Auburn football inks top-five recruiting class

By Thursday morning, first year head coach Gene Chizik and staff will have one of the nation's best recruiting classes under their belts. Some of the best high school and junior college athletes across the South chose Auburn over a number of other Southeastern Conference programs.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 10 players hailed from Alabama, including the state's No. 4, No. 6, No. 8 and No. 10 ranked recruits. Running back Michael Dyer is Arkansas' No. 1 overall prospect, athlete/wide receiver Trovon Reed is Louisiana's and offensive tackle Shon Coleman is Mississippi's.

This time a year ago, Auburn inked just one four-star from its home state, and the Tide boasted the country's top class. After a year and some change, the Auburn coaching staff has put together a group of recruits that, as of Wednesday morning, jumped Alabama in the Rivals ranking system to No. 3.

The 2009 season saw several Tigers go down with injuries, leaving gaping holes in the depth chart that were eventually filled by true freshmen or scout team players.

One position that was particularly scarce was linebacker. Two solid juniors manned the middle and left side, but injuries on the right created problems when it came to relief throughout games.

The staff has created quite a cushion now by earning commitments from four highly touted linebackers. Jessel Curry of Buford, Ga., graduated high school a semester early and enrolled at Auburn in time for spring classes. His head start will allow him to go through spring practice and participate in the April 17 annual A-Day game.

With Chris Todd being lost to graduation, back-up Neil Caudle, redshirt freshmen Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley and redshirt sophomore Barrett Trotter will be battling for the starting quarterback job.

But after the Tigers received a signed letter of intent from junior college transfer Cameron Newton during winter break, the competition got significantly steeper.

Newton has valuable experience after he led Texas' Blinn Community College to a national title in 2009. Plus, his massive 6-foot-6, 247-pound frame combined with 4.5 40 speed is ideal for a Southeastern Conference quarterback nowadays.

In 2009 a string of injuries at defensive back forced a few players to play positions they weren't used to, and a true freshman was asked to step up and start at safety throughout the season.

The Tigers now have a cornerback and two safeties joining the team, as well as a handful of athletes that could play the position if necessary. Senior defensive back Aairon Savage has been sidelined for the past two seasons because of two different injuries (ACL and Achilles). The NCAA recently granted Savage a sixth year of eligibility and he is anticipated to return for 2010.

With kicker Wes Byrum entering his senior season this year, the Tigers needed a solid replacement on hand. Cody Parkey is the nation's most accurate place kicker according to Rivals and was the first commitment to fax in his signed letter of intent Wednesday morning. Parkey has not missed a field goal inside of 49 yards in the past two seasons at Florida's Jupiter High School.

Six-foot-5, 220-pound defensive end Corey Lemonier of Hialeah, Fla., is said to be debating between Auburn and Florida State and will have made his decision after The Villager's deadline.

Marcus Lattimore of Byrnes, S.C., announced Tuesday evening that he will sign with the in-state Gamecocks instead of Auburn.

Athlete D.J. Howard was initially expected to sign with the Tigers, but has since decommitted and will either attend Clemson or Kentucky.