Auburn football: Comparing Bryan Harsin and Gus Malzahn’s first months

Gus Malzahn reigned over the Auburn football program for eight long seasons, so for many, it’s pretty hard to even remember what Malzahn’s first recruiting class was like.

I’ll go ahead and tell you–the recruiting class inherited by HC Bryan Harsin has a very different feel than the one Gus Malzahn started with.

When Gene Chizik was fired after going 3-9 in the 2012 season, Gus Malzahn was already his official replacement at the beginning of December that same year. According to Auburn Rivals, Gene Chizik had already signed eight players to the team.

These eight players included 5-star DE Carl Lawson and 4-star RB Cameron Artis-Payne. Three of the others were also 4-star recruits, and 3-star Daniel Carlson was already on the roster, as well.

Auburn football secured a top ten recruiting class in 2012 and 2011 and landed at No. 11 in 2012. With that kind of recruiting momentum, it’s no surprise Malzahn was able to secure another two 5-star recruits on Signing Day 2013 in Montravius Adams and Elijah Daniel.

Malzahn ended his first recruiting cycle with a class ranked No. 10 nationally. The Tigers fell to the #6 spot in the SEC with a total of three 5-stars and eight 4-stars according to 247Sports.

Bryan Harsin was hired as Auburn football’s new head coach at the end of December 2020, almost a full month later than Malzahn took the job back in 2012. Under Malzahn, the recruiting classes dipped in and out of the top ten rankings over the span of his eight seasons. The 2020 recruiting class was ranked No. 7 nationally, moving up from the #11 spot the previous year.

However, the recruiting class that Coach Harsin inherited from Gus Malzahn was ranked No. 52 nationally to begin with, but after National Signing Day 2021 managed to move the Tigers up to No. 27. Auburn’s recruiting class falls behind schools including Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and even Arkansas. There is definitely work to be done.

Auburn football still has around five or six scholarships available on the roster, per AL.com, and Bryan Harsin continues to preach that recruiting never ends, but it’s pretty clear that Harsin’s first season as head coach isn’t going to look very similar to Malzahn’s–he took the Tigers to the National Championship in his first year, after all.

But Harsin’s task is much more complex than Malzahn’s. When Gus took the job in 2012, Auburn football was still riding the high of a National Championship in 2010. Auburn’s roster was solid and Malzahn just needed to add a couple more building blocks to the top of the tower.

Harsin is largely having to build the foundation of a new tower, while at the same time renovating the culture of Auburn football and reinvigorating fans who have sat through many mediocre seasons. We have to accept the fact that there is work to do, but Harsin and his new staff still have a chance to make something great out of their first season.