Park Crossing senior offensive lineman Marcus "Tank" Jenkins began receiving major offers before his sophomore season. Kamarri Darrington
AUBURN – With the early signing period completed, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn has a wish list for his final 10 signees of this 2018 recruiting class.
After announcing his 15 early signees on Dec. 20 and not receiving anymore National Letter-of-Intent documents the following two days, the Tigers fifth-year head coach said he has two desired positional needs to fill – tight end and offensive line.
Auburn’s 2018 recruiting class, which finished the early period with a consensus Top 10 ranking among the internet recruiting services, has five verbally committed prospects who didn’t ink their NLI documentation during the three-day early period: four-star wide receiver Matthew Hill, four-star defensive lineman Coynis Miller, four-star linebacker Richard Jibunor, three-star athlete/safety Kolbi Fugua and three-star Austrailian punter Arryn Siposs.
“We’ve recruited guys for a long period of time,” Malzahn said. “We develop great relationships with guys. If you really look at our history over the last four or five years, once guys are committed to us, they usually stay committed to us. I think that’s a testament to our coaches and really the way we recruit.”
If Malzahn’s prediction comes true and none of those five flip their verbal pledge on National Signing Day in February, Auburn will have five scholarships to play with to fill critical needs in their 25-man recruiting class. With six senior offensive linemen playing their final game of their Auburn careers on New Year’s Day as No. 8 Tigers (10-3) face No. 10 Central Florida (12-0) in the 2018 Peach Bowl (11 a.m., ESPN), Malzahn recognized last week the need for more depth for offensive line coach Herb Hand to work with in the coming years.
“I feel like we need another o-lineman, an impact o-lineman or two, but overall I’m feeling really good with where we’re at,” Malzahn said on Dec. 20. “Everything pretty much held true to what we thought.”
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With that statement of wanting “an impact o-lineman or two”, Malzahn could’ve been talking in code directly at Montgomery native Tank Jenkins as the four-star Park Crossing prospect has held a scholarship offer from the Tigers program since he attended the school’s camp for junior prospects in January.
“I talked to more coaches and I’m going to wait until I go visit a couple more schools,” Jenkins said in October. “Then I’m going to make a decision. So hopefully a decision will be made in November. It’s going to be made soon.”
While Jenkins may make up his mind earlier than Feb. 7, that doesn’t mean he’ll announce that decision until that day and it’s that assumed drama that may make him less desirable to Auburn in the next few months as the Tigers try to fill one or two more spots with offensive lineman. Jenkins is planning on taking official visits to Ole Miss and Louisville before the traditional signing day but the 335-pound offensive guard target is still highly on the board in Auburn’s recruiting plans. During the first few months of his senior year at Park Crossing, Jenkins named Auburn, Louisville, Oklahoma and Missouri as his final college choices.
“Auburn is doing a really good thing down there,” Jenkins said in October. “I’ve been watching. They’ve been running the ball like we have. They’re doing good down there.”
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Auburn is also eyeing four-star offensive tackle Jalen Goss from Valdosta, Ga., and four-star offensive lineman William Barnes from Apopka, Fla., as well to improve on what the coaching staff believes will be a talented but inexperienced offensive front by the time spring practices begin.
“Most of those offensive linemen, and that’s the best thing, those guys that redshirted on the offensive line, this is really the first time that they’re actually competing for playing time,” Malzahn said. “You’ve seen the urgency in that group really rise. Ant that’s usually what happens and to be expected.”
The tight end quandary could be a harder problem for Auburn’s coaching staff to solve in this recruiting class. When Malzahn declared Auburn, which has only six receptions from the tight end position in the last three seasons, needed “a big-time tight end”, he might as well of taken the secondary violation and said the name of Luke Ford. The four-star prospect from Carterville, Ill., was visited in his home days before the early signing period by Auburn offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator Larry Porter but the nation’s top uncommitted tight end signed with nearby rival Georgia on Dec. 21 – the second day of the early period. Ford coming off the board for everybody but the arguably the nation’s best recruiting class was a major blow for Auburn due to the fact that according to 247Sports.com’s, only three of the nation’s best 30 tight end prospects are committed or signed with other programs and Auburn isn’t among the contenders for any of that uncommitted trio.
The hiring of Lindsey was supposed to awaken a tight end position that has been dormant in the passing game since C.J. Uzomah left Auburn’s campus as an NFL draft pick.
“We get in a lot of tight end sets, but you’re talking about catching the ball. Those guys have a role on our team,” Lindsey said. “I think the goal is to eventually have a guy who can do all three, play in the backfield, attach and flex,” Lindsey said. “All those guys have spent time this spring doing both.”