Auburn Recruiting: Biggest Signing Day Surprises

Feb 6, 2013; Muscle Shoals, AL, USA; Muscle Shoals High School defensive tackle Dee Liner talks to the media after announcing his intentions to attended Alabama on national signing day. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

National Signing Day is just hours away, and if recent history is any indicator, things may get a little crazy between now and then.

Remember the whole Alex Collins situation in 2013, in which his mother stole his national letter of intent? A couple of years earlier, Floyd Raven’s mother forged his signature and faxed his LOI to Ole Miss.

Kids do funny things on television when announcing their decisions, and putting on the appropriate team’s hat just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Last year, one of the most unique pledges included Solomon Thomas pulling out a tiny tree and putting on nerd glasses to announce he planned to sigh with Stanford. A few years earlier, Isaiah Crowell announced he was signing with Georgia with help from a Bulldog puppy.

And those are just the tip of the iceberg.

But more important than the goofy things recruits do on Signing Day is that they are making a commitment to go to school and play college football at a particular institution – once they sign and fax their national letter of intent to the proper university – and sometimes, no one sees that final decision coming.

Currently, the Auburn recruiting class has 20 committed prospects and eight more are expected to join. The Tigers are still in the mix for some of the nation’s most sought-after players including five-stars like Byron Cowart, Martez Ivey and CeCe Jefferson, as well as a couple of committed prospects like Terry Godwin and Torrance Gibson.

There may be a surprise or two in store this year.

Gus Malzahn and his staff hope to pull a few rabbits out of their hats to finish strong on February 4, but the Auburn Tigers have been part of some of the biggest Signing Day surprises of the past few years – and not always in a good way.

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