247 Update on Recruiting of Gary

has always given us an advantage with Gary. Sure, it is hard to go wrong w/Bama but UM, under Harbaugh is on the precipice of a steep upward trend and I think Partridge is keeping it a 100 w/all the NJ kids and making them quite aware of what will more than likely unfold in AA w/in the next few years. I do think stockpiling the hell out of talent can and does hurt certain programs, i.e., Walker and OSU. While true Harbaugh is doing the same with QBs at this point in time, only one has come out of h.s. looking like a realistic candidate to grow into NFL material. I do feel Gentry is going to give us a lot of quality minutes, but still have my doubts as to it  being in the traditional qb model in Harbaugh's favored attack.  Also, aside from the others competing for that particular spot, I don't think you would find many other players overly concerned about trying to build substantial depth at this very important position. Harbaughs, and I mean every one of them have built solid reputations as being damn good people and this plays well wth anyone, even opposing coaches, but parents moreso than any other look for trust in the man that will be shaping their sons' future. He has done well in acquiring more than sufficient talent at every stop and one was pretty much on life support before his arrival.

To be fair, Bama is actually loaded with talent so even a talent like Hand can get time to develop in the system rather than playing immediately. It's one of the benefitsof being in a reloading state instead of rebuilding state.

Malik McDowell's mother tried, but unfortunatately failed.  Hold strong Mama Gary!

Do you think having Mama G on our staff helps in that regard?  I still think it was a stroke of genious, and within 5 years all teams will have a "team Mom".

It's a nice college town and the fastest growing city in Alabama.

In general, I don't thing that dumps have a positive growth.

She lives in Opelika which is pretty much part of Auburn.  She moved there from Athens, Ga. and likes it but not nearly as much as Athens.  She says there are 2 poles and not much between.  Either the schools are great or terrible depending on what neighborhood you are in for example.  Lots of stuff like that but overall she's positive on it.

I've stayed there several times, my wife is an alumna.   I think the best thing that could be said about it is it's "quaint."  Food stinks and I mean it's just awful, no nightlife to speak of, nearest thing of interest is Atlanta (which is an hour and a half away).  I turned down a job there a few years ago at a budding bio-tech firm because there's no way I'm raising my kids in a cultureless BFE.  

My wife lived in the trailer park!  She had her own double-wide.  Seriously, that's the OCH situation there, pretty grim.

I believe Gary's mom is more upset with Muschamp than she is with Auburn. That was a headline of another paywalled 247 article so Auburn may not be out of it. However, the fact that Harbaugh called them up and talked them through this is a huge positive for us.

The staff still represents the program as a whole. They did hire the guy in the first place. They also sent him on an in-home visit. Durkin also visited NJ last week before Maryland annouced him as their head coach. The difference between how she views Durkin and how she views Muschamp is striking, and even if it probably shouldn't, it's going to affect how she views the two institutions. Especially with her calling Muschamp a liar. What does it say about Auburn coaches if one of them is a liar? It's slippery slope thinking for sure, but that's how people think. If the guy is a liar the assumption might be that the current staff is okay with that kind of recruiting strategy, which only hurts trust. It might be suptle, but it definitely hurts Auburn on the whole.