BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | I don’t want to write about COVID. I don’t want to read about it or talk about it. I’m over it.
But here we are.
And it would be a complete dereliction of my duties not to address the fact that less than two weeks before its season opener, Auburn is without its head coach due to COVID and has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, vaccination rates in the SEC.
If you don’t think this is a problem, then I’m sorry to say that you’re being a bit delusional.
The top five teams in the country, the ones that compete for championships every season, are at least 85 percent vaccinated. Alabama is closing on 100 percent. Oklahoma, Ohio State and Georgia are over 90 percent.
Why have these programs made getting vaccinated a priority? Because they know it decreases the chances of their players being tested, which decreases the likelihood of them missing games due to a positive test or contact tracing.
N.C. State missed out on an opportunity to play for a national championship because of an accumulation of positive tests just two months ago. Most schools heeded that warning and put their vaccination programs in overdrive.
Not Auburn.
Bryan Harsin is making $5.25 million to lead this football program. He’s entrusted to put the best possible team on the field for 12 or more games this season.
He has made that much more difficult than it should be and in doing so, has put Auburn at a competitive disadvantage to its SEC rivals.
The extent of that disadvantage remains to be seen. The thought that AU could face an outbreak so extensive that it would cause them to forfeit a game seems highly unlikely.
On the other hand, Auburn is not a very deep team in relation to a lot of its conference opponents. Losing a key player like Tank Bigsby or several players at one position could be devastating.
I like a lot of what Harsin has done for Auburn over the last eight months. I’d give him high marks on how he’s increased the talent-level through the transfer portal and brought more discipline and accountability to the program.
His first recruiting class is starting to look a lot better with the addition of five consecutive four-star commitments over the last four weeks.
But he’s dropped the ball when it comes to COVID and vaccines. It remains to be seen to what extent it will affect Auburn this season and the potential consequences for Harsin.
Those answers are coming shortly.
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Bruce Pearl is at it again.
Auburn’s 8th-year head coach, who will put one of the most talented teams in school history on the floor this season, hosted an elite camp Sunday that featured a number of top players from the 2023, 24 and 25 classes. Also in attendance was Tre Donaldson, AU’s first commitment for the 2022 class.
Pearl and his staff have Auburn positioned to be a contender this season and many seasons to come. They’ve built AU into a powerhouse by signing a great mix of highly-recruited players and underrated guys they develop into very good college players. The rise of the transfer portal only gives this staff another vehicle to bring talent into the program and fill immediate needs.
Nine or 10 years ago, it would have been unthinkable for Auburn to attract this many talented players to campus for a camp. Now, it’s just Pearl doing his thing.
***
In today’s musical journey, we go back 11 years to the release of one of the top albums of this century. On Aug. 24, 2010, Katy Perry released her third album, Teenage Dream, which has gone on to be certified eight-times platinum by the RIAA and sold nearly 20 million units, making it the fifth-best selling album of the decade. The album is only the second in history along with Michael Jackson’s Bad to produce five No. 1 singles. It was nominated for seven Grammy Awards but lost out to Adele’s 21 for Album of the Year.
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson was born in Santa Barbara, Calif., to Pentecostal pastors in 1984. She grew up singing in church, started voice lessons at age nine and got her first guitar at age 13. She moved across the country as a child as her parents helped set up churches in different states. She primarily listened to gospel music but managed to sneak in some pop music CDs from her friends. She completed her GED at age 15 and left high school to pursue a music career in 1999. She moved to Nashville and recorded a contemporary christian album titled, Katy Hudson, in 2001. It sold just 200 copies and she moved to Los Angeles at age 17 determined to write and record popular music. She also adopted the stage name of Katy Perry to avoid confusion with the actress, Kate Hudson. She started working on an album but was hired and dropped by two separate labels. She finally signed with Capitol Records in 2007, which brought in Dr. Luke to help write and produce her second album, One of the Boys. It included the hit songs I Kissed a Girl and Hot n Cold.
Perry began recording Teenage Dream at the end of 2009. She co-wrote every song on the album and collaborated with a number of producers, musicians and writers including Dr. Luke, Guy Sigsworth, Max Martin, Rivers Cuomo, Benny Bianco, Tricky Stewart and Stargate. Perry was inspired by ABBA and the Cardigans has she produced what she called a “summer album.” The lead single, California Gurls, featured Snoop Dogg and was her answer to all the New York songs, particularly Jay-Z and Alicia Key’s Empire State of Mind. The first five singles all climbed to the top of the U.S. charts. After California Gurls came Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T. and Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.). The sixth single, The One That Got Away, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 100. Perry has starred in an autobiographical film, voiced Smurfette in two Smurf movies and put on a notable performance at the Super Bowl in 2015. Perry is estimated to have a net worth of $330 million.