quote:
Reacting to recent George Pickens comments

In an interview with John Garcia of 247Sports, Auburn wide receiver commit George Pickens has some concerning comments (if you’re an Auburn fan) about the state of his recruitment.

“It’s really open,” Pickens told Garcia. “Because there’s a lot of new schools coming in. I’m trying to see as many schools as I can right now.”

That’s not what Auburn or its fans want to hear. These Pickens comments come not long after he picked up an Alabama offer, which likely will raise even more concern.

This all comes less than a week after one of my notebooks mentioned a shift in the Pickens recruitment. Auburn had a long conversation with Pickens and his mother about limiting (or in a perfect world, completely shutting down) visits to other schools. According to one source, Pickens — and especially his mother — responded positively to the idea.

These comments would suggest otherwise, at least from Pickens’ end.

Still, I’d consider this to be a wait-and-see type of thing. He wants to take official visits to Michigan and Oregon. Those trips likely won’t worry Auburn much given the distance-from-home factor. The Tigers will view those similarly to 2018 defensive tackle Coynis Miller taking late official visits to schools Auburn never really expected would be a threat.

I expect a similar situation to take place with Pickens. Want to take a trip to Oregon or Michigan or somewhere else way far away? That’s fine. Multiple return trips to Tuscaloosa and Athens? That’s not going to fly as much with Malzahn.

Will also say that while Garcia covers the southeast for 247 he's a bammer. Started off as Scout's Bama recruiting guy & moved up to covering the southeast, mostly Alabama for 247. Not saying that what he's reporting is wrong but seems like Pickens likes to tell reporters of their schools what they wanna hear. If he starts missing visits to AU for Bama then I will be concern

FWIW KN reiterated in comments of Garcia story that AU feels very confident Pickens will stick. Also Pickens is expected at BCW

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Posted by TigerPaw1

Chattanooga, TN

Member since Apr 2011

16979 posts

Posted on 5/22/18 at 8:46 am to TigerPaw1

4-star DL hopes to get 'reassurance' from next Auburn visit (Rivals)

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Four-star defensive end Jaren Handy visited Auburn in March and left “very impressed.”

Handy wants to confirm those feelings. He wants to be sure of his interest in Auburn, and he’ll get the chance when he returns June 2.

“I’ll be there and I want to see if I get the same feeling as the first time I visited,” Handy said. “It was a real good feeling and I want to get reassurance of it.”

Handy, who is from Perry Central in New Augusta, Miss., will be one of many elite recruits in Auburn on June 2, which is the day of the Tigers’ annual “Big Cat” event.

Handy won’t make the trip to Auburn alone. His friend and fellow four-star defensive line recruit, Charles Moore, also is expected to attend.

“I talked to Charles and he will be there, too,” Handy said. “We’re both excited to get back to Auburn.”

Handy has developed strong relationships with Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner and area recruiter/defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson. Handy hopes to strengthen those bonds during the visit.

“I talk to Coach Woodson a lot,’ Handy said. “I actually talked to him (Monday). Our relationship just keeps getting better and better.”

Handy, a former LSU commitment, doesn’t list any top schools. He does hope to narrow his focus in the coming months.

“I’m going to take my time, take some more visits,” Handy said. “I don’t have any top schools, but I’ll probably release them over the summer sometime.”

Rivals ranks Handy, who stands 6-foot-5 and weighs 273 pounds, the No. 4 player in Mississippi, the No. 14 strongside defensive end in the country and No. 128 in the Rivals250.