Goodbye, Tim. Best of luck. The above screenshot is from Tim Hawthorne’s Twitter feed, after the news broke yesterday that Hawthorne has graduated and has left Auburn’s football team, effective immediately. Whatever else you want to read into Hawthorne’s tweets, this much is clear: he’s ready to move on.
And honestly, who can blame him? Hawthorne’s four years in Auburn have been nothing but one disappointment after another, with virtually none of them–the accident that killed his friend, the injuries, the coaching upheaval, the foot injury last summer that derailed his last shot–of Hawthorne’s own doing. Jay G. Tate:
Hawthorne always was one of my favorite guys. He’s very bright, thinks about what he says before saying it and wasn’t afraid to be honest. I remember asking him about the problems during 2008. He’d just shake his head, acknowledge that stuff was messed up and try to give you some insight. I never saw him in a bad mood.
With that said, I think the accident he endured several years ago on I-85 changed him forever. He was forced to face a lot of stuff you’re not ready to face at 19 years old. He seemed distracted after that, maybe not as into football as before.
Unfortunately there’s not much Hawthorne can do to rewrite his on-field career as something other than just another one of Tubby’s mid-decade recruiting busts, but it’ll always deserve that off-field events asterisk. If he was unhappy in Auburn, I’m happy that he’s got his degree and gets a chance to take whatever his next step is. Godspeed.
Newton? If the Hawthorne story is the headliner this a.m., the “buzz” story for this weekend is that former Tebow heir and five-star JUCO quarterback Cam Newton will be taking an official visit to Auburn over the weekend and according to Beaver could even commit in the near future in the event of an offer.
The “cons” to signing a five-star, 6-6, 250-pound, 4.5 40 complete joke of an athlete to play quarterback usually wouldn’t be nearly enough to outweigh the pros … but Newton has some pretty serious cons, starting with the arrest for stealing another student’s laptop that got him the boot from Florida. (There’s a little more info from the Oklahoma perspective here.) Charges have since been dropped, but however much you do or don’t buy Newton’s claims of innocence, he represents a huge risk for Chizik and Co.’s reputation for “family” and putting together the Auburn program the right way. Signing a high-profile legal refugee like Newton is one thing; signing him and then having him run into further legal trouble at Auburn would be the sort of black eye that would take a long, long time to heal.
On top of that, I don’t think there’s much question that bringing in a JUCO QB at the last minute isn’t going to sit too well with Auburn’s current quarterbacking corps, Caudle in particular. Newton’s got two years to play two, so Rollison, Moseley, and Trotter would all still have their junior and senior years to battle for the starter’s job if they couldn’t get past Newton … but if you’re Caudle, how on earth can you spin the courtship of Newton as anything other than a message from Malzahn and Chizik that they don’t think he can get it done? For a guy who’s bided and bided and bided his time and who–I’ll go ahead and say it–I’m hoping on a personal level wins the 2010 job, that’s a tough, tough hand to get dealt.
But of course, Auburn’s coaches can only take so much of that into consideration. It’s not “win at all costs,” but we all know it is “win at all reasonable costs,” and if Newton genuinely represents Auburn’s best chance at having a difference-maker at quarterback in 2010 and 2011, Caudle’s feelings and the other QB’s two years of potential backup-dom are reasonable costs. If Auburn’s coaches are willing to sign off on Newton, I’d have a hard time arguing with them–especially when you consider that the thought of combining a freak like Newton (a five-star coming out of high school even 2007, Tebow’s backup as a true freshman, and now Rivals’ No. 1 JUCO for this class) in Malzahn’s offense. I’d prefer to not have to roll the dice on a guy with Newton’s past, but if Chizik and Co. tell me it’s OK, it’ll be OK.
Smith. We still haven’t talked about Eric Smith here at WBE, have we? He’s still working on his academics, still a part of the team, still even an option for the Outback Bowl … unless his grades come back today and he’s ineligible. Even he does come through this in good academic standing, piling this on top of the assault incident was not a good idea. The guess here is that he’s hanging by the slimmest of threads.
As for who’s replace him for the bowl game … John Douglas has typically taken over Smith’s blocking duties when he’s not in the game, but who’d run Smith’s receiving routes, I don’t honestly know unless Fannin shifts over.
AFTERNOON UPDATE (from Jeremy): The Little Bowling Ball will not be going bowling. Academically ineligible. As for filling he’s shoes -Douglas, Fannin and probably Lutzenkirchen.
Gayden. File under gun-jumping: the size of Auburn’s February Signing Day bunch is still TBD, since as it turns out Roszell Gayden is still “working towards getting in.” Gayden will obviously be a huge addition whether he enrolls in January or enrolls later, but it would equally obviously be a huge help if he can get in early and keep that spot in the 2010 class open.
The one other open-ended question from Wednesday’s mini-Signing Day: whither Ken Adams? The JUCO TE/DE and 2008 Auburn signee was supposed to be deciding between Tennessee and Auburn midweek. Now he appears to have put things off, but I have to wonder if that changes his relationship to Auburn–if he can’t back-count into the 2009 class by enrolling early, are Auburn’s coaches still going to be as high on him?
Still more. It’s been a busy last couple of days for Auburn news, so hitting the highlights:
— Not only is Mike McNeil pretty much back at full speed on the practice field, Cameron Henderson is practicing again as well. Good for him. It’s going to be a long way back.
— Antonio Coleman was named a third-team All-American by the smartest guy in college football. (Well, smartest aside from that “Notre Dame No. 7” thing.)
— Auburn has a huge lead for athlete/future corner Ryan White …
OK, this is funny, I went to find White’s Rivals page to link up, and it turns out he’s committed. That’s cool.
— Antoine Carter is getting his face tattoos removed. I’m dead serious when I say I wish we got more reports like this out of the beat.
— Remember Taikwon Paige? Not getting his grades in order ended up being a big, big mistake: he’s landed at Toledo.
— Andy Bitter’s story on Moseley and Trotter is well worth your time. Is it my imagination, or does Malzahn seem a little higher on Moseley? (Speaking of which: I’m now desperately hoping Auburn gets a commitment from C.J. Mosley, just to set the Guiness Record for most Mosleys/Moseleys on one football team.)
— DeAngelo Benton has a 3.0. That’s freaking awesome. Also at the bottom of that Bitter link: Jeff Grimes sounds a lot more excited about the JUCO linemen he’s got coming in than the young linemen he’s got.
— OK, I was hoping to get a post on last night’s 76-72 Auburn hoops loss to Florida St. done–the short version is that Auburn’s got to start turning their overwhelming advantage in shots taken into an advantage on the scoreboard, but that as frustrating as yet another close loss is Auburn’s still at least moving forward–but the Mrs. WBE and I are getting ready to take off to Albuquerque for the weekend and that’s not happening.
Enjoy your weekend; I’ll be back Monday with a report from the THRILLING EXCITEMENT that I’m sure will be the New Mexico Bowl showdown between Fresno St. and Wyoming.
If I had twitter account, especially 3 years ago I probably would have posted the same thing as Hawthorne. I was so happy to get out of Auburn and at times had no intention on going back. I returned for the first time for this year’s Iron Bowl and truth be told, found myself not missing the place at all. Yeah, it was great being back in Jordan-Hare and watching our beloved Tigers play a terrific game, but everything else, I could have cared less about. But that’s me and I’m sure I’m one of the few who feels that way. I wish you all the best Tim Hawthorne and war eagle…
Not too sure how I feel about Newton, last thing I want is Auburn making an early run at the Fulmer Cup…
Wow, Philip… I must say I cannot in any way fathom or sympathize with how you felt then.
I LOVED Auburn. Still love it with all my heart to this day.
I was proud as hell to earn my degree. Eager as hell to begin my Navy career.
But to LEAVE AUBURN? It ‘bought broke this sailor boy’s heart. As I pointed out in my feeling above, I can certainly understand being eager to move on with your life. But “happy to get out of Auburn and at at times had no intention of going back”??!??!?! MADNESS.
On Cam Newton and coaches taking chances, I have two names for you to remember: Pat Dye. Otis Mounds.
I don’t know for what happened with Newton at UF in that case. But he’s apparently kept his nose clean, done what he needed to do and the issue (at least the legal part of it) has effectively gone away.
I say that if Chizik, Malzahn, Trooper and Luper are OK with giving the young man a chance, AU fans in general should be OK with it as well. Might it blow up in their faces? Sure. But just about any kid can blow up in their faces. Maybe Newton has learned from his experience and maybe the coaches see that. I dunno. But if they want him, I hope that he signs with AU.
GET NEWTON IN just make sure Rollison doesn’t get butt hurt about it and look around because we need to keep him, he just needs more time to bulk up or he will look like that Michigan Frosh QB: a 5th grader playing high school ball. Passing on Newton if he wants to come is a tuberville era move that got us into the current depth emergency we are facing and adding as many bodies as we can is what we need. If those bodies happen to be rated a five star out of high school AND THEN GETS BETTER in JUCO then you would have to be moronic to say ‘weeeeeell I don’t think our coaches can control him’ and he goes to Miss St and burns our ass for 2 years, because that is where he will go if we don’t get him. Fulmer Cup be damned, the kid is straight, get him in.
Philip, to say I’m dumbfounded by your comments is an understatement. Don’t get me wrong, this is no personal attack on you, just utter confusion as to what happened to you while you were at auburn that soured you so. I had my fair share of bad grades, broken hearts, and everything else that happens to a young man while away at college, but auburn is always in my heart and I go back as often as possible and live 5 hrs away. Even better is the fact that I have some friends there that never graduated (unfortunate for them) and I get to see every time I go. I’m truly sorry that you can’t enjoy going back. Those were some of the best years of my life and I’d love to be able to do it again, homework/tests or not!
I lived in Gainesville during the Cam Newton era, and I got to see him in the orange and blue game prior to the 2007 season. Granted, it was only a scrimmage, but he looked every bit as good as Tim Tebow. The thought of having him in Gus Malzahn’s offense gives me a football boner the size of the statue of liberty. He’s big, strong, athletic, and can throw the football. He’s everything we thought Kodi Burns would be, and more…I remember seeing him playing mop up duty in a game, and laying a bone-crushing hit on a linebacker that sent the Swamp into a frenzy…been meaning to check youtube, but can’t remember the opponent. As for the off-the-field stuff…he was caught with a stolen laptop. It’s not like he was arrested for armed robbery or possession with the intent to distribute. The kid made a mistake, and from the looks of it is just trying to put it behind him. I think he deserves a second chance, and I don’t believe that giving him one would hurt our reputation. At least we’re not recruiting suspected rapists like Tennessee. I like Neil and Kodi too, but dammit landing Cam Newton would be a truly awesome Christmas present to the Auburn family.
This may sound silly, but thank you for taking the time to notice the difference in spelling between Moseley and Mosley. My last name is Moseley, and it has always been a huge pet peeve of mine when people jack up the spelling.
P.S. I know you’re a busy man, and all, but I was wondering if sometime during the offseason you could do a review of the 2009 recruiting class and break it down for us loyal readers?
Merry Christmas and War Eagle!
Brandon, glad to hear the scouting report.
As for your request, do you mean 2009 or 2010? I’m going to sort of do an overview of where the 2010 class stands soon. 2009 I think is too early to review–guys like Eguae and Aycock haven’t even played yet and it’s too early to say how much guys like Benton or Gulley or even Jon Evans are going to play in the future when the depth chart’s going to be more crowded.