Auburn’s ‘Big Cat Weekend’ causes a roar

AUBURN — If a nationwide buzz and having the eyes of the proverbial recruiting world centered on a rebuilding team was what the Auburn coaching staff wanted, score one for the Tigers.

With added attention, though, comes increased skepticism, and the Tigers are now trying to figure out if they went a bit too far in their latest installment of innovative recruiting tactics.

After a weekend that saw some of the nation’s top prospects come to Auburn on their own dime, Tiger officials are investigating whether any NCAA rules were violated during “Big Cat Weekend,” an Auburn official confirmed Monday.

“Any time we receive a question we do our due diligence and look into the matter and take the appropriate action,” said Kirk Sampson, Auburn’s assistant athletic director for media relations.

The focus of their investigation will likely center on the goings-on of Saturday night, when 20 or so high school prospects were joined by hundreds of Auburn fans for an impromptu pep rally at Toomer’s Corner.

At least three rules could have been violated at the hour-long celebration, all of which would be counted as secondary violations. Secondary violations are considered commonplace in this new era of recruiting and would provide Auburn little to no consequences, especially if the school self-reports the violations.

As a number of the high-school athletes lined up to throw toilet paper into the large live oak tree at the heart of Auburn’s campus, a voice was overheard announcing their names, position and native locale. Per NCAA bylaw 13.10.6, “an institution may not introduce a visiting prospective student-athlete at a function (e.g., the institution’s sports award banquet or an intercollegiate athletics contest) that is attended by media representatives or open to the general public.”

The man behind the voice was not seen on any of the number of videos circulating on the Internet. Presumably, if the person behind it is employed by Auburn, it would be considered a violation.

The publicizing that led to the event’s occurance may have also been a violation.

According to bylaw 13.10.5, “a member institution shall not publicize (or arrange for publicity of) a prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution’s campus. Further, a prospective student-athlete may not participate in team activities that would make the public or media aware of the prospective student-athlete’s visit to the institution.”

Three Auburn recruiting-themed Web sites had information regarding the event posted on message boards sometime Saturday afternoon. Niffer’s Place, 1151 Opelika Rd., also publicized the gathering on its marquee.

None of the information was attributed to the Auburn coaching staff.

Police officers were on the scene at least 45 minutes before the event. Auburn police lieutenant Steve Woods said at least seven officers were called to the scene for a “special assignment.” Woods said he was unsure who notified police of the event.

NCAA bylaw 13.10.1 prevents the presence of media “during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.” All three of the aforementioned Web sites, along with OANOW.com, were on site and shot video. Some high-school players gave interviews that night.

None of the violations, if self-reported, would affect a player’s eligibility and the ability for Auburn to continue their pursuit of that player.
Aside from the potential minor violations, the weekend has been considered a major success and yet another example of Auburn making the national news cycle during a primarily dry period of football activity.

In May, Auburn took an avant-garde approach during the spring evaluation period with the self-dubbed “Tiger Prowl.” Instead of sending its seven allotted coaches to seven different destinations, the Tigers sent all seven to the same place, arriving in a Hummer limousine with Auburn decals on the side.

“What do most high school people want to go to prom in? A limo,” wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said in a recent interview with the Opelika-Auburn News.

“You do it big, you do it in a limo. The kids we’re recruiting are the same age as those kids. That’s kind of how it snowballed.”

A number of highly rated prospects made this past weekend’s trip, including running backs Lache Seastrunk (Temple, Texas) and Marcus Lattimore (Duncan, S.C.) — the top two backs in the country according to Rivals.com — wide receiver Trovon Reed (Thibodaux, La.), offensive lineman Eric Mack (St. Matthews, S.C.) and linebackers Khairi Fortt (Stamford, Conn.) and LaDarius Owens (Bessemer, Ala.). None of the players committed to Auburn after the festivity, but a number of them said Auburn moved to the top of their respective lists after a weekend that included pie-eating and watermelon-eating contests.

“We’ll always be working hard to find new and innovative ways to relate and keep up with young people,” Taylor said. “There are some old school things that guys stand for as far as morals and standards and values that I will never change. But as far as having an open mind to reach out to young people — to get them to reach back to you — I’m always open to that.

“Old school will get you beat.”