A ‘crazy’ June will be huge for recruiting

AUBURN | The dam is set to break in five more days. Bryan Harsin is making sure Auburn will be ready.

Harsin and his staff are preparing for what could be the biggest June in college football recruiting history. After a 15-month dead period, recruits will finally be cleared to visit campuses starting June 1.

“June’s going to be a crazy month,” Harsin said.

The Tigers have already lined up 21 official visits for June and that list is expected to grow to 30 or more. They also have eight camps scheduled and are expecting unofficial visitors just about every day.

It could turn into a logistical nightmare and that’s a big reason Harsin is making sure they have a clear and flexible plan in place.

“A lot of planning. Just a lot of conversations, a lot of ‘here’s the blueprint’ and just knowing that it’s not going to go like that,” said Harsin. “There’s going to be a lot of times where it’s smooth and we’re hitting our times and we’re where we need to be, and everybody knows what to do, and then there’s going to be some things we know are going to happen this summer—a guy doesn’t show up, a guy comes on an unofficial—whatever it is, there’s going to be some things that happen through the summer that we just got to be ready to adjust.

“Right now, it’s not so much having like contingency plans as it is just having a formula to communicate when things happen—alright, for everybody to just know that we’ll be OK; these are the people to go to when some of these things come up, these are the people that are going to handle it when these things come up. Make sure what we’re doing still goes smoothly, and we do a great job of when people come on campus of giving them an experience with this staff and just here at Auburn so that when they leave, they want to come back.”

All contact with recruits since last March has been via texts, phone calls or video teleconferences. That’s been especially tough on an Auburn program that places a lot of value on its family environment, gameday atmosphere, and a town and university that sells itself.

Getting those prospects on campus and in front of Harsin and his staff could jump start AU’s 2022 class, which has just three commitments so far. Five SEC schools already have 10 or more commitments.

“We've done virtual visits, and all those things are cool, but there's nothing like being here on campus, in my opinion,” Harsin said. “So we can talk about it, but until you experience it, it's just different. And so I think having them here on campus, having our coaches around them, which I think our coaches do a good job when they're in person, and so that will help. And just being able to get face-to-face with people. At the end of the day, that's where the relationships are built, right?

“You got to kind of see these players, see their families. They get to see you. I don't think you quite get that passion or that feeling through a phone and FaceTime and all that like you do in person, so to me, that's the most important thing. And getting them here, and getting them in this community and being around the people that we have on this staff, and being around even our players and just our vibe of our football team, I think is going to be a good thing.”

The first unofficial visitors will arrive Tuesday, the first official visitors next Friday and the first camp will be a week from Monday. Auburn’s recruiting outlook for 2022 and beyond could look quite a bit different by the time the calendar turns to July.

“At the end of the day, I kind of look at it as we get one shot to make a first impression,” Harsin said. “Everybody’s coming on, there’s going to be a lot, probably, when you get six, seven days into it, coaches are going to be tired, they might feel overwhelmed, but still that visit with that family and that player is going to be the most important we’ve had of any of the visits that we’ve had, because it’s face-to-face and they’re right here on this campus.

“So, what I’ve told our staff more than anything is we’ve got to do a great job of making sure we have energy, making sure that we take care of ourselves, making sure that we’re focused and we’ve communicated properly so that we can go out there and execute the plan we have in place for June. I want our coaches to do a great job and to enjoy a month that’s going to be somewhat of a grind, but know that we did a hell of a job at the end of June with every player that stepped foot on this campus, every kid that came to camp, even the guys that we’re not recruiting.”