AUBURN | Less than two months in, it’s still way too early to start drawing many conclusions about the Bryan Harsin era at Auburn.

His biggest accomplishment to date has been assembling a staff that is led by two SEC veteran coordinators and includes a blend of rising stars in the industry and several of his former Boise State coaches that will help implement his culture on the Plains.

It’s a good start.

Trying to turn Auburn’s 2021 recruiting class into an early and negative assessment of Harsin’s would be a mistake on several fronts.

First of all, it’s incomplete. Harsin and his staff still have time to add to it through the transfer portal or more signees, either junior college or high school. There’s still room for five or six more, or the opportunity to roll some of those over into the 2022 class.

And Auburn’s 33rd team recruiting ranking is misleading. Rivals totals up the points of each team’s top 20 commitments/signees. Auburn has just 17 in this class so if it added just three average 3-stars, worth 75 points apiece, AU’s class would move up to 21st. Add a 4-star like Dylan Brooks and a couple of 3-stars and it moves up to 19th, a top 20 class.

No, that’s not good enough to keep up with Alabama, Georgia and LSU on an annual basis, but it’s not a program killer either. It’s actually pretty good when you take into account that Auburn didn’t have a permanent head coach during the early signing period when more than 80 percent of the top college prospects signed.

Harsin and his staff were also able to fill a couple of important needs by securing a pass-rushing transfer in Eku Leota from Northwestern, and adding running back depth in Jarquez Hunter.

Perhaps the most important need Harsin can fill in the next 201 days before hosting Akron is at left tackle. Finding a capable left tackle who can pass block and do a reasonable job run blocking is the biggest upgrade he can make for Auburn’s 2021 team before now and Sept. 4.

Having an efficient and reliable offense this fall depends on it.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 54 years to the re-recording of a re-written song that would become the signature tune for the Queen of Soul and an emblem of the feminist movement. On Feb. 14, 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded Respect at Atlantic Studios in New York. The song won Franklin two Grammy Awards in 1968 and is listed No. 5 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The Library of Congress added the recording to the National Registry in 2002.

Franklin was born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1942 and grew up in Buffalo and Detroit. Her father, C.L. Franklin, was a Baptist minister known as having a “million-dollar voice,” and it was at the New Bethel church that Franklin first began singing and playing the piano. She moved to New York and produced a demo that landed her first contract from Columbia in 1961. Later that year, she had her first hit single, Rock-a-Bye. She ended her career with 112 charted singles including 20 that reached No. 1 on the Billboard R&B charts. Her hits included You Make Me Feel Like (A Natural Woman), Amazing Grace, Think, Rock Steady and Freeway of Love. She won 18 Grammys and sold over 75 million records. She became the first female inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and is ranked by Rolling Stone No. 1 on its list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Respect was originally recorded by Otis Redding at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1965. Redding’s version is about a man who demands respect from his wife because he is the breadwinner of his family. The song was brought to Redding by Speedo Sims, who planned to record it with his band, the Singing Demons. When that didn’t work out, Redding took the song, changed the lyrics and sped up the tempo. For Franklin’s version, she flipped the gender of the lyrics and added the Sock it to me verse and spelling out R-E-S-P-E-C-T with the help of her sisters, Erma and Carolyn, who sang backup vocals. Her version is of a strong, confident woman who demands respect from her man.