LOVE THIS: Recruiting Expert Compares Auburn QB Target to ELITE Passer

0:00There's a ton of buzz for Israel Abrams to Auburn, and we've got a nice player comp for him. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ You are Lockdown Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. Yes, welcome on into Lockdown Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Blackerby. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn. You're first, listen, every single day. Bryant Smith, host of the portal, hangin' out with us to Portals Lockdowns Recruiting, NIL, and Transfer Portal Podcast. There's a linebacker to watch where Auburn Tiger fans will discuss him later. Another prediction for Carlos made Auburn, what that could mean for this defensive line class. But let's start with Israel Abrams, because there have been some predictions for Israel Abrams to Auburn, and there's been other riders as said that that prediction

1:00is coming probably soon that they're close to pull in the trigger there. Bryant, is there a quarterback that he reminds you of when you watch tape of Israel Abrams? I would go, and I'm not saying he's at the level yet, but just some of his movements, his body, the way he's built, I'm gonna go with Hinden Hooker. I'm sure if you're an Auburn fan, you're familiar. He played at Tennessee, go as he was a part of that, blah, blah, blah, like getting in there. I would imagine that if he's anything like Hooker at Auburn, they would be very happy. But Hooker was a guy that decent-sized, pretty good mobility, that's kind of how I look at Israel. He's not gonna be running around like cable Williams athletic, but he's athletic enough, and he makes throws from every frickin' angle, and he's a wiry-free, got a bit like a basketball player. Long, yeah. Yeah, he really is. He's kind of a baseball player that plays in the outfield.

2:01Somebody like that, and he just gets the ball there, even if you look at him, like, nah, nah, don't do it. Oh, okay. Hinden Hooker did a lot of those, too. And he could throw from the pocket, don't get me wrong, but he made his money when somebody was in his face, and he had to make weird throws, or make that delivery with a guy where he couldn't step into it. Israel does some of that, too. And I'd say he's gonna have the same success. Hinden Hooker does to be clear, but that's where it reminds me. Yeah, yeah, just looking at physical traits. Israel Abrams from Monteney, Catholic, Chicago area kid, four star across the board, 247 has him as the number two quarterback in this recruiting class. Yeah, I mean, you look at his frame six, four, just shy of 190, kind of depending on where you look, he's kind of hovering around that weight. And I just, you gotta assume he'll probably play it 200, wherever he ends up, whether it's Auburn or somewhere else, and probably won't play as a freshman, but his playing weight, I think, would probably 200 to 210 at a six, four frame,

3:03which isn't as large as Byron Brown, but we have seen Alex Gholish have very good offenses with a guy like Hinden Hooker who you're comparing him to. Another thing, when I've watched some of his tape, even as I guess a junior in high school, you can see Israel Abrams kind of running around, but he's using his legs to create time, which you don't always see at the high school level, which I thought that was intriguing. Yeah, like that's fine. You can use your legs, but your arm is still the key here. Abrams have been coached. I know most Auburn people probably aren't very familiar with Monteney, Catholic. That's one of the better programs in the greater Chicago land area, and they're gonna add players around him. He knows what it's like to play in big time prep games, sometimes you're not gonna be able just to run around like your head's cut off and make plays. You got to be on time where you get smoked. And to that end, he'll extend to play when he needs to. And he'll go get your five yards, but he's not gonna be doose or somebody like that after,

4:04like that's a whole other level. And it's fine. He reads the defense, he makes the plays, he extends the plays. In some ways, it's kind of like Byron's a much bigger dude, like he's the monkeys, but the same principle. He went and ran because that's part of their offense, but when they had to throw a two minute drill, Byron would extend to play. No, okay, I could go get seven, but that's not gonna help us. I gotta wait and make the throw, even if a guy's coming down my throat. Is where I have some kind of deal. Yeah. So he has official visits lined up, according to his page on 247, an official visit to Purdue on May 22nd, an official visit to Auburn on June 5th, an official to FSU on June 12th, an official to Kentucky on June 19th. Some of these make sense from a proximity standpoint, and then others like, you know, I mean, specifically Auburn and FSU, I kind of wonder if those are like the two main, like, it's a weird list, especially for a guy

5:09that's like a top five quarterback in the composite, like that's a strange list. No question about it. Here's my thing, and you can take this any way you want. Okay. Everybody has their own perception in schools. Purdue's never gonna get much, but they've had quarterbacks in the past, their coach is pretty good, and he would probably walk in there and start from West Lafayette to where he lives, his maybe two hours. Okay, Will Stein and Kentucky, he was the OC at Oregon, very well respected, and for whatever reason, I know obviously Kentucky's a hoop school, they have opened the purse strings for football, like way open. There's been in some money. Yeah. They're the wild card here. If you'd have told me that six months ago, I would have told you to seek a drug counselor and move on, but they're different now. And Stein gives them a chance. For the state, I mean, I cover locked on seminars here on the network. Right. You don't even have a clue what's going on with them at quarterback or anything else.

6:10Take that how you will, but they never have a fascinating program right now. For all the wrong reasons, but yes. All the wrong reasons, it's not good time for me when that locked on. Yeah, and actually a worse situation than Auburn. Like at least we're starting. It's not close, right? Not close. Like at least we have opened a new beginning. You guys are just kind of in limboge sitting there. So interesting recruitment for sure, though, for for Israel Abrams. So we'll see what that looks like moving forward, but incredible athlete. May everybody thinks he's going to be a really, really good quarterback excited to see exactly where he ends up. Do you think he makes a decision with all this chat? I mean, it's heating up a little bit. Do you think he makes a decision before these official visits or is this the kind of guy who might wait? It depends if he's really looking at all four. How much is hit kid from Chicago? Really going to know what Tallahassee's like. You know what I mean? The difference between Tallahassee and Chicago

7:11is the difference between earth and Mars. So like if he's not taking the unofficials and like spent multiple days, I just don't see how he could do it in earnest. Unless he's unless it's a facade, he's really down to like Auburn and Kentucky or whatever it is. Right. So I maybe if he picks early, I would imagine Auburn based on the smoke, but he's been down has any like at least one. If he's been down to one, it's Auburn kind of smells itself. In my opinion, but otherwise, I got a feeling that this may be his four, but he's so good. There's going to be somebody else. And I don't know which one it'll be. One of the other big boys, maybe it's Michigan or Ohio State, US somebody else. I bet you interest the race. That's my right. Right. I want to jump more into the defensive line now. More and more smoke for Carlos May picking the Auburn Tigers. That's next right here. Unlocked on Auburn. I'm Clea Butler, host of Locked on Women's Basketball.

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9:14There's more to a Mazda because there's more to you. Tessa also brought to you by our friends at Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. Everyone to experience the NBA finals live and in person. Well, Fandall is giving you the chance to turn that dream into a reality with their NBA sweepstakes. Here's how it works. You use your profit boost on any NBA future and you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA final strip for two. That's right, flights, tickets, the whole experience. Visit Fandall.com to get started. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandall, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Brian Smith, our guest on today's edition of Locked on Auburn. Brian hosts the portal. Looking at Carlos May. Built Fong putting in a prediction for Carlos May. You and I have discussed this before. That typically does not happen just, you know, Willie Nilly. There's usually some kind of, you know,

10:16amount of information that he has given in order to do that. Restar on two, four, seven. He is a four star in the composite and also in the composite. He's the sixth ranked player in the state of Alabama, which I think is one of the many important elements to this, but a defensive lineman from Ramsey High School in Birmingham. Listen to six, three, three hundred and five pounds can move really, really well with that size. There's a lot to like about Carlos May. This is a kid that you win if you get him because he's talented because of the position fit. And if Auburn's going to make that move to compete with Damien, Georgia Moore, they got to win more Birmingham battles. We talked about it forever. They've just not gotten it. That's the one area they haven't consistently done. They've gotten a few Smith and a few other guys. But by and large, that is the golden goose that they haven't been able to plot yet. So getting Carlos there, and I'm sure Alabama would take him, among others, is a big point.

11:16And again, they're never enough defensive tackles act. I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but that's always a premium for, I don't care, which class or which team, all those exceptions. Getting him to go along with what they've gotten here in the last few years plus Donovan Moore. That's a heck of a start. Yep. Donovan Moore obviously committing a few weeks ago. The number one player in the state defensive lineman. And then according to the composite, the 11th ranked player in the state of Alabama, four star Elijah Brown, big defensive lineman from Prattville. Is it a 6 4 2 85? I mean, kind of a lean 6 4 2 85 as well. I think that he can carry a lot more weight depending on what they want to do with him. But getting these three guys, we've heard that these three guys, the big three is kind of a massive priority for Vantro King Williams, Auburn's defensive line coach. And if he pulls off getting these three guys early, I mean, that's going to be the core of the signing class. Those three guys and whoever they get a quarterback.

12:17If you can figure out quarterback, and you have these three detacles, those are the positions you want to start with in any class. Quarterback kind of speaks for itself. Obviously, Israel, that's your guy. But now, if you get three early in state detacles, I think all three are good enough to play at BAM at like, most of the last time Auburn got the top three detacles in the state. Top three, not like one or two, like neither school ever gets all three. Yeah. That would be really impressive. Yeah, I mean, we had some crazy in-state classes with frees, but I don't think so that would have been like a tree. That class that's going to be the sophomore group, you could have argued it, maybe. So it would have been that year because it was a tree, Jordan Crawford in state, right? Yeah, he was another Birmingham kid, and then who's the guy who flipped six times in his recruitment? Yeah, sure, I forget his name. What is it? And then he hit the portal, of course, what was his name? Oh, that's Antonio Coleman.

13:18Yep. That's anytime you get groups like that, you're ahead of the curve. Because they don't want to take in pretty much any of those kids, too. So I'm curious. Now can they get at least one edge? It's on that Carlos May more kind of level. If they do that, they would be bloated for bear. I mean, this D-line group is going to be key, though, because it doesn't happen like this every year, we're in state. You're going to have three guys over 280 that can play. That's pretty rare. You know, that's really important, too. Do you think, I guess this would be more so for Donovan more than the other guys, but they certainly have a chance at it, too? Do you think one of these guys will be a five star before it's all set and done? It depends on the camp circuit and all that, but more like they'll probably all go to the underarmor camp. That's the key. You've got to be in front of the scouts and have a good day, one on one. That's, I know that's the thing to hear that, but it's the only time a lot of the scouts get to see some of these kids play live. That's the key.

14:19And then on top of it, if they go to one of the underarmor game or the Navy game, and they ball out there to get all scouts to be there, I would think more is the most likely, but he's the most gifted athletically. The others, I think, a little bit more power. He's got more wiggle to his games. I think he's the most probable. Yeah, I'm curious to see, like, if we get movement in other positions, I don't know we're about to talk about linebacker, but the, I think these commitments are going to come in batches, like we've talked about the new calendar, like we're all kind of guessing what it will look like. And do those happen more during the official visit circuit? That's going to happen in a few months, or do they happen during spring? I'm intrigued to see, like, what the pockets of commitments look like with this new era of this calendar. I'm not trying to guess, because I don't trust anything the NCAA does.

15:20First off, secondly, turn about 17 year olds, with the NIL that's getting thrown around, and they just, I mean, they keep saying, oh, we're going to bring it down, or it's not going down, it's going up. Anything's possible, but everybody tries to time the commitments too. Do I think it's coincidence that Montreux and Auburn is trying to get these guys in a row, trying to build excitement at the position to get the next guy to commit, which makes sense. What position is next? I don't know. I'm sure if they get Israel, they'd be happy, because that'll help anything on offense, but you could see that. Could see a couple of receivers, could see a couple of linebackers or anything else. You want to build momentum, and everybody tries to plot the dates, so it's fun to watch. All right, we got a linebacker to watch. Looks like there's some traction to Auburn there as well. We jump into that next, right here, unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at TurboTax. Nobody likes doing taxes, not one person. So just have TurboTax, do it for you.

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17:26We know here at locked on Auburn, we love the grape flavor. We are pro grape flavor. Just going to be honest with you. So obviously, I think that was going to be a little underrated. I can't wait to see the draft board there, but find your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available online at fivehourenergy.com or online at Amazon. Find a few minutes of today's edition of locked on Auburn Isaac McNeil. His on three pages has him definitely trending to the Auburn Tigers. Isaac McNeil, six, two, two hundred and ten pound linebacker, he's a mobile kid. What do we know about Isaac McNeil, Brian? Shot out of a cannon, hits really hard. Plays at a great program in Viger. You watch three clips of him and you understand. Like he's just a really good player, man. He beats the ball carrier to the spot. He stays really square to the line of scrimmage.

18:28But when he puts his foot in the ground, he has suddenness like a running back. He's a lot of fun to watch. Not sure which position he'll play in college, because he's at that size where he could go in different directions. Maybe he grows into a mic, maybe plays well. I don't care. I just like the athleticism and the aggression. The only thing I don't know, like most linebackers, Kenny Cover, most linebackers are terrible at it in general, but it's good as he is against the run and as a butcher, he's still going to be really good in the college game. And he's a true off-ball linebacker. You don't see him morphing into an edge or a buck or anything like that. No, likely. He's six, two might be generous. I bet he's more six, one, six, one and a half, but he's shot out of the cannon, man. I'm OK. He's a little bit like X, like he tries to shoot some, get, take some chances. But he's also a kid that he's physical. He gets in the grinds with some guys that are bigger than him and tries to stuff it. He's got the plays in the system. So if you take that athleticism and he continues

19:30to harness his craft, he could be as good as he wants to be. Yeah, he's got an official visit scheduled for Georgia on May 15th, an official visit scheduled to Auburn on May 28th, an official visit scheduled to Florida on June 11th, and an official schedule to Bama on June 19th. So that is quite the list. Yeah, that is not a shywist of talent right there. That's about as big a game as, and it's like, again, you watch three clips. That's like, it's like, sense. Yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty straightforward. So, yeah, whoever gets him is going to get a guy that has a chance to play him in any NFL at some point. So that's Isaac McNeil, the linebacker from Mobile, Alabama. Brian, how would you, I mean, just overall, all these guys that seem to be trending towards Auburn, Auburn seems to be in it for a lot of, of, of big guys.

20:31And just hearing other people talk about the job that goal should has done, like, they're behind on a lot of these relationships, but just because of the nature of when he got hired and, you know, you, you recruit these kids for years, you don't just recruit them for, you know, a few months before their senior season. How would you grade the job he's done so far? Like a minus, I mean, that's how it is having more guys verbally committed. The short time he's been involved, it's pretty impressive because you know this from women here your whole life. State of Alabama is pretty close. Like, it is a small Nick group, just in any way, shape or form. Outsideers, it takes a while. And he's come in and open the door pretty, pretty quick. So I'm curious if that's going to result in a top chain. I don't know how many they're going to try to take it. I don't know if you know the number, but I would assume it would be a pretty good size class because when you have staff turnover, there's a lot of kids come and go. They got a chance at a top 10 class. And I wasn't sure how he would recruit as the head coach

21:34at an SEC school. Now, he's been a recruiting coordinator all that, but it's different being the head coach and trying to balance all the junk you have to do. You never know, but right now, he's doing very good. And kind of like the kid we just talked about, it's not fair, but it's still the truth. How he does against Bama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, that's pretty much how he's going to be graded at the end of the day. It's got to win some of those battles where if you look at it from the outside, you're, yeah, they probably won't get it. It's Georgia for a linebacker. But right now, they're trending for it. You beat Georgia for a linebacker, like they put every guy that starts for Georgia or a linebacker goes in and fell. It's insane. Right. You went something right. So that kind of opened my eyes when you said that, I didn't look at it as OV list. I'm like, oh, okay. But yeah, it is backed up the film. They're more than impressions. Or you wouldn't even get kids like that to come to campus, what alone trending to get their commitment. Steve, well, I'm put in a prediction for Auburn. Also a very good sign. So yeah, you can't complain at this point. My only question now for the rest of the spring,

22:35can they get the elite kids back on campus for unofficial visits? The more times they visit, the more likely they are to sign that never ever changes. Right. Brian Smith, how can people check out everything you've got going on? Walked on the portal. I actually just did my very first quarterback preview. I'm going to do a series of all the teams in the P4 just quarterback capsules. The first guy day was Byron Brown. They will be started to release this weekend, 10, 12, 15 minutes. Check them out, portal podcasts. Actually did one on the Alabama quarterback situation saying that that doesn't get fixed. Come into your court coach in Tuscaloosa. That be hilarious. We'll see if that happens. Please like the video. Please subscribe if you're tuned on audio. Please subscribe and leave us a review. Really helped to show out a ton. We'll see you next time. This has been Locked On Auburn with Loyal. We'll see you next time. This has been Locked On Auburn. All right.