ARE YOU READY??

Hi, Brad here. I almost can’t believe it. It’s that time again ladies and gentleman. Time for a little college football. In particular, Auburn Football.

There are a lot of headlines hovering over the Auburn Football program this year. In case you have been in a cave for the past few months, you might not know that Auburn has a new football coach. Back in December, AU led Tommy Tuberville to “resignation”. Many folks think that the AU “powers that be” simply had enough. I am not going to bash Tubs because he did many good things for Auburn football as well as the University, but from a cynical observer of AU football one could tell that a change was needed. Tubs had appeared to get a little lazy in recruiting which as many know is the lifeblood of a successful college football program. This is indirectly proven by AU not signing anybody in the State of Alabama’s top ten recruits in the class of 2008 and only 2 in the class of 2007. It is hard to win when you don’t even compete for talent in your own state.

So, the new sheriff in town is former AU and Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik. Notice how I don’t mention that he used to be Iowa States football coach (5-19 record). I would rather forget about that stat and focus on the fact that his last two high profile positions he was undefeated in back to back seasons (Auburn 2004, 13-0, Texas 2005, 13-0). Chizik has passed the first test for all Auburn fans in the off season when he put together one of the best coaching staffs in the SEC. Mean Gene understands that to win in the SEC you have to be able to recruit. The coaching staff is filled with guys who understand recruiting and know how to recruit, most notably Trooper Taylor from Oklahoma State, Tracy Rocker from Ole Miss, and Tommy Thigpen from UNC.

I am anticipating the 2009 season probably more so than I did the 2003 season when we were preseason #1. It’s not because we are going to compete for a SEC title or even for a division title, but it is a “new” Auburn in terms of personnel, staff, and mentality. My prediction this year is 7-5 for Auburn. I believe if we come out of the gate and win our first 4 home games there is a chance we can sneak away with 8 wins. That 8th win would have to come against the likes of LSU, UGA, or ummm, Alabama (I hate to admit that this is a tough game, but its true). With that said, there is potential disaster for this team. We are very thin along the offensive line and at linebacker…..this goes back to recruiting. If a player or heaven forbid, players go down, it could be a long season. But I’m optimistic. I think this team has good leadership and has the right pieces in place to surprise some people this year. AU always seems to play its best when it is under the radar….remember 2004???

It’s here……..college football that is.