Sting Factor: J'Marion Gooch flips from Auburn to Tennessee
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from one to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
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THE SITUATION
J’Marion Gooch committed to Auburn in April, and it was a big recruiting victory for the Tigers, who went into the state of Tennessee to land a massive offensive tackle.
But over the next few months the 6-foot-8, 340-pound three-star prospect from Seymour (Tenn.) King’s Academy started to rethink his decision.
Was Auburn too far away - especially with Tennessee still recruiting him hard and it being right down the road? At Tennessee, his family would be able to come to Knoxville for games, and he could go home whenever he wanted.
With Auburn, that just would not be possible.
So, on the last day of August, Gooch decided to flip his commitment from Auburn to Tennessee as the Vols ended up winning a big recruiting battle because of location, the tenacity of the coaching staff and the Vols' relentless pursuit of a local prospect.
LOCAL REACTION
“Gooch’s decision to switch to in-state Tennessee wasn’t a big hit to Auburn, but it was a hit nonetheless. Gooch was part of a very good group of high school linemen committed to Auburn, a group that enabled the program to be more selective with the remaining offensive line spots. Now Auburn has another spot to fill and likely will revisit others that it previously had passed on.
"Gooch likely would not have competed immediately for a starting spot at Auburn, but certainly was projected to be a multi-year starter down the road. He’s big. He’s athletic. He's also a little raw, yes, but nothing some next-level coaching can’t fix.” - Jeffrey Lee, AuburnSports.com
Sting Factor: 5
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NATIONAL REACTION
“Gooch is a bit of a project, so this isn’t a huge lose for Auburn and he’ll be replaced. But for the Vols it’s a big deal. You never want to lose a recruit within the SEC. He has a lot of boom-or-bust potential, and he could be a big loss down the road. But for now I’m not that worried.” - National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell
Sting Factor: 3