Football whatnot

A couple of bits of bad news have come out in the last week about the Auburn football team and, as tends to happen with these sorts of things during the offseason, fan response seems to have gone to either extreme: near-total panic or flip dismissal. Is either response right? Is this the end of the world, or just nothing to worry about? Let’s take a look!

First, there's been some discussion around the tubes lately, starting I believe with this Evan Woodbery piece, about the size of Auburn's recruiting class thus far (the very existence of which is sort of terrifying, given that it's seven months before signing day). Several schools, including SEC members Florida, LSU, and Alabama, already have 15 or more. Should having such a small class so far give Auburn fans pause?

Probably not. Even with only 8 commitments, right now Auburn has a top-25 class (according to Scout, though you can only put so much confidence in that). One four-star and a bunch of three-stars so far is nothing to panic about. The ratio isn’t quite as good as it was last year, but Auburn’s got several high-profile prospects (Lache Seastrunk, Michael Dyer, Joel Bonomolo, Wes Rea, etc) on the radar. Head coach Gene Chizik has put together quite a staff, with a lot of creative if sometimes hit-and-miss ideas, and their performance last year in salvaging what turned into a good class was very impressive. Recruiting shouldn’t be a long-term problem.

A more serious concern: Only Decent Returning Receiver Tim Hawthorne broke his foot during summer workouts. Hawthorne’s had some terrible luck at Auburn. He’s supposed to be back in time to be healthy for the season, but that’s a story we’ve heard before. This is pretty bad news, except for young receivers who might be looking to grab a chance for more playing time.

But the real problem here, which should give Auburn fans pause as the season approaches and temper their expectations just a bit, is what these problems say about the larger situation the team is in. Recruiting a small class is important for Auburn right now because of serious concerns about quality depth at every position except for running back. Linebacker and especially offensive line are such that any serious injury would be catastrophic. There are plenty of quarterbacks and wide receivers, but at their best inspire only an “Eh.”

That’s why even a best-case scenario for 2009 is going to mean a drop-off late in the season, especially on defense. Right now, the bodies just aren’t there.