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Well, here we are, it's August. Some folks are already sending kids back to school. We're a little over a month away from actual football. Players report tomorrow for practice to begin on Wednesday. The long dark tea-time of the soul* that is the offseason is almost over.
BASKETBALL
Bruce Pearl & Company's recruiting efforts for Auburn are causing plenty of people around the game of basketball to step up and take notice. The Tigers currently have the number one recruiting class in the nation according to a few recruiting services.
FOOTBALL
One position of strength for this year's Auburn football team is special teams, as all of last year's contributors are back. The punting job may change hands, but there's no way #Legatron is giving up his spot as the kicker.
There are two features on the H-Backs, one on them and the tight-ends, and one specifically about Chandler Cox for you to read, this morning. In case you missed them over the weekend, anyway. One asks how much the H-Backs and TEs will see the ball this season. I hope it's a lot. Particularly the TE, since we were in sore need of that, last year. If the H-Backs get the ball, I hope it's either because they're playing RB or it's a wheel route. The other article asks if Cox can be the next Jay Prosch. I think he can be, but we'll see.
We know graduate transfer T.J. Neal will start at linebacker for Auburn this fall. The only question is exactly which position he'll start at. AL.com examined the Tigers' LB depth heading into camp.
Offensive lineman Braden Smith comes in at #87 in ESPN's top 100 players in college football. They're only through 81 right now, so perhaps another Tiger or two will show up on the list at some point.
Word is that signee Nick Coe will arrive on campus, today. He's not 100% officially cleared by the NCAA, but the school feels confident enough in his classroom performance that they believe he'll be fine. Coe, a state champion wrestler to go along with being a 4* DE, is the last of Auburn's signees to report (of those that are healthy enough to).
There's a new NCAA rule on the use of Twitter, and it's already annoying. Auburn OL coach Herb Hand has a pretty good take on it. I've already turned off the retweets of one Auburn coach because I don't want to see tons of recruit's tweets retweeted into my timeline.
It's been mentioned before, but a former Tiger is definitely in need of some prayers and help. Tre Mason was a no-show for the Rams' camp this week, and there have been stories of his family being worried about him. Apparently, he was none too thrilled with the Todd Gurley drafting and has made no effort to communicate with the team since the end of last football season.