MASSIVE: Recruiting Experts Predict ELITE QB to Land at Auburn

0:00Predictions are coming in for Auburn to land in a lead quarterback. Let's go. You are locked on Auburn, your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on into locked on Auburn, your daily Auburn Tigers podcast. I'm your host, Zach Blackerby. Thank you so much for making a locked on Auburn. You're first listen every single day, Bryant Smith hosts the portal locked on to recruiting transfer portal NIL show hanging out with us, Israel Abrams, the four star quarterback from Monteney Catholic and Illinois. Sounds like that's outside Chicago, whatever. We've got predictions. RPMs coming in for him to pick the Auburn Tigers. Wilt Fong rivals. Pretty credible, pretty good track record.

1:01Then putting in that pick for Israel Abrams to be out goalishes first high school quarterback commit. I mean, they're not just doing that for fun. They had to be told something, Brian. That means it is done. They don't do that like both. That's just not how that works. The bar has been changing. He's going to be going to Auburn. So really good football player and that's a good area to get into. Auburn's had a little bit of success in the gravy Chicago way lately. So maybe this is getting quarterback that's high level and recruited by all the big boys. That's not going to hurt their stock either. Yeah, Steve Wilt Fong. And then Greg Smith, who's one of the rivals, national guys, both putting in picks with 60% confidence. So take that for what it's worth. So you and I discussed Israel Abrams a few days ago, Brian, for those who miss Elisrael's recap that quickly.

2:03What kind of player is Abrams at the high school level? What could he be at the college level? He's a little thin right now. 64181 85 very mobile. Shifty guy has what he's built. You think basketball player like to guard big point guard. And he can move around and make a lot of crazy throws, obviously cable of Williams plays for the Bears. I am of the belief that he fancies himself as a poor man's cable of Williams. I'm not saying he has cable of arm. That's that's anything less than superhuman there. But he makes a lot of crazy throws like side arm under arm. Every direction and still has the ability when he sits in the pocket to throw a touch over the top. He understands level two ball, level one ball. He's he's been coached. So this is a guy that would fit really right in the bucket of what you would expect, go wish to one because they need a mobile quarterback. And they throw first mobile quarterback. And that's what he is. He'll run and go get a few yards here and there.

3:03But 90% of the time when he escapes the pocket, he's trying to find a receiver. Not go get some Russian yards. Monteney Catholic. I mean, what kind of program is that, Brian? They put in a lot of players, big 10 Mac, etc. They've always got players. This is not a news flash. They've always got players. So that's a good sign as well. So Alice Golisch, I mean, he's he's pretty respected for his offense and his quarterback, small sample size, but I mean, that's what happens when you're kind of labeled one of these rising stars in college football and obviously Auburn hopes that he continues that ascent. New school, first time in a P4 job as a head coach. Is there a little extra pressure of kind of getting this first quarterback out of high school, right? There's always the pressure and today's world to get everything right. Sadly, but quarterback answer. Absolutely. You're supposed to be the offensive guy.

4:04You're not supposed to be somebody that is going to fail in this regard. So especially since you're not going to be taking a kid from Atlanta or Jacksonville or, you know, some place that's more familiar to Auburn, I think it's curious. But that also, I don't mind it as much. I've seen his kids film a number of times. Every school in the country has scouted this guy. He's got a ton of offers for a reason. He's been on the map for a while and he's at Monteney Catholic. It's a good program in Chicago. It it it vids. It's just that Auburn doesn't recruit Chicago very often. So it's interesting, but it also kind of shows his reach, getting a kid from up there. Maybe that's a good sign for Auburn because maybe they're going to reach out a little bit more nationally now. Yeah. I mean, that seems to be the trend where everything's going. So we'll we'll see. Do you think he's a guy who could play as a freshman? The quarterback situation's always interesting. It's always fun to look out a little bit by and brown done after this year.

5:05Then you've got two red shirt freshmen behind him with Tia and Lachlan Hewlett. And you've got a true freshman with Reese brush. None of those guys scream guys that guy after Byram. Not saying they can't, but I'd be a little surprised if they were. He bringing Abrams. See what happens if anybody leaves. See if folks stay and you get a portal quarterback. Try to get another one year portal quarterback and then hand it off to Abrams. Like what do you think? What do you think a realistic timeline is here? If it depends a little bit on Monteney Catholic, like some of the Catholic schools don't let kids enroll early, I'm not sure on that one. But the most interesting. Yeah, yeah, there's that's that's a thing. I got you. But anyway, this is a kid that is advanced in terms of understanding the quarterback position, but you also need to be advanced in the playbook and all that stuff. So I get it if Auburn would be a little weary, but year two, physically, if he can get up to 200 pounds, sure, he fits the role very, very well.

6:06And his, you know, his frame isn't as big as Byrams, but he'll be over 200 pounds and he could take some hits. I don't think you want him to be a battering ram like Byram, but everything else. Yeah. I mean, he could compete for it. We're supposed to go portal two years in a row, but I think that after one more, I think I agree with you. Go probably portal again next year and then after that. Hopefully, you're your own guy, that would be the objective option. All right, I want to take a deeper look at the groundwork and the framework of the 2027 class for the Auburn Tigers, only one guy committed, but there's a chance that's about to ramp up. That's next right here, unlocked on Auburn today. Show brought to you by our friends at Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sportsbook. Only one more chance to bet on football this season. Yes, Super Bowl 60 is here. Fandall is one of the official sportsbook partners of Super Bowl 60. The Seattle Seahawks, a four and a half point favorite over the New England Patriots

7:08and get on that action. Earlier this week, they dropped the way to early line for Auburn and Baylor. Auburn is seven and a half point favorite. Few more points than I was expecting. So get in on the action over at Fandall. If your new cast has emerged, just bet five bucks and you get $200 in bonus bets. If you win, make it count because after the Super Bowl, the season's over, visit Fandall.com today to get started. Today's show also brought to you by our friends at Mazda. This is Mazda's moving the game forward. For those who show there's more to the score than what's on the screen. These are minus of what it really takes to raise the bars to your extra work off. The court, dialing in every detail, given it that extra fire, the grit that I never quit. I'm going to throw out Philip Yovic for this because clearly he is putting work in off the court. His development as a basketball player, since he got here earlier in the season, obviously, he's really turned things around on both sides of the ball. We put the same passion into every model highlights, make the real what it took to get

8:12there makes it count. There's more to Mazda because there's more to you. Brian Smith, host of the portal, hanging out with us. Thank you for making a lot of your first lesson every single day. Make the portal. Your second lesson every single day. When you look at Auburn's 2027 class, they have one commit. It is tray proctor, the tight end from American heritage. You and I really like the guy. A ton of upside definitely makes sense with what we kind of visualize Alex Goulish winning at the tight end position, obviously down the road. Let's assume Israel Abrams joins his class. Let's just assume that Wilt Fong and Greg Smith, let's assume they're correct. I asked you this about a week ago, okay, it's about time to get quarterbacks in the boat. It's about time to get a lot of these guys in the boat because I think of the schedule. I think a lot of the recruiting battles now are going to be one right now. You're seeing less and less flips with binding contracts and NIL related things happening

9:18right now. You're seeing less flips closer to early signing day. What should we expect? Not just Auburn, but I think just people in general. What should we expect of the next few weeks, if you had to guess? I think you're going to see a lot less late shenanigans because the contracts within NIL, that's part of that with the late signings, but also with commit. I'm curious about that. I'm glad you asked this. This year with all the visits April through mid June or whatever, how many guys commit and they sign a contract that they can't even take visits, et cetera. That's a new thing that I've heard. We might see less of it. USC, and a few other schools, I'm told, I haven't read the contracts, might do that. I don't know if Auburn will be one, but you were flips and you were shenanigans. I am all for this guy right here. I am happy if that's the case. It's a bit of a pivot because so many people, I put myself in this boat way back when even covering it, especially as a fan, but starting to cover it years ago, I followed

10:20recruiting the last month of that cycle, and it'd really be early in the calendar year. That's when you learn all these guys and it's like, okay, we're top three for this guy, it's down to two for this guy, this guy's announcing the day before signing it, whatever. That was fun. It was chaotic and it was pandemonium and there's less information out there, so it really was anybody's guess. Now, with it being, this feels ridiculous to say, but almost there's more structure to it in regards to what these guys are getting paid and the lack of inconsistent shadiness, I guess. Right now is when it's happening. Auburn's junior day was this past weekend, a ton of big names coming on there, a lot of elite receivers on campus. This is when it's happening. It's just the calendar is shifted and I think guys are going to stay committed for longer than what we've seen in the past. Yeah, I don't disagree at all and again, I'm here for it.

11:20The kids that commit four and five and six times, I'm not here for that. It's ridiculous. There's plenty of good deals out there. Pick a school that fits you, take that contract, sign it, go home, be done. Yeah. It's probably the best way to do it. You'll be better for it when you get to the draft time because believe me, NFL general managers are following this stuff too. They don't want the shenanigans, but right now is exactly when it's going on because every time a kid takes a visit, if it's a player that's a priority, you know, like you said, Auburn has some big name guys come in and they'll have more junior days. You want to get it done as fast as you can. You don't want them taking other visits. So my question is, which schools are willing to go with their best offer? Does it want to probably going to see get more commitments to schools that like Georgia doesn't like the upfront stuff, they get out bit a lot, but it's Georgia. They can kind of get away with it, but they haven't hit as much early for part of that reason. Then they have to try quite catch up.

12:22That's been Kirby's bag for a long time. And I don't think many schools have that cash aid to do that. Yeah. Auburn, like this new staff, we don't know what they're going to do. I don't know. So I'm curious to see how many kids will commit, and if they're getting Abrams early, by the way, too, they're not shy with money, because he's got, he's got offers from a lot of programs. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, you and I talked about this before, like those receivers talk to you differently when you've got your quarterback. Oh, yes. So whatever you're paying, and it's probably worth it, just because it's going to help you with other battles too. So just to go full circle, you know, guys predicting Israel Abrams to pick the Auburn Tigers, just briefly to wrap it up, Brian, how should Auburn fans feel about the potential commitment of Israel Abrams? It's not just that he's a good quarterback. It's what you just touched on. Yeah. You get from a good program. He's advanced. It's going to help other players. Hopefully for Auburn fans that are following recruiting, you know, help get offensive tackles,

13:25but receivers running backs, et cetera. He's a national name. He's got offers from just about everybody. It should be a big deal to them because it's going to help Auburn win more games. So they should be pretty happy. Yeah. That's that's really what it comes down to. Brian Smith, how can people check out everything you've got going on? The same way you consume locked on Auburn. You can consume locked on the portal, you two Spotify, Apple, pop in and everywhere else check out locked on the pool. Brian also hosts locked on Seminole's. You do your Gus episode yet. Your Gus Mouson retirement episode. All right. I did a live show and it was so long I cut it into two parts. There you go. There you go. It was good. Yeah. One of the best coaches in the history of Auburn football. He's definitely top four. It's definitely he's in the Mount Rushmore for sure. So please like the video. Please subscribe. We'll see you next time. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. This has been locked on Auburn. this has been locked on Auburn.

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