AU FOOTBALL: Tiger Prowl visits Valley
Valley High football coach Mike McCombs figured he would be hearing plenty of hoots and hollers from students Tuesday when six Auburn assistant coaches pulled up in a white, stretch Hummer limousine, walked through the school’s front doors and down the hallways.
He didn’t realize that the teachers and administrators would be just as guilty.
“They’re coming down through the halls and you hear a lot of ‘War Eagles’ being screamed down the hallway,” McCombs said. “I don’t know who’s worse: the kids or the faculty.”
The second installment of Tiger Prowl made one of its four stops Tuesday at Valley High, one of the area’s most loaded schools in terms of college prospects.
Tuesday’s tour through Alabama dipped into Georgia, as the enterprise stopped at Carver High in Columbus, Ga., before heading to Valley, Dallas County and Sweet Water. As it did Monday and will tonight and Thursday, the tour concluded with a an opportunity for fans to meet with Auburn’s football coaches, new basketball coach Tony Barbee and women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner, along with the massive tour bus Auburn has introduced for this year’s trek through the state.
At Valley, a school where the majority of students favor orange and blue over crimson and white, the six Auburn coaches — Tracy Rocker, Tommy Thigpen, Phillip Lolley, Trooper Taylor, Curtis Luper and Jay Boulware — were welcomed with open arms and a surprising amount of bookworms.
“It spread like wildfire,” McCombs said. “As soon as they’re in the building, everybody in the world knows. We took them over to the conference room and then the library. Then all of a sudden everybody wants a pass to the library.”
NCAA rules stipulate that teams can use four of the next six weeks to evaluate high school talent. Coaches are not permitted to make contact with the students during this period, only coaches.
There’s nothing in the rules, though, against making a grand entrance.
“Their visit is very uncommon how they go about it and is very unconventional,” McCombs said. “That’s why they’ve had such great success right out of the gate recruiting.”
There’s one big reason why Auburn chose Valley as one of its stops. His name is Erique Florence, one of the top prospects in the state who is leaning in the Tigers’ direction at the moment.
The four-star safety, ranked No. 3 in the nation at his position according to Scout.com, has made a number of unofficial visits to Auburn over the past few months, including A-Day. McCombs said Florence will visit a number of places this summer, but Tuesday he was happy to see Auburn’s coaches come to him.
“I think it was overwhelming for him at first. I think he’s become more accustomed to it and more comfortable with it,” McCombs said. “I think if he focuses on playing football, I believe the rest of it will take care of itself. He’s coming to that point where he realizes that.”
Florence’s rise up the charts, McCombs said, has allowed Valley’s other players to share some of the spotlight.
McCombs said he expects offensive lineman Jon-Morgan Poole and former cornerback, now tailback Cedric Moore to attract several offers from major schools, even though they might be under the radar.
“(Erique) has a lot of God-given ability and it’s afforded me the opportunity when these guys come through to get a lot of these other kids a lot more exposure,” McCombs said. “That’s been a big positive.”
agribble@oanow.com| 737-2561
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