BMatt’s Monday musings

AUBURN | Let’s call it the calm before the storm.

Less than 200 players had entered the transfer portal through Sunday evening and only a handful of those are going to be pursued by SEC-level teams.

Auburn has offered just two so far in Tulsa’s Jaden Muskrat and Wyoming’s Emmanuel Pregnon. Both project as an interior offensive linemen, where AU needs more competition and depth, and both have multiple years of eligibility remaining.

The Tigers have to be considered an early favorite for Muskrat considering offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery was the head coach at Tulsa the previous eight seasons and his former teammate, Dillon Wade, transferred to AU in January.,

Why haven’t more prospects jumped into the portal so far? There are a few reasons for the slow start.

First of all, it opened on Saturday and there could be plenty of compliance officers that are spending the weekend with their family and not on the job.

Technically, schools have two business days to put a player in the portal after he completes the notification of transfer process. That clock starts Monday.

There's also the fact that 31 Power 5 spring games were played this weekend, another 22 will be played next weekend and a few more the weekend of April 29.

Players participating in spring practice are unlikely to enter the portal until it ends.

I can’t promise a storm is coming. Maybe it’ll just be a nice evening shower.

I can’t promise difference-makers at quarterback, wide receiver and Jack linebacker — three more key areas of need — will enter the portal and Auburn will win the race for their signatures.

But I do expect the Tigers’ staff to be very active and I’d be surprised if they don’t fill most of their needs in some capacity, especially quarterback.

By bringing in 12 transfers, eight more early enrollees from high school and one from junior college, Hugh Freeze and his new staff took what was probably the 12th or 13th worst roster in the SEC and made it competitive.

As currently configured, I believe this Auburn team has the potential of winning six or seven games and qualifying for a bowl, which would be an accomplishment after two consecutive losing seasons and even poorer results in recruiting over the previous few years.

With more help this spring, Auburn could have a team that competes at the top half of the middle, perhaps eight or nine wins, a nicer bowl and more momentum for Freeze to build on in recruiting and portal-ing for 2024.

To compete at the very top of the SEC, you need a roster bursting with future NFL talent or just enough Sunday players surrounded by a bunch of SEC veterans (See Gus Malzahn’s best years).

I don’t think AU is there yet or can get there this fall.

I have no doubt they will get there in the coming years. Freeze is making it happen in recruiting.

There will be a payoff for all his hard work and it’s a storm few in the SEC will see coming until its too late.

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In today’s musical journey, we go back 47 years to the day a country music legend had the first of his 17 No. 1 singles. On April 17, 1976, Eddie Rabbitt’s “Drinkin’ My Baby (Off My Mind)” hit the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Country chart. The song was written by Rabbit and Even Stevens and was the first release from his second studio album, Rocky Mountain Music. It tells the story of a man drinking his sorrows away after a bad breakup. Rabbitt sold over two million records in his 34-year career. He wasn’t included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 best country music artists of all time despite ranking 23rd with the most No. 1 country singles. He’s also yet to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame although he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1998.

Edward Thomas Rabbitt was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Irish immigrants. He grew up in East Orange, New Jersey. His father was a talented accordion and fiddle player and Eddie became a proficient guitar player by the age of 12. He dropped out of school at age 16 and started playing in local nightclubs. He moved to Nashville in 1968 and worked as a truck driver as he pursued a music career. He had his first breakthrough as a songwriter, writing “Kentucky Rain” for Elvis and the No. 1 single “Pure Love” for Ronnie Milsap. Rabbitt signed with Elektra Records in 1974. Over the next three years, he recorded his first three albums, had his first No. 1 single and was named the Top New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music. Rabbitt had his first crossover hit, “Every Which Way But Loose,” in 1978, which was featured in the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. His biggest crossover hit was 1980’s “I Love A Rainy Night,” which became his only No. 1 hit on the Billboard 100 where it stayed for two weeks. His duet with Crystal Gayle, “You and I,” hit No. 1 on the country charts and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard 100. A heavy smoker, Rabbitt was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997 and died a year later.