BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | Auburn stayed hot on the recruiting trail last week with the addition of the nation’s No. 1-ranked running back, Tank Bigsby. I think it’s one of the most important commitments of the Gus Malzahn era.
It’s a big win for first-year running backs coach Carnell Williams, beating out a number of top school for an elite prospect right in Auburn’s backyard. The Tigers have lost a few too many of those battles in recent years.
Bigsby fills an important need — I think Auburn should sign an elite running back in each class — and will give AU one of the best group of running backs its had in quite a while in 2020. The Tigers are scheduled to return JaTarvious Whitlow, Shaun Shivers, DJ Williams, Mark Antony-Richards and Harold Joiner, and will now add Bigsby to that group — impressive.
Williams deserves a lot of credit for not just recruiting Bigsby, but also in helping to convince Gus Malzahn to make what I consider is a vital change in how he uses his running backs. If Malzahn sticks to his plan, Auburn will be going with a running back by committee approach this season and into the future, instead of trying to ride one running back to 1,200, 1,400 or more yards. Auburn’s top rivals such as Alabama and Georgia have been doing this a while now and it’s given them a recruiting advantage.
Young running backs know they only have so many carries, so many hard hits that they can safely take in their career, and entering the NFL as fresh and healthy as possibly has become more important to them than putting up record-breaking numbers. The committee approach also helps build depth and an esprit de corps among the group as well. It’s the right move, and now it’s up to Malzahn and his offensive coaches to ensure it’s applied successfully this season.
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Stepping outside the SEC, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has come under a bit of fire for refusing to give former quarterback Kelly Bryant a championship ring from last season. If you’ll recall, Bryant led Clemson to a 4-0 start as the starting quarterback before being benched for freshman Trevor Lawrence, who would go on to lead the Tigers to a national championship.
Bryant, a fourth-year senior at the time, had to make a quick choice: stay at Clemson and end his college career as the backup, or transfer, make 2018 a redshirt season by not playing another snap, and have the opportunity to be the starter at another school.
Bryant made the best choice for him and his future career by transferring to Missouri where he will enter this season as the starter. Is it a little petty of Swinney not to give Bryant a ring? Yes, but many coaches I’ve met are the same way. They’re control freaks. They view Bryant as a quitter. That’s not fair but that’s their mentality. It’s the same mentality that makes them think it’s OK to limit what schools a player can transfer to or try to restrict that player from receiving financial aid for a year.
It’s a generational thing for many, and it’s time for coaches like Dabo, who I generally like, to get over themselves.
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This week’s musical exploration takes us back 31 years and the release of what was at the time one of the most controversial albums of the 20th century but is now considered one of the most important and influential hip-hop records of all time.
N.W.A.’s debut album Straight Outta Compton was released on Aug. 8, 1988 to wide acclaim and wide disdain. The album’s violent lyrics and profanity, especially in the song, Fuck tha Police, brought condemnation and protests, and many radio stations along with MTV refused to play it on the air. But the controversy only fueled the album’s success as it sold over three million copies, spawned a 2015 movie of the same name and helped launch a music genre that has now overtaken rock as the most popular in the U.S.
The group included Dr. Dre, who is the founder of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and has a net worth of $770 million, Ice Cube, who has a net worth of $160 million, and Eazy-E, who tragically died in 1995 due to complications from AIDS, along with Arabian Prince, MC Ren and DJ Yella. N.W.A. was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.