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ā No one I know, including some in high places, argues that Auburn head football coach Bryan Harsin has done almost everything right in his first five months on the job. You donāt have to go far to find someone who will tell you that his commitment to a winning culture, his attention to detail and his determination to do things right and above board are real.
The lone question, one that really canāt be answered yet, is how he will adapt to recruiting in the part of the country in which he now lives after growing up and spending all but two years of his professional life in Boise, Idaho.
āItās nothing like anything he encountered out west,ā said one who has been part of football programs in both places. āNothing. He might have gotten a taste of it at Texas, but even in the Big 12 itās not the same. Recruiting in the SEC is like nothing else. No one can really understand it until theyāve experienced it.ā
The reality of life in the SEC is this: You donāt have to have as many impact players as Alabama, Georgia, etc., to compete with them and even beat them. But you have to have enough. Gus Malzahn had enough to beat Nick Saban three times in eight tries. For all the talk about Malzahn being 0-4 in Tuscaloosa, he was 3-1 against Alabama at Jordan-Hare. The point is that he had enough impact players to compete and win against the most dominant program in the game.
Impact players arenāt measured by star rankings. Dee Ford was a 3-star. Alabama quarterback Mac Jones was a 3-star who was headed for Kentucky and is now likely to be a first-round draft pick. Kevin Greene walked on, left and walked on again on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The list could go on and on, of course.
Most successful coaching staffs arenāt star-gazers. They do their own evaluations. They might view a player as what amounts to a 5-star in their systems when the recruiting analysts donāt. Or it might be the opposite.
This not meant to start a debate about recruiting rankings, but those stars mean nothing on game day in the SEC. Impact players are the key, regardless of star rankings. Harsin has to be get enough of them or all the culture and accountability in the world wonāt be enough.
Developing players is a great thing, but no one can build an SEC program around just that. The ones you really want to develop are those who are really good and really talented already.
So, can Harsin and his staff recruit enough impact players, the kind who can look Alabama and Georgia players in the eye? I donāt know how anyone can know that answer at this point. But that answer will tell the story of Harsinās time at Auburn.ā
The lone question, one that really canāt be answered yet, is how he will adapt to recruiting in the part of the country in which he now lives after growing up and spending all but two years of his professional life in Boise, Idaho.
āItās nothing like anything he encountered out west,ā said one who has been part of football programs in both places. āNothing. He might have gotten a taste of it at Texas, but even in the Big 12 itās not the same. Recruiting in the SEC is like nothing else. No one can really understand it until theyāve experienced it.ā
The reality of life in the SEC is this: You donāt have to have as many impact players as Alabama, Georgia, etc., to compete with them and even beat them. But you have to have enough. Gus Malzahn had enough to beat Nick Saban three times in eight tries. For all the talk about Malzahn being 0-4 in Tuscaloosa, he was 3-1 against Alabama at Jordan-Hare. The point is that he had enough impact players to compete and win against the most dominant program in the game.
Impact players arenāt measured by star rankings. Dee Ford was a 3-star. Alabama quarterback Mac Jones was a 3-star who was headed for Kentucky and is now likely to be a first-round draft pick. Kevin Greene walked on, left and walked on again on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The list could go on and on, of course.
Most successful coaching staffs arenāt star-gazers. They do their own evaluations. They might view a player as what amounts to a 5-star in their systems when the recruiting analysts donāt. Or it might be the opposite.
This not meant to start a debate about recruiting rankings, but those stars mean nothing on game day in the SEC. Impact players are the key, regardless of star rankings. Harsin has to be get enough of them or all the culture and accountability in the world wonāt be enough.
Developing players is a great thing, but no one can build an SEC program around just that. The ones you really want to develop are those who are really good and really talented already.
So, can Harsin and his staff recruit enough impact players, the kind who can look Alabama and Georgia players in the eye? I donāt know how anyone can know that answer at this point. But that answer will tell the story of Harsinās time at Auburn.ā
. Roll Tide 
