As Gene Chizik stepped to the podium he didn't look relieved. He didn't look ecstatic. The Auburn head coach looked as if everything had gone precisely as it was supposed to.
Yesterday Chizik completed his second signing day on The Plains, concluding a year of recruiting that has yielded one of the best classes in Auburn Football's recent years, if not its entire history.
"This was a great day for Auburn," Chizik said. "A year ago at this time, literally when this day ended a year ago, we knew we had to really use this class which we had a full year to recruit to build the foundation of what we're trying to do at Auburn. I really feel like this first building block is, a year later, exactly what we had envisioned."
Coming into Wednesday morning Auburn had five recruits already enrolled. One of these was Cameron Newton, ranked five stars by Rivals.com, as well as the best JUCO quarterback in the country. Two more five star recruits, running back Michael Dyer and offensive lineman Shon Coleman, are part of the
2010 class, as well as 13 four stars from around the country. All total, the class is 32 men strong.
Impressive though this is, Chizik said he isn't always necessarily looking for the best athlete alone.
"One of the things that we wanted to do was bring in student athletes," Chizik said. "It's very, very important to us as we go out and recruit young men that we recruit guys who want to get an education and want to get a degree. It's important to them and their families to get a degree from Auburn."
One of the day's surprises was the signing of Corey Lemonier, a defensive end from Louisiana, who had narrowed his choices between Auburn and Florida State. Another addition appearing in the last days of the process was defensive tackle Jeffrey Whitaker.
"Auburn had what I was looking for," Whitaker said. "It just felt like home. It was like home away from home. It was one place I just couldn't turn away from."
Chizik has been noted for his gall in taking the number one best recruits from particular states, particularly Arkansas (Dyer), Louisiana (wide receiver Trovon Reed) and Mississippi (Coleman).
"We just asked them to really look at the people that look at them and say what do YOU want you to do," Chizik said. "That gave us a chance to go to other states and really recruit the right guy for Auburn."
Though Chizik said it will take a few years to see how the class pans out, most of the Auburn family can agree that the future is bright on The Plains.
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