AUBURN | It was great to see four former Auburn players taken in the 2021 NFL Draft this weekend and another couple sign free agent contracts.

But not having a first-round selection for the sixth time in the last seven years, is just another sign of the talent deficit the Tigers dealt with during the Gus Malzahn era.

Of the 144 players that signed under Malzahn from 2013-18 and have been eligible for the draft, only two were drafted in the first round.

Two.

Over that same period, Alabama had 22 first rounders, LSU 10 and Georgia 8. Auburn’s three biggest rivals signed at least four times the number of impact players as Malzahn and its in-state rival signed 11 times as many.

Alabama’s 2017 class has already produced eight first-round picks, 11 total picks, a Heisman Trophy winner and three other Heisman finalists. Auburn’s ’17 class has produced one first rounder and one fifth rounder.

That’s untenable, which is exactly what Malzahn’s tenure became.

It’s hard to compete on an annual basis when your opponents are so much more talented, which is the biggest reason Malzahn finished with an 8-17 record against the big three including 0-13 on the road.

What’s even more striking about Malzahn’s first rounders is that both were defensive players — Derrick Brown and Noah Igbinoghene in 2020. That’s right. Malzahn, who was hired because of his alleged offensive genius, didn’t produce a first rounder on offense.

Sure, Igbinoghene was signed as an offensive player, moving to cornerback as a sophomore. It was a smart move because there’s absolutely no chance he would have become a first-round receiver in Malzahn’s system.

To this point, Malzahn’s highest-drafted offensive signees are two second rounders in Braden Smith and Kerryon Johnson in the 2018 draft. Of the 20 total Malzahn signees that have been drafted, 11 were on defense, eight on offense and one on special teams.

If you’ve followed Auburn recruiting closely over the past decade, you’ve gotten used to watching AU’s top targets in each class end up signing with Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Clemson or another strong program.

But to be this poor in producing NFL talent, it’s more than just missing out on your top targets. There’s also been a big issue with evaluations. Going back to that 2017 class, Mobile’s Kadarius Toney was committed to Florida before Auburn even offered. He was drafted by the N.Y. Giants in the first round Thursday night.

In the 2016 class, offensive tackle Jonah Williams visited Auburn with his mother, an Auburn graduate, but wasn’t treated as a priority. He visited Alabama shortly thereafter where he was a priority target, committed, signed, started 44 of 44 games in three years and was a first round pick in the 2019 draft.

Auburn chose to sign Tyler Queen at quarterback in the 2015 class instead of Lamar Jackson, who won the Heisman Trophy at Louisville and is the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.

This has to change and I believe it will under Bryan Harsin. He’s proven to be a better talent evaluator, especially on offense, and he’s put together a large and talented off-the-field staff to boost that area of the program.

It’s unfair to expect Auburn’s first-year head coach to start winning the majority of recruiting battles against AU’s top rivals right out of the gate, but just winning a few is much better than getting shutout every year.

As for his talent evaluations, Harsin’s signees at Boise State, a Group of 5 school, have produced 10 NFL Draft picks over the past five years including a first-round pick in 2018, linebacker Leighton Vander Esch.

Quarterbacks went 1-2-3 in the first round of the 2021 draft. No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson was a long-time Boise State commit before flipping to BYU. After losing out on Wilson, Harsin offered No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance in the days before Signing Day. Lance, however, chose to stick with his North Dakota State commitment. NDSU has produced three NFL quarterbacks in the last six years including Carson Wentz.

That could bode well for current quarterback commit, Holden Geriner, who was coveted by Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo. And it won’t be long until there’s a lot more action with AU’s 2022 class. This staff has already set up 19 official visits and scheduled eight separate camps in June. Not to mention all the unofficial visitors they’ll be expecting as campuses open up for the first time in 15 months.

If you enjoy following football recruiting, June is going to be a feeding frenzy across college football and Harsin has positioned Auburn to be right in the middle of the fight.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 51 years to a national tragedy that spawned an era-defining song and several future artists. On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard fired on unarmed students during a peace rally at Kent State University. Four students, Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Scheuer and William Schroeder, were killed and nine more injured including one who was permanently paralyzed. The students were protesting President Nixon’s announcement of the Cambodian Incursion a few days earlier, which was an escalation of the Vietnam War. Just 10 days later, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released Ohio, which was written by Young about the Kent State tragedy.

One of the protesters was Jerry Casale, who was friends with both Krause and Miller. He went on to found the band, Devo, which stood for De-Evolution, the concept that humankind was regressing. Devo’s song, Whip It, was one of the first hits on MTV. Chrissie Hynde was a freshman at Kent State at the time. She dropped out of school and eventually went to England where she formed the Pretenders. Several other songs were inspired by the tragedy including Genesis’ The Knife, Joe Walsh’s Turn to Stone and Yes’ Long Distance Runaround.

Young and David Crosby were both distraught over the killings. Young eventually took his guitar, sat down alone and composed Ohio. It was recorded in just a few takes at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles. The cover of the 45 was the Constitution with four bullet holes in it. The song was initially banned by some radio stations in the state of Ohio. It peaked at No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 but has since become a regular on classic rock stations. Ohio was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. The lyrics of the song begin: Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own, This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio. The song ends with Crosby saying, ‘Four, Why, How many more?’