Smoke is Rising From the Plains… Again

Almost every turn of the Bryan Harsin experiment in Auburn has been a spectacular failure. It's been fun for fans of Alabama and other SEC schools to watch the dysfunction, but at some point, one has to hope for better for the sake of the kids playing football and pursuing an education there.

Better does not seem to be coming any time soon.

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A report has come out that Auburn is telling any player that asks for a non-medical redshirt to hit the transfer portal or quit the team rather than granting the request.

So far, two players have announced their intentions to do so and one other doesn't seem far behind them.

Landen King, a tight end converted to wide receiver, posted his intentions to transfer on social media. Zykevious Walker did so, as well. Cornerback AD Diamond hasn't made any official announcement, but has been removed from the Auburn athletics' official football roster.

The players cannot officially enter the transfer portal until the newly established 45 day window following the announcement of the College Football Playoff selection.

After signing 18 players from the class of 2021, Auburn has only retained nine of them. many found new homes during the 2021 off-season and some transferred ahead of the 2022 seas

During the offseason, the Auburn boosters tried to perform a very public and mostly unjustified coup de tat of Harsin by starting a rumor that he had been having an extramarital affair with a team assistant. Nothing ever came of those allegations, but Harsin still entered the 2022 football season on perhaps the hottest seat in college football.

The decision to wait until finding a new athletic director to fire Harsin could prove to be a more costly one than originally speculated if the exodus continues.