BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | I couldn’t agree more with Bryan Harsin’s decision to go strong into the transfer portal.
Auburn has already secured commitments from four transfers and could add as many as eight more this summer. If that takes away from the initial number of scholarships that the new staff can sign in the 2022 class, I’m fine with that too.
In fact, I view it as a perfect compromise.
I believe Harsin and his robust staff of on-the-field and off-the-field coaches will be able to bolster Auburn’s recruiting in the coming years. It’s a must if they’re ultimately going to be successful and compete with Alabama, LSU and Georgia on an annual basis.
But there also needs to be a realistic approach. How many times did the previous staff shoot for the moon with elite prospects, only to lose out time and again, and not have an adequate backup to bring in as a replacement?
Countless, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Auburn can certainly win some battles and land good players in the 2022 class. I’m not suggesting that Harsin has or should throw in the towel. But in a class where AU is behind and doesn’t have the long-term relationships that other staffs do with elite prospects, it’s important to supplement the group with some instant impact players.
The best way for Auburn to do that right now is the transfer portal.
So far, they’ve secured four defensive players and all could make big contributions this fall. Eku Leota gives AU another important edge rushing option, Tony Fair is the big-bodied nose tackle Derek Mason needs in his 3-4 defense, and both Dreshun Miller and Bydarrius Knighten bring a lot of talent and versatility to the secondary.
It looks like AU will add a defensive end and safety in the coming days to shore up the defense even more for the 2021 season and beyond.
If they can find the right targets, potential additions at running back, wide receiver and offensive tackle could have a huge impact on offense. Finding a more polished backup for quarterback Bo Nix and/or increasing the competition at the position wouldn’t hurt either.
As far as the numbers go, transfers currently count against the 25 initial scholarships schools can offer each year. If AU had three scholarships still available from 2021 and took 12 transfers, that would mean nine would have to count toward the 2022 class.
However, there is already a growing sense that the NCAA will change the rule to make transfers count against the 85 only, which would allow for a like to like replacement, and would no longer count against school’s initial 25 offerings per year.
That would be big for a school like Tennessee, which has lost 22 players to transfer. That’s makes for a tough start for first-year Volunteers coach Josh Heupel.
Harsin, on the other hand, has dealt with just half that number, 11, to this point and has already taken steps to replace every one. And in many cases brought in an upgrade.
Harsin and his staff have an opportunity to upgrade Auburn’s roster through late into this summer. The portal is another way to develop and bolster your roster and Harsin is set to take full advantage.
It’s the right move for a first-year coach trying to make an early splash and a school like Auburn that’s had it’s share of recent recruiting misses and needs an influx of talent.
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In today’s musical journey, we go back 65 years and the debut of what became the signature song of one of the greatest actors of the golden age of Hollywood, even though it was initially dismissed by the singer as too childlike. On May 16, 1956, Doris Day’s Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) was first introduced in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much. The song, written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, won the 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Song, the songwriting duo’s third Oscar win. It rose to No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 100 and eventually sold over 1 million records, becoming one of the most successful of Day’s 650 recordings.
Doris May Anne Kappelhoff was born on April 3, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of a music teacher and homemaker. She started out in dancing but a car accident in 1937 injured her right leg and she turned to singing, getting a start by trying to imitate Ella Fitzgerald on the radio. She sung for a local radio show and in a local restaurant before changing her last name to Day to better fit a marquee. The name change was inspired by her rendition of Day After Day. She recorded her biggest-selling hit, Sentimental Journey, in 1945 and it became the unofficial homecoming song for many World War II veterans. Day had six top 10 hits with the Les Brown Band over the next year before breaking into film in 1948’s Romance on the High Seas. She went on to star in 39 feature films, earning her only Oscar nomination for 1959’s Pillow Talk, which she lost to Simone Signoret in Room at the Top. Day starred alongside a number of Hollywood legends including James Stewart, Rock Hudson, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney, Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra. She was the top box-office earner four times in the U.S., which has only been topped by five other actors. Day, who was very involved in animal welfare, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. She passed away age 97 in 2019 of pneumonia.
Day recorded Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) in one take, saying afterwards, “That’s the last you’re going to hear of this song.” Of course, it becomes a big hit, Day’s signature song and was used as the theme song for the Doris Day Show from 1968-73. The saying, que sera, sera, which is an expression of cheerful fatalism, is only used in an English-speaking context and is not Spanish in origin or a part of any of the four romance languages. It’s thought to originate from the Earl of Bedford as a heraldic motto from the Battle of Pavia in 1525. In the movie, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Day starts singing the song to locate her son, who has been kidnapped.