The will he/won’t he when it comes to Gene Chizik‘s return as Auburn’s head coach in 2013 took a decidedly downward turn this week with a report that AU’s president has already began “making plans for possibly replacing” Chizik.
If the speculation is correct, and Chizik is indeed out as the Tigers’ coach at season’s end, the football program could also be out a highly-rated recruit as well.
Back in May, Montgomery (Ala.) Carver High School Jeremy Johnson, a four-star recruit rated as the No. 10 pro-style quarterback in the Class of 2013, verbally committed to Auburn over the likes of, among others, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss. On his Twitter account Friday afternoon, Johnson reaffirmed his commitment to the Tigers... provided “coach chiz” returns as head coach at AU in 2013.
“I’m committed to auburn and coach chiz if he get fired then I’m gone he has no reason to get fired he not out there playing,” Johnson firmly if not-so-eloquently stated in the tweet.
"[E]verybody goes through a building stage and that’s what it is next year,” Johnson added in a subsequent tweet, referencing a coach who won a BcS title in 2010 and shouldn’t be in any type of building stage -- rebuilding or otherwise -- two years later. Especially one whose grabbed recruiting classes rated 10th (2012), seventh (2011) and fourth (2010) the past three years, with 2013’s class rated ninth.
Procuring talent is not Chizik’s problem, though. Getting that talent to perform at acceptable levels when Cam Newton is unavailable, however, has proven elusive and will likely be his downfall on The Plains.
(Tip O’ the Cap: Opelika-Auburn News)
(Photo credit: Carver High)