Hey everyone. It's almost Memorial Day Weekend around these parts and you know what that means.Baseball regional? Oh, yeah? That wasn't what I meant.
Big Cat Weekend II: Electric Boogaloo begins tomorrow with what (at initial glance) promises to be a swell array of football prospects. We know Arkansas quarterback Kiehl ("Kyle") Frazier will be there. We also believe Arkansas offensive lineman Mitch Smothers will attend.
Anyone else? Absolutely. Can I identify them? Not right now.
The HABOTN spoke with Auburn recruiting czar Curtis Luper about what to expect this weekend.
- On how many kids will attend: "We don't know yet. It'll be a work in progress."
- On turning away kids who have come forward and asked for an invitation: ``No is not something that's really in our vocabulary. We don't want it to be 400 kids because we can't manage it. We try to keep it as small and manageable as possible."
- On changes Auburn is expected to make to BCW this time around: ``We got a lot of feedback from the guys on our team now, our new freshmen, who were part of Big Cat last year. They all had ideas of stuff we should do. Pie eating and watermelon eating contests that we did last year were big. Auburn is known as a family place, so it'll be like another family reunion."
- On fielding new suggestions: ``The suggestions come from everywhere now. Not just our players or former players. We're talking about a couple of secretaries, people in airports. We want to do the best that we can do show Auburn for what it is. We heard some crazy ideas, but a few of them actually were really smart. Some of them made us laugh."
- On which ones made him laugh: ``You wouldn't believe them."
- On the most important part from a recruiting perspective: ``There are some guys who had some strong bonds from that particular weekend that carried over into the season and after the season. Subsequently, some of those guys are on our football team. The big thing was the uniqueness of the weekend and those guys being part of the initial Big Cat … that's the sense that we got."
Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
Football substance
ReplyDeletenever have i posted this early.....
ReplyDeleteYou've never posted before 7 in the morning?
ReplyDeletenot that i recall and the only reason it comes now is because i am in an airport terminal
ReplyDeleteYou got it DL, my favorite kind of substance.
ReplyDeleteIt's here!!
ReplyDeleteBCW is like a family reunion! I like that.
ReplyDeleteCome be a part of the Auburn family.
How are these kids gonna watch the middle rounds of the French Open and participate in BCW festivities at the same time?
ReplyDeleteEarly substance!
ReplyDeleteHave a good day, Hotties.
Is 'Electric Boogaloo' an official title?
ReplyDeleteEither way it makes me want to dance.
Was wondering the same thing, ehyou.
ReplyDeleteThe more pertinent question is: how am I going to keep up with the action at Roland Garros wile spending 4-5 days in Orlando?
I need my annual red dirt fix.
Boogaloo is NOT the official title!!
ReplyDeleteIt'd be a lot cooler if it was.
ReplyDeletei will be pretty sparse on here this summer, I will have the joy of teaching 20-25 7th-12th graders for seven weeks this summer, its a church camp in Nashville and I am pretty excited about it, i have a blog up to keep people updated this summer so feel free to go to my profile and check it out
ReplyDeleteI love the clay too bro.
ReplyDeleteSounds good Fearless. Will do.
ReplyDeleteIs it just me or is ESPN nothing more than sports TMZ nowadays?
ReplyDeleteMorning Hotties. This is my Friday. Day off to travel to see my daughter graduate high school tomorrow. I'm not quite sure where all of those 18 years went. I'm proud of my girl.
ReplyDeleteFearless, I've done the same thing though my camp was only a week. Good luck. It was tough but thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile.
War Eagle and Keep Hate Alive.
Ahhhhh Football.....REAL football!
ReplyDeleteReal? As opposed to fake?
ReplyDeleteRed Dirt Ball = boring. Fed, Nadal, that is all.
ReplyDeleteBraves had a great night last night. Trivia was interrupted by cheers from the bar every 5 minutes in the 6th inning.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Norm. Very big event!!
ReplyDeleteWe are headed back up to Denver today and planning to go to the Rockies Diamondbacks game this afternoon. Another baseball park I can mark off of my list :)
Have a great HABOTN day! Jay, thanks for the tweet updates yesterday. Will you be doing the same today? Good luck AUBURN!!
Agree to disagree Seanzie. I'll take Fed-Nadal every day of the week.
ReplyDeleteHardcourt and grass tennis may be played faster, but it's a little less nuanced (though I do love tennis on both surfaces). I like the tactical shotmaking involved with clay court tennis.
Plus, the terre battue just looks great in HD.
Have fun Cincy. Coors Field is a fine ballpark. It's also in a great location with tons of bars and restaurants close by. Be sure to take a stroll down the 16th Street Mall.
ReplyDeleteOr head up to Boulder and walk around their Pearl Street Mall.
For me, nothing is better than a pristine grass court on the first day of Wimbledon. Though by the end of the tournament it looks more like clay.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I dislike dirtball, it's just the same outcome almost every time.
Me, I'm more of an Andy Roddick fan. Last year's Championships were one of the best I've seen. This includes Fed/Nadal from the year before.
Ok, I feel better about today's game. So if we win, it can be my fault as well :).
ReplyDeleteScottie- 99 Ways to kill Bamer Eddie....
#99- Blow up Disney World. :)
Eddie's a Bammer??
ReplyDeleteI'll grant that Nadal & Federer have been "it" of late and haven't offered much variety. It'll be somebody else soon enough. I like to play on clay and thus like to watch play on clay.
ReplyDeleteSean- Nope, but accused of it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI hear ya on the pristineness (word?) of Wimbledon on the first day. And I like Wimbledon overall just fine, but it hasn't been less predictable there than in Paris. It's basically only ever been Fed-Nadal or Fed-Roddick in the final.
ReplyDeleteI like Roddickt a lot and pull for him to do well as an American and all, but I easily prefer Fed's game over his. Roddick has a great serve, and the rest of the game has really rounded out nicely in the last couple of years, but if he has a bad day serving, he's not got much of a chance. He served great in last year's Wimbledon final and still lost, getting broke for the first time on the last game of the match. His effort is great, but his style isn't all that aesthetically pleasing to me.
I'd love to play on clay, but I don't really have any access to it.
ReplyDeleteI've never had the hate for South Carolina. Its like a stray dog, kinda sad.
ReplyDeleteJust for the record, I was not one of the ones who said that...I think yesterday's attitude sucked, and can agree that it could be taken as something similar to what a Bammer would say about AU, but Eddie is definitely not a Bammer....Sensi, on the other hand... :-P
ReplyDeleteONE HUNDRED DAYS TIL KICKOFF... and about 10 hours
ReplyDeleteNorm - in your travels today maybe you'll pass one of those "Empowering..." trucks like I did today. They're everywhere.
ReplyDeleteSOCCER
ReplyDelete2 weeks and a few hours until the World Cup....not that anyone watches that crap.
Nope. Everyone hates soccer.
ReplyDeleteLeast of all you, Peter, right?
ReplyDeleteMy attitude always sucks during loses, or at least it used to. I think I've improved, I just have a hard time with games like yesterday, and I completely understand it is baseball and Nelson pitched a gem. I'm just under the belief that Expectations and Auburn don't go hand in hand. Everytime I buy into it, it stings back.
ReplyDeleteThis side be "Touchdown" ....this side be "Auburn".
I'll be tweetin', oh yeah.
ReplyDeleteTell that to the Swimming and Diving team.
ReplyDeleteOkay, bad example, but I don't feel as though expectations is an albatross around our neck or anything. All the higher seeds lost yesteday. Was it b/c of expectations?
Here's what I "need to know about Big Cat Weekend?" Not jack crap. Who gives a rip??? Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!
ReplyDelete