BMatt’s Monday musings
AUBURN | That Auburn had just one player selected in the 2022 NFL Draft isn’t a sign of the apocalypse, but it’s a good example of what’s been wrong with this program for a number of years and what could doom it to mediocrity for the foreseeable future.
It’s recruiting. It’s talent acquisition.
That’s been the Tigers main impediment to consistent success for more than three decades now and the disparity between AU and the best programs in college football is only growing larger.
For a 16th consecutive year, the SEC led the nation in draft picks. At the top of the list was Georgia with 15 followed by LSU with 10 and Alabama with seven.
At the bottom, above only Vanderbilt, which had zero selections, was the once mighty Auburn.
When I look at those numbers, the first thing that stands out to me is not Auburn’s futility, it’s that Alabama only had seven. That’s just another sign of what’s happened in this state over the past 15 years and probably a preview of what’s to come this fall and in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Now, I don’t expect next year’s draft to be quite as deficient for AU. When I look at the current roster, I see at least three draft picks next year (Colby Wooden, Derick Hall and Tank Bigsby) and as as many as seven depending on how many declare and how they perform this fall.
That would be about par for the course, which is not close to good enough. Auburn has averaged four draft picks per year over the past decade and had four total first round picks.
Alabama has averaged nine including 29 first rounders, Georgia 6.5 and 16, and LSU 7.5 and 14. I could run similar numbers with Ohio State and Clemson.
If Auburn wants to play with the big boys, it’s got to start recruiting like them.
Terry Bowden couldn’t do it. Tommy Tuberville and Gene Chizik couldn’t do it consistently, and Gus Malzahn couldn’t do it either.
Can Bryan Harsin? I don’t know.
I know he deserves the opportunity to sink or swim on his own merit. I also know when your biggest rivals are achieving at the very highest levels, there’s not going to be much patience.
Time is of the essence.
***
Auburn baseball showed a lot of grit this weekend in Knoxville.
It would have been easy for this team to fold up its tents after getting hammered 17-4 Friday night, in a game it led in the sixth inning and also lost two of its top pitchers — Hayden Mullins and Blake Burkhalter — to injuries.
Instead, the Tigers rallied to win a dramatic game two and then played a tight game three that wasn’t decided until the Volunteers’ final at-bat.
This is a UT team, I should remind you, that is now 40-4 overall and 19-2 in the SEC. Getting out of Knoxville with one win was a win for Auburn.
Auburn is 31-14 and 12-9, tied with LSU and Texas A&M for second and two games behind No. 5 Arkansas for first place in the SEC West.
It sets up a crucial stretch of three series including two at home to close out the regular season. AU hosts Arkansas this weekend, Alabama next and closes out with a road trip to Kentucky.
A first-round bye in the SEC Tournament and hosting a Regional are still in play. It would take nearly a perfect finish to be a top eight national seed, but that’s certainly still a possibility too with AU’s No. 3 RPI.
Regardless, this team has proven it can handle adversity. It’ll have to overcome losing its Friday night start for a while, probably the rest of the season, but Burkhalter could return as soon as this weekend.
Auburn has become one of those teams nobody is going to want to play in the postseason.
***
In today’s musical journey, we go back 33 years to the day an album released to lukewarm critical reception goes on to become one of the greatest of all time. On May 2, 1989, the Cure released their eighth studio album, Disintegration, which was initially rated a three out of five stars by Rolling Stone, with another reviewer calling it “claustrophobic,” and stating, “you’ll be lucky to find a tune on here.” The album went on to become The Cure’s best-selling and is now rated by Rolling Stone as No. 116 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Most of the original members of the Cure were friends at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley, West Sussex, England. They underwent several name changes including Easy Cure before becoming the Cure in 1978 with the founder Robert Smith on vocals, guitar and keyboards, along with Michael Dempsey on bass and Lol Tulhurst on drums. The band went under several personnel changes and produced three albums over the next four years but wasn’t able to achieve commercial success. That changed in 1985 with the release of a sixth studio album, The Head on the Door, which had a couple of minor hits, and then 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me album, which included the band’s first big hit, Just Like Heaven. Disintegration had a big hit in Lovesong and then 1992’s Wish included another hit song, Friday I’m in Love. The Cure have produced 13 albums and continue to tour today.
While the band rejects the label, the Cure are considered one of founding members of the gothic rock movement, and were one of the first alternative bands to experience commercial success. They’re also known for producing somewhat strange music videos. They have sold over 30 millions albums over 44 years and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Both Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Paul Banks of Interpol consider the Cure one of the primary influences of their careers.