Recruitnews

Visual representation of Auburn's efforts to land Rueben Randle.

Lots of developments to keep track of, some of them positive for Auburn, but the substantial ones less so.

Moore leaves the fold. Texas offensive line prospect Aaron Moore decommitted yesterday, saying that after talking things over with Curtis Luper, he wasn't "comfortable" with the some direction or other the program has taken.

In one sense, this isn't too much of a blow: Moore was essentially a complete unknown back when Google surveyed him last summer, and if Rivals at least called him a run-of-the-mill three star and ESPN had a few good things to say about him, Scout remained unconvinced, keeping him at two stars after his senior season. In short: on the guru's paper, at least, Auburn isn't missing out on a major prospect. To boot, Tate reported that the new staff hasn't seemed particularly interested in locking up Moore's services.

However: if there's one position where Auburn needs quantity as much as quality, it's the offensive line. (Remember: Auburn's class of 2008 had zero offensive lineman make it to campus.) Even if Moore winds up being nothing more than a body--and, of course, he could always be more--Auburn desperately needs bodies at OL. Further, while I wouldn't go so far as to call it "disconcerting," it's a little surprising that Luper was sent to help seal up Moore's commitment (in "his" recruiting area) and got the exact opposite result. Oh well.

Bottom line: it's not the end of the world, but it's not exactly encouraging, either.

Flight risk? After Eddie Gran signed on with Tennessee, he apparently put in a call to RB commit Brandon Jacobs to gauge Jacobs's potential interest in the Vols. Honestly, I could care less about the ethics involved: Luper and Taylor are recruiting the same guys to Auburn they were trying to lure to Oklahoma St., so any gripes from Auburn's end are pretty much the height of hypocrisy.

Personally, I think Gran's interest is actually a positive. If Gran--who obviously knows a thing or two about running back recruits--thinks highly enough of Jacobs to try and peel him away to Knoxville, it's a better bet than ever in my mind that Jacobs could turn into a quality college running back. Now Chizik and crew just need to make sure he stays on board.

Gulley. Several sites reported yesterday that Brantley athlete Anthony Gulley had already committed to Auburn; later, there was some backtracking on that and neither major site lists him as a commit at the moment. It's all a rather silly situation, as the kid obviously wants to come to Auburn but also wants to keep his word to Troy about giving the Trojans a fair shot. Official, unofficial, tomato, tomahto. Unless something weird happens, he's coming to Auburn. UPDATE: Maybe this is the source of the weirdness: P. Marshall's allegedly reporting that Gulley does not, in fact, have an offer from the current staff. Seems like there's been some miscommunication or some other strangeness somewhere along the way.

Longshots. In what will surely be the most meaningless non-political series of flip-flops of the year, Rueben Randle's much-discussed visit to Auburn is apparently back on, at least until the wind changes. As I've said before: that Randle is visiting Auburn isn't so much about actually landing Randle--who nobody thinks is coming to the Plains--as it is establishing that Auburn is the sort of program recruits like Randle visit.

He doesn't have a visit scheduled--bummer--but five-star Lowndes (GA) cornerback Greg Reid met with some Tiger coaches yesterday and said that Auburn "is growing on me more every day." Apparently, he said that after eliminating Florida, much to the hilarious disgust of Urban Meyer. As with Randle, Auburn's chances of swooping in at the last second to nab a superstud like Reid are slim, slim, slim. But we can legitimately say that these guys are at least listening to what the Chiznick has to say.

Lattimore. Ted Roof was originally recruiting Athens (GA) linebacker DeDe Lattimore to Minnesota. It'll probably be a little bit easier to convince him to come to Auburn, assuming Auburn gives him an offer. There's a rare free article at Rivals on Lattimore here.

Blake. Taylor and Malzahn visited four-star wideout Emory Blake on their swing west Monday, and supposedly things went well, hooray hooray. Given Auburn's obvious, craven need for playmakers out wide and that the Tigers' competitors in his case are Colorado and Texas Tech, Blake strikes me a key, key recruit for this class.