Auburn Recruits Have Big Weekend

By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com

Auburn’s recruiting class, panned by many so called "experts" is starting to take shape and from the looks of things, the group looks stronger than first believed. Tommy Tuberville has long maintained that he feels good about this year’s group.

After this weekend, others are starting to take notice. Some of you may have caught the Georgia 3A state championship game on CSTV this past weekend.

The game showcased two Auburn commitments: quarterback DeRon Furr and wide receiver Jarmon Fortson. They led Carver High School in Columbus to a 16-13 win over Cairo, Georgia, to capture the school’s first state championship.

Scout has Furr (6-3, 217) listed as a three star recruit. If that’s the case, he’s the best three star I’ve ever seen. He led Carver on an 80 yard drive with a little more than three minutes left on the clock to win.

This is the second week in a row Furr has brought his team back. Last week at the Georgia Dome, in the state semifinals, he brought the Tigers back from a three touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Chamblee 26-24.

I’ve watched him play twice now. He’s the real deal. Most importantly, he’s an athlete.

I’m beginning to see why Tuberville doesn’t put a lot of stock in the recruiting services.

Fortson (6-3, 222) is equally impressive. He’s as clutch a receiver as I’ve seen at the high school level in a long time. Like Furr, he’s a leader on the field. Recruiting is never an exact science, but I like the looks of these two kids.

The Tony Franklin era is off to a fast start in recruiting. On Sunday, Auburn picked up a commitment from Chris Todd (6-2, 223) out of Hutchinson (KS) Community College. He’d originally committed to Troy, but visited Auburn this week and changed his mind.

Franklin must think highly of Todd. One of his first moves he made was to invite him to campus this weekend. He played at Texas Tech a year before transferring to Kansas. In high school he passed for 10,776 yards and 120 touchdowns running the spread offense.

Spring practice will be most interesting.