

With less than two months until the Early Signing Period, Alabama Football is in great shape to finish No. 1. In stark contrast, Auburn is lagging way behind.

Using the Team Rankings from the 247Sports Composite, the Tigers are No. 12 among SEC teams and well behind No. 11 Kentucky. In the total rankings of all FBS teams, Auburn is No. 48, edging out Colorado and Rutgers to make the top 50.

Auburn fans no doubt want to believe their team still has time to gain ground. That might be true if an exit by Bryan Harsin were to happen soon. Instead, ESPN’s Pete Thamel says the Tigers have no urgency to make a change. A few days ago, Thamel explained,

"The latest I’ve heard on Bryan Harsin has been a little bit of change of tenure at Auburn. They’re, obviously, amid an AD search — they talked to AD candidates this week. The thought now is that the new AD will come in place and then make a decision on Bryan Harsin and his future. There is less urgency right now to make a move on Harsin than there maybe was a few weeks ago at Auburn. There’s some optics that they’re concerned about at Auburn and they don’t want to look like Auburn being Auburn."

Avoiding looking like ‘Auburn being Auburn’ is an unusually, sound decision for the Auburn program. Except, it is too late and as a result, too little to remedy a sullied reputation.

Bryan Harsin keeps saying the Tigers are close. Now that he has finally settled on Robby Ashford at quarterback, there might be a kernel of truth in what Harsin claims. Though, stubbornly sticking with a proven mediocre (at best) TJ Finley in early games, is a refutation of Harsin as a top offensive coach.

The biggest roster problem for the Tigers is one that goes back well into Gus Malzahn’s tenure. It is the offensive line. Harsin has three offensive linemen verbal commits in the 2023 class. According to 247Sports they are ranked No. 383, No. 393 and No. 973.

Alabama Football and Auburn Recruiting

How bad is the current list of Auburn’s total of 11 verbal commits? The top-rated recruit for the Tigers is 4-Star, RB, Jeremiah Cobb. Cobb is ranked as the No. 184 player in the 2023 class. If Cobb was a member of the Alabama Football, 2023 group of verbal commits, he would be the Crimson Tide’s 17th highest-ranked player.

Maybe Bryan Harsin can coach, but at least at Auburn, he cannot recruit. Auburn’s reduced urgency means the Tigers’ 2023 class will be weak and the new coach for the 2023 season will have to add quantity and quality through the Transfer Portal.

Bryan Harsin did not deserve what he’s faced at Auburn. Neither will the Tigers’ next Athletic Director.