AUBURN | Auburn’s staff deserves a lot of credit, especially Derek Mason and the defense, for how they’ve managed the transfer portal.
The two defensive linemen, Tony Fair and Marcus Harris, look like definite contributors and potential starters. Eku Leota gives the Tigers another option as an edge rusher, one of the defense's biggest deficiencies over the past few seasons.
The three new defensive backs, Dreshun Miller, Bydarrius Knighten and Donovan Kaufman are talented and versatile players and upgrades over the losses at that position. Miller and Kaufman could be immediate starters.
When I look over the defense in 2021, I don’t see any major holes. I see a lot of depth and experience and enough talent to be pretty good. Very good if several defensive linemen take a step forward.
Offense is still incomplete, but all signs point to them being aggressive if and when the right player hits the portal. They certainly were with quarterback TJ Finley, who chose Auburn over several other top schools — including at least one with a much more wide open situation at quarterback — less than three weeks after leaving LSU.
It appears AU has a running back lined up and is waiting for the right wide receiver and offensive tackle to become available. No guarantee that a potential SEC starting WR or OT will suddenly appear in the portal, but if they do I’m certain AU will be at the front of the line with an offer of immediate playing time and a potential starting position.
As for Finley, his addition brings legit competition to the quarterback room. Bo Nix doesn't necessarily needs someone pushing him to become better, he’s self-motivated, but competition is always a plus at any position.
If he doesn’t win the starting job, Finley gives Auburn a backup with five SEC starts under his belt, which is a big upgrade to the previous depth at the position.
But perhaps the most important factor with Finely is his upside. AU is getting a 6-foot-6, 242-pound, strong-armed, drop-back quarterback with four years of eligibility left. Bryan Harsin and Mike Bobo specialize in developing quarterbacks like Finley and they’re building an offense that fits his skills perfectly.
Even if he’s doesn’t make an immediate impact, Finley could play a huge role in the future of AU’s offense.
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In today’s musical journey we go back 65 years to the day a John Wayne movie gave birth to one of the greatest songs of all time. On May 31, 1956, Buddy Holly saw the film, The Searchers, and Wayne’s line, “That’ll be the day,” inspired him to write a song with the same title. Holly’s first major hit, That’ll Be the Day peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard R&B chart and No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1957. It was certified gold with over 1 million US sales in 1969, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and placed in the National Recording Registry in 2005. It’s ranked No. 39 on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs of all time.
Charles Hardin Holley was born Sept. 7, 1936 in Lubbock, Texas and grew up playing a guitar that his parents bought at a pawn shop. He decided to pursue a career in music after graduating Lubbock High School in 1955, starting a band and even opening up for Elvin Presley at three local venues. He was signed to a recording contract and changed his name to Buddy Holly in 1956. After That’ll Be the Day became a hit, Buddy Holly and the Crickets played New York’s Apollo Theatre and American Bandstand. The release of his second hit, Peggy Sue, followed as did a performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on Dec. 1, 1957. Holly began the Winter Dance Party Tour on Jan. 23, 1959 with a band consisting of Waylon Jennings, Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch. Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson (the Big Bopper) were also on the tour. Brutally cold weather and unheated buses prompted Holly to charter a four-seat Beechcraft airplane to fly from Clear Lake, Iowa to Mason City, Iowa. Jennings gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson, who was suffering from the flu, and Valens won a coin flip with Allsup for the final seat saying, “That’s the first time I’ve even won anything in my life.” The pilot, who wasn’t certified for instruments flying, took off in inclement weather and the plane crashed in a cornfield at 12:55 a.m. on Feb. 3, 1959 killing all passengers and the pilot instantly. Holly was 22, Valens just 17. The tragedy was memorialized by Don McLean’s 1971 song, American Pie.
In The Searchers, Wayne’s response to anything he didn’t agree with was, "That’ll be the day.” After watching the movie with Cricket’s drummer Jerry Allison, Holly looked at Allison and said it sure would be nice if we could record a hit song. Allison replied, “That’ll be the day.” Holly wrote the song from the viewpoint of a man responding to a woman, who says she’s about to leave him. That’ll Be the Day was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 but the recordings weren’t released. They were re-recorded by Buddy Holly and the Crickets on Feb. 25, 1957 at Norman Petty Recording Studio in Clovis, New Mexico. That’ll Be the Day was covered by a number of other artists including Linda Ronstadt, whose version peaked at No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It was also the first song recorded by The Quarrymen, a demo by a skiffle group from Liverpool that would become the Beatles.
