QB DRAMA? Auburn Recruiting HEATS UP for ELITE Targets

0:00Just when you thought the picture for Auburn's recruiting at quarterback was getting a little clear. Other schools are like, no, we want him too. 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 from your host, Zach Blackerbeam. Thank you so much for making Lockdown Auburn. Your first listen, every single day. Brian Smith, host of the portal. That's Lockdown's recruiting, transfer portal, NIL show hanging out with us today. Brian, I've got 20 tabs open of 20 different guys and their profiles and all that. And we'll get to as many of them as we possibly can today. Receivers, defense of backs. Let's start with quarterback, Israel Abrams, the standout from the Chicago area at quarterback.

1:01We've talked about him probably for over a month at this point. And we've seen some national riders put predictions in for him to be Auburn's quarterback in the 2027 class. And we've seen some other quarterbacks that Auburn was pursuing pivot to other guys. And now we're seeing Auburn look at other quarterbacks and then Israel Abrams reports coming out four or five days ago that Miami is now involved in recruiting them. So kind of an interesting, it's going to be fun to see the dominoes fall and where all these quarterbacks go because we've talked about this timeline and this new calendar. They're probably going to start falling in the next month or two. I would imagine they'll start falling the next two to three weeks. It's very, very possible. He's got multiple visits set up with four to state. Miami's involved. It's a late March visit. So you have to have cookies on there, Auburn's on there for tucking attention.

2:02I mean, they've been throwing around some money. Oh, absolutely. Purdue is on his list, which is somewhat random all the way close. But he goes to Purdue. That's not good for you, that would bother me. But he's got offers from pretty much everybody. No offense to Purdue, but they are terrible. So the point is still the same. He's your guy, but how long do you wait? This is the one spot every year. There's no fixing this. You're only going to take one guy. How long do you wait? Because if you lose on him, do you lose on the others while you wait? And I don't know if there's ever an answer to that. It's awful to be the coach. I don't have any advice. I talk to people about all time. They can't give me anything. It's more gut than anything else, like having conversations with the kids. Once Miami and schools like that get involved, that have super heavy NIL packages, makes me a little nervous for anybody else. What, it sounds like they've made in a lot of these situations where maybe a school's trending for a little bit. They visit the other school. And it's like, this is the offer.

3:04And maybe it's a bit inflated. And it's like, this offer is good for right now, or that is it. And Aubrey's been the benefit of that with some guys with a huge free zero, which maybe got us in some of the situation that we saw with the transfer portal in December, regardless, it does work in getting the players to commit. And so at quarter back, you could argue that's more important in there than in any other position. You and I've talked about how big it would be for Israel Abrams to commit early. It changes how you talk to these receivers. It changes how you talk to the offensive lineman. It changes how you talk to the opposing defense effects. It changes the conversation of, hey, come on and get in the boat. Also, that guy's the captain of the boat. And we believe that he can navigate whatever waters you want to. So Israel Abrams, the recruitment's tricky already. And I mean, recruitment for any of these elite quarterbacks is going to be tricky. There's two other names that I don't think you and I have talked about at least publicly on the show. Maybe a little bit through the phone. But let's start with Jameson Roberts.

4:07In the 247 composite, he's a four star, 12th ranked player in the state of Alabama, 23rd ranked quarterback in the class, according to the composite. What, six foot, two, 190 pounds is what they have the Sarah Lynn quarterback listed at. But you think this is a guy that could potentially make sense? I was with him last weekend at a seven on seven tournament held by Southern Express just outside of Birmingham. And he was a guy that could spin it. And he plays for Sarah Land, which for not familiar with the state is top five program in the state of Alabama very conservatively. They got another quarterback in Texas, they get Ryan Williams played there, et cetera. They got all kinds of players. And his first year as a starter, he had about 5,000 total yards. I don't care who you play for. Look, that's really good. I believe Dishon Spencer was his receiver. He's like this doesn't make Auburn fans happy. He grew up in Alabama fan.

5:07But after visiting, they made him feel a little awkward. He's an Auburn fan now. So that probably is hilarious. I love that. He told me that face to face. I'm like, wow, but whatever. He's been recruited very heavily by Oklahoma. He's the only quarterback they've offered. So they've caught his attention. That makes sense. But he's Georgia's close to offering him. Ford is involved like he's really good. And I don't know why, but he doesn't get much attention nationally. Yeah, maybe could be a riser during a senior year. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Another quarterback that we have not talked about on the show. David Davidson. Yeah. Sarah Soda, Florida goes to Cardinal Mooney. There was a few articles in the Auburn world be written about him. Seems like Auburn is in on him for sure, which something they got in on him late. They offered him on January 27th and then soted everyone else, including the likes

6:11of Georgia, Notre Dame, several P4 schools offering him when the weeks following Auburn offering him. But enough. The offer right before that was South Florida. I take that for what it's worth. But this is a pretty large kid, six, six and a half, two hundred and fifteen pounds. When you think about what Alex Goulish and Byron Brown have done, this guy has a similar frame than what Byron did a few years ago. One state last year, Cardinal Mooney, and he's been MVP at quarterback at two different camps in January. Everybody saw it and he got the offers off of that. He's accurate. He's pretty mobile. He's not. He's not Cam Newton, but he can move. Yeah. Most of all, he can spend it and he can throw the ball all over the lot. So yeah, he's got offers from pretty much everybody in his spring visit list is extensive. I don't think he has a clue where he's going, but Auburn's going to be probably one of them that gets a visit.

7:11Yeah. So a few quarterbacks, obviously, Israel Abrams, the headliner there, but James and Roberts and then Daven Davidson, both worthy of attention for your. Auburn did something kind of cool and unique for a five star offensive lineman. We'll talk about that as well as some receivers that are worth noting next right here unlocked on Auburn. I'm Clea Butler, host of Lockdown Women's Basketball. And this is Maz does women's basketball snapshot celebrating the work. No highlight reel can ever capture South Carolina rolled past Ole Miss 85 to 48 to clinch a share of the SEC regular season title and locked out the number one seed in the conference tournament. Again, Cox extended their win streak over Ole Miss to 21 straight UCLA dominated Wisconsin 80 to 62 secure its first outright big 10 regular season championship in program history.

8:13The Bruins approved to 27 and one overall and remain unbeaten in conference play. And number 12 TCU stormed back from a 13.4 quarter deficit to be Iowa State 80 to 73. The Hornfrogs now sit alone atop the big 12 standings and are one win away from clinching another regular season conference crown. These moments are earned off the clock those long before the lights ever come on the sweat the fakes the doubt the scribes and coming back for more every time Mazda puts that same drive into every detail wins to find the moment putting in the work that defines you there's more to a Mazda because there's more to you today show also brought to you by our friends at Fandall Fandall is America's number one sports book they got a NBA sweepstakes going on right now if you use your profit boost on Fandall on any NBA future you'll automatically be entered for a shot to win an NBA final strip for two flights tickets the whole experience which is super super cool. So any futures bet I imagine the most common one of that will be betting on the Oklahoma

9:18city a thunder to win the NBA championship. My understanding is the pistons are trending right now okay cunning him going off to take that for what it's worth as well also if you want to look at some Auburn futures Auburn a seven and a half point favorite in their season opener against the Baylor Bears in Atlanta visit fandall.com to get started use your profit was on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Brian Smith our guest host of the portal hanging out with us so it's always fun to see how different staffs use social media and content production in different ways including recruiting and messaging so is male Camara he's a five star offensive lineman number three offensive lineman in the two four seven sports composite this class which is important you take all the five star offensive lineman you possibly can get his birthday was about

10:21a week ago and he's retweeting or he's posting a lot of stuff that I guess will send to him from different schools which makes sense. But the one that Auburn sent is there's a video like people are just taking a video those are their practice or doing workouts and at least players are saying hey is male come come play here can't wait to play with you can't wait to see on the planes Alice goal she's in a lot of the players are in it and I just thought that was cool because and all the other ones is just kind of like a generated edited video this one seem way more personal they did something similar to this years ago when they were recruiting Cam Coleman but I like this I think that's super super cool and curious to see if did if it makes an impression or not you're muted goat legend there it is I seen a lot of schools do different things but this one is a little bit more outside the box because players don't normally get involved with recruitments and it goes all over the internet that stuff's usually just private so good for Auburn for coming up with this and the kid obviously liked

11:26it because he doesn't retweet it if he didn't some kids don't don't care about it they found I think it was just a video sent to him and he just posted it which I'll leave a better I would think yeah and he's a kid from East Texas he's as good a player as a resident state of Texas for the class of 27 that kind of speaks for itself and he has offers from pretty much every school in the country I don't know how Auburn's getting involved with East Texas kids but that's a whole another good news piece for the Tigers any kids you get out Texas as the bonus yeah that's that's assigned me up kind of thing if you're an Auburn Tigers fan so yeah I don't know if you'll play right tackle or guard but I would take him in a second he's got great film yeah no you get them on your team and then you figure it out absolutely so that is male Kamara five star from Gilmore Gilmer Texas all right let's pivot to some of these offensive lineman we've talked about some of these guys before Jamaran Simmons Tallahassee Florida four star guy across the board top ten

12:27receiver caliber in this class really really good player seems like Clemson might be an early lean seems like Florida state is in this one but based off of readings you know all the stories that are out there like it doesn't seem like Auburn is backing off for Jamaran Simmons at all Jamaran's a kid I know well he was actually in my car over 10 hours a couple weekends ago as I drove him around the South to try to get him to a seven on seven tournament he is elite as it gets he's got an offer from every school he just won different awards a couple of different camps rivals Miami Orlando under armor he was top three like at both camps it kind of speaks for itself and he makes guys look really dumb on the seven on seven term this tape is crazy oh you got to see the seven on side the stuff I get to see from five feet of ways incredible like I'm sure I'd love to see him in a dunk competition he's about five eleven but it doesn't matter he's got insane hops and can you tell about how great it was when you lived at Auburn for

13:29a little bit how great of a town it was he spent a lot of time on that no I have not I won't see him this weekend I'll pass it on like you know tell him you lived at Auburn until a few months ago and it was like the best place you've ever lived be sure to drop that note please that'd be great Zach is not biased as you can tell not he's completely one of yeah Clemson and Ford estate have had the most visits Clemson just got in on him early I don't know why he literally lived six minutes from Ford estate's campus he's he's a tall Assy kid but he could go anywhere Auburn's involved Miami's involved Ford is involved and he's kind of all shucks about it he knows there's opportunities he's going to take his trips and Auburn I think is in March if I remember right from talking to him they're in the mix and they I can't remember the date but they're in the mix we'll see but Clemson is probably the team to be because they've had the longest relationship with him in terms of like prioritizing make some Ford estate haven't been real good here lately

14:31especially for a state so the door is open as they said he would be a day one impact guy wherever he gets yeah I mean his high school stuff is insane so um Tay Walden another receiver plays both ways so he's listed as an athlete um I think he plays for the same 7 on 17 right he plays for yeah for for your team there so um call your bill Tennessee do y'all have him at wide receiver db we've we've had two tournaments first one he played receiver the second one he played db does he want to play both is that important to him it's a possibility I've talked to him about it Tay is for reeky he might be even freaky or the jamerian athletically um he played db the last tournament at battle Vegas nobody would throw at him because he's the 6-1 plus corner they see him and they throw the other guy like he had like two passes thrown his direction so I don't know how good he is at it but he's a track kid organ and lsu desperately won him so that kind of books

15:31things in perspective he can go to any school he wants to he's got them all real quiet kid let's just outside of Memphis Auburn's a school that he mentions quite a bit when I talk to him I don't he doesn't know what he wants to do for sure but he's leaning corner but if you tell him he can play receiver 2 it's not gonna hurt you then he's a track kid he's he's got all the measurable so his recruitment will probably drag out for a while he's overwhelmed at the moment yeah yeah so jamerian Williams or jamerian Simmons and then Tay Walden who uh two guys to keep some tabs on there have you heard anything about Carlos May I mean it was about a week ago where we kind of saw a few predictions go Carlos May to Auburn in state you know Birmingham kid goes to Ramsey top 247 has him as the sixth best player in the state of Alabama big body big frame I mean I mean we don't know when the timing it's gonna be when when these guys commit but it

16:33definitely seems like Auburn is in the lead still here this is a rather unique recruitment I was reading actually the Auburn 247 site they were talking about it like he's had national teams come at him and it's coming waves state Notre Dame Alabama Auburn like it's a major and I wonder if he's a little bit like Tay he's a little overwhelmed just like this just really started picking up weight last year and his offer was now is through the roof right so it may drag out a while because I'm sure the NIO is a part of it as well so I have imagined he'll probably go through spring before he makes a whole bunch of decisions even narrow it down I'm not even sure which schools they'll be his OVs his list is that long so Auburn's the leader but I don't know what the timeline really is yeah he may make a decision soon well done sorry okay let's talk about a few defensive backs in just a moment right here unlocked on Auburn today show brought to you by our friends

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18:44and I've got my number one pick for the five hour energy flavor draft we all know what it is let's say it together three two one grape grape is the number one pick in the five hour energy flavor draft you can find your new favorite flavor of five hour energy shots available at five hour energy dot com or on amazon by the few minutes of today's edition of locked on Auburn Bryant Smith host of the portal hanging out with us let's pivot to defensive back and these are some really good players um jaden help me out here help me out here with jaden's full name please apparatio apparatio jaden apparatio baili the four star safety with uh I mean his offerless he sent me a screenshot of his offer list and like I think you had to zoom out to get to get it all in the screenshot so seems like Auburn has kind of broken in as of late this staff is playing

19:48from behind they are recruiting from behind you and I talked about that a little bit last week they're trying to kind of you know rush a little bit of these relationships just because they're a new spot and some of these kids went and talked to them when they're at South Florida but now they'll talk to them now that they're at Auburn and I think it's like it's it's a lot of this right like getting into these guys that are still talking to you know eight to ten schools and just kind of hope and you can make um make an impression whether it's with a strong offer whether it's you know relationships just just clicking or fit just kind of being you know appealing to them um there's a million reasons why a kid would want to pick a certain school but jaden is is a heck of a player no question about it he is from what I've heard Kirby's number one guy that's really all right well I can't help you with that part but it's a good side that he can play is all I'm saying but he lives in the greater Montgomery area he's a player that's been on the

20:49board for everybody yeah it goes to Prattville yeah yeah it's a great program and he's he's able to play safety or he can play some nickel like he's basically this class is Eric winners in terms of style and athleticism and that is not a bad thing no it's not no it's not imagined that since he lives an hour away he'll be able to make it to campus pretty easy the question is where do they sit now because of what you said about the relationship part I don't know him but I would imagine that he has as many opportunities to make it all the way to you know whatever school he wants he can wait as long as he wants so this could drag out a while which probably benefits are yeah all right another one Joshua dobson five star defensive back um two four seven has almost as a corner he is number number two corner in the country according to two four seven seems like Auburn is at least talking to him seems like DVD the Marcus van Dyke um seems like they have

21:50a relationship I think he was recruiting him when he was involved at Miami and so I think that relationship kind of already stands so we'll see we'll see how strong that can be down the stretch here but this guy this guy can ball he is my number one pick in terms of all around corner in this class playing man or zone saw him last summer at future 50 and it was a loaded group John Meredith and some other I think Meredith is the one player by 24 seven give me either one I don't care yeah right he's long he's fast Miami's prioritizing him the other day went after him hard Auburn you name it they've offered he's been to campus already I remember we talked about him about a month or so ago if they can get him back again this spring it would up their chances considerably but the fact that he's already been to Auburn for a hoops game shows that he's truly interested yeah this is a man in play right away Jay Crawford kind of level player yeah would uh would love Joshua dobson being part of the 2027 glass all right last guy we'll talk about

22:50today unless you throw some more out here junior James safety from Thompson four star in the two four seven composite obviously Thompson a program that you and I respect um a ton and one of the I don't know if you you heard it or read it somewhere but one of the the logic for recruiting him that you told me right before we clicked record I thought was hilarious and also a very good point yeah it was times reading the 24 seven Auburn major like they've signed a safety from their three years in real why not four yeah why not they've all they've all worked out so far so yeah let's just continue doing that please thank you by the way the other safety is is he we too and he could end up it always it's their entire secondary every year it's yeah you had me sold at Thompson but great yeah I'm down let's try it let's see what happens he pulled over the last weekend when I was there and I thought he was a quarry six three like he's very fluid so he could play a lot of

23:54spots yeah yeah still I mean it still seems like goalish is working his tail off you're seeing you're seeing that all these events and you got to assume when they're going to these events that he's recruiting I mean like visiting the local kids in that area as well um doesn't seem like the guy slept at all but that's that's what it takes that's what it takes yeah the uh the the gift is it's been taken it's no longer the dead period we're into the period where they can go out and do stuff a little bit it kind of goes back and forth the next couple of weeks will be important for Auburn especially because of what you said earlier hey some of these kids wouldn't talk to him at usf no offense to the bulls but g-sex right out the conference moniker on your shirt changes the ballgame I have no idea how you make up that time you just do the best you can so every visit for Auburn's probably a little more important than it is for like everybody knows we're currently you say Kirby you ought to say the score everybody knows what you're talking about right

24:55goalish is the new guy on the box so him getting out being active which by the way shot after you freeze the one thing he was great at was recruiting joy good at it at least early on yeah there was and now goalish I mean he's been a recruiting coordinator I'm curious to see what he can do this year especially in state they're battling to get several kids to Alabama once and this this is fun for me to cover I enjoy this very very yeah I mean every stop of the way as you know his ascension to being a head coach whatever level or whatever conference he was at where he was at was the best at recruiting amongst its peers amongst its conference so you will see I mean this is this is as big as it gets you know if you can recruit a you know against your peers at this level you can recruit against anybody so we'll see what happens without schoolish and we'll see if anything guys we talked about today end up in Auburn's class I certainly certainly certainly hope that is the case Brian Smith how can people check out everything you've got going on

25:59walked on the portal everything that you do to get to locked on Auburn whether it's YouTube Spotify Apple Amazon music whatever sing deal with locked on the portal doing a lot of quarterback profiles actually did one Byron Brown the other day it's a lot of them yeah yeah it is so it's about about a week ago it was no Sunday Sunday so we know not quite a week lots of stuff going on for a podcast please like the video please subscribe if you're tuned in on audio please subscribe and leave us a review helps us show out of time we'll see you next time this has been locked on Auburn