Tag: erick smith

Brotherly love: Auburn inks brothers Derick, Erick Smith to 2025 class

The pair from Selma will bring plenty of talent to Auburn’s receiver room.

When receiving gifts, it is always better to get them in pairs.

Auburn secured two gifts on Wednesday in the form of brothers Derick and Erick Smith, as the pair from Selma signed with Hugh Freeze’s program.

[autotag]Derick Smith[/autotag] committed to Auburn’s program after a successful stay at Big Cat Weekend, joining the Tigers’ 2025 haul in July after previously pledging to Alabama. The four-star receiver is the No. 5 receiver from the 2025 cycle and is the No. 9 player from Alabama.

[autotag]Erick Smith[/autotag] brings quite a presence to Auburn’s receiver room as well by standing at 6-6 and weighing 190 pounds. He did not receive as much attention from recruiting sites as he is only tabbed a three-star. However, he made an impact this season at Southside by recording 116 receiving yards per game and is sure to be a force in Auburn’s receiving game over the next several seasons.

Derick and Erick are two of three wide receiver commits who are expected to sign with Auburn this week. At the time of this post, three-star wide receiver commit Sam Turner has not signed.

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Three-star WR Erick Smith commits to Auburn

Smith joins his brother Derrick by committing to Auburn.

Auburn football executed the flip of four-star wide receiver [autotag]Derrick Smith[/autotag] from Alabama in July and has now completed the “Smith sweep.”

Wednesday, Auburn added three-star wide receiver [autotag]Erick Smith[/autotag], twin brother of Derrick, to its 2025 haul. Erick Smith is Auburn’s third wide receiver commit of the cycle, joining brother Derrick and three-star [autotag]Sam Turner[/autotag] of Decatur, Georgia.

Following his announcement, Smith told Auburn Undercover’s Christian Clemente that the idea of continuing his playing career alongside his brother played a role in his commitment. It also helps that he feels at home on the Plains.

“Because every time I come up here, it felt like home,” Smith said in an interview with Auburn Undercover. “Coach Marcus (Davis), he’s similar to my high school coach. They don’t sugarcoat anything and always show family-like and like a father figure. I don’t want a coach that shows different sides of themselves, I want them to show their true colors and he does exactly that.”

The Smith brothers have played a key role in Southside-Selma’s success on the field in 2024. The 9-2 Panthers defeated Hillcrest-Evergreen last Friday, 36-35, to advance in the AHSAA playoffs and will face Montgomery Academy on Friday.

According to 247Sports, Erick Smith is the No. 78 recruit from Alabama and is Auburn’s 27th commitment to its 2025 class.

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Alabama offers twin brother of former Tide commit, 2025 ATH Derick Smith

The Alabama coaching staff is doing its due diligence in the recruitment of 2025 athlete Derick Smith. On Wednesday, the Crimson Tide offered his twin brother.

Two days after his twin brother — Derick Smith flipped from the Alabama Crimson Tide to the Auburn Tigers, 2025 wide receiver Erick Smith has landed an offer from the Crimson Tide.

The two Smith brothers play for Southside-Selma High School in Selma, Alabama. Erick plays wide receiver wheras his brother, Derick, plays both wide receiver and safety.

On Monday, Derick made the decision to flip to the Tigers. The move was somewhat of a surprise to outsiders but recruiting insiders were aware of the potential flip several days prior.

Alabama will continue to recruit the twin brothers. Erick is currently uncommitted. He has offers from Alabama A&M, Appalachian State, and North Alabama. He is listed at 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds. During his junior season, he reeled in 39 receptions for 1,333 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The Crimson Tide will work to get him and his brother on campus during the season. It will not be an easy task to do as Auburn will likely strive to do the same. However, I would expect both to be on Alabama’s campus prior to making a final decision on where they will continue their college career.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the latest regarding the Alabama football program and its efforts on the recruiting trail.

USA TODAY’s shocking bowl projections after Week 11

Alabama football projected to face Group of 5 opponent this bowl season

With just two games left in the 2023 college football regular season, there are about ten teams that feel like they have a viable chance to make the Playoffs and every year we wonder who is going to be left out. However, it almost always sorts itself out with the next month consisting of games like Michigan vs. Ohio State and Alabama vs. Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

The Alabama season has been so up and down that it has been hard to even begin predicting where the Tide may be this post season. However, at 9-1 with an SEC Championship berth already locked up, the Tide control their own destiny. A road trip to Auburn and an SEC Championship in Atlanta vs Georgia makes for two incredibly hostile environments, but as long as Alabama continues to get better, I feel oddly confident in this Nick Saban team. Over the past year or two, it has felt like the Tide are hanging on for dear life by the end of the season, but this team feels like it is peaking at the right time.

Not everyone shares the same level of optimism for this Alabama team though. Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports released his updated bowl projections following Week 11 and his projection for the Tide may surprise you. As things currently stand, Smith envisions that Alabama will be taking on Tulane in the Peach Bowl with both sides being at-large.

As for the Playoffs, Smith predicts that Michigan and Florida State will play in the Rose Bowl and Georgia will face in the Sugar Bowl. Needless to say, the next month is going to be awesome.

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USA TODAY Sports currently projects Alabama to face Fresno State in the Peach Bowl

USA TODAY predicts Alabama to play Fresno State this bowl season

Despite a rocky start to the 2023 season, the Alabama Crimson Tide is still very much alive in the hopes of a national championship. The team looked poor in the first few games of the year, but they currently stand at 3-1 with a 1-0 record in the SEC. In other words, Alabama still controls its own destiny in regards to a playoff berth.

This year, people felt like the Rebels had a strong chance to compete in the division, but ultimately the Tide put a stop to that in Week 1 of conference play as they beat Ole Miss 24-10 this past Saturday. Alabama once again seems like the favorite to make the trip to Atlanta and compete for a tenth SEC Championship since Nick Saban took over.

While I still hold a lot of optimism for the Crimson Tide’s season, it’s not shared by everyone in the media. Erick Smith of USA TODAY predicts that Alabama will face Fresno State in the Peach Bowl. While a Peach Bowl certainly isn’t the worst thing in the world, I don’t think many Alabama fans would be too happy to see the Tide squaring off with Fresno State during bowl season when 2023 was filled with aspirations of a national title.

Smith projects that the four teams that will be competing in the playoff will be Georgia, Michigan, Texas and Florida State. It’s interesting to see that the PAC 12, widely regarded as the best conference in the country, does not have any representatives.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Michigan State football listed in top 20 of updated USA TODAY 2022 rankings

Erick Smith of USA TODAY is not as high on the 2022 Michigan State Spartans as many of his peers

Erick Smith of USA TODAY is not as high on the 2022 Michigan State Spartans as many of his peers.

Smith released an updated batch of preseason rankings with spring ball wrapped up across the country, and he didn’t have Michigan State as high as some other media outlets. While the Spartans have mostly been found right around the top 10 in other rankings, Smith listed Michigan State at No. 18 in his updated rankings.

Here’s a bit of what Smith had to say about Michigan State:

“The good news for the Spartans defense is that most of its starters are returning. The bad news is that the group ranked last in passing yards allowed (324.8) and 111th in total defense (441.9). Like last year, coach Mel Tucker was aggressive in the transfer portal to address his team’s needs.”

Other Big Ten teams listed in Smith’s rankings are Ohio State (No. 3), Michigan (No. 7), Iowa (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 15) and Penn State (No. 20).

Check out the complete writeup on Michigan State and full rankings from Smith by clicking on the tweet below:

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Michigan State heading to Music City Bowl in updated USA TODAY Bowl Projections

Michigan State is heading to Nashville in USA TODAY’s latest bowl projections

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Michigan State is heading to Nashville in USA TODAY’s latest bowl projections.

Erick Smith of USA TODAY has the Spartans squaring off against the LSU Tigers in the Music City Bowl in his latest batch of bowl projections. The Spartans originally weren’t in Smith’s preseason bowl projections so it’s great to see them already move up into a solid bowl game after just two weeks of play.

Click here to see the complete bowl projections from Smith.

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USA TODAY: No bowl game for Spartans in 2021

Another preseason bowl predictions list has Michigan State missing out on the bowl season this year

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Add Erick Smith of USA TODAY to the list of national media that is not high on the 2021 Michigan State Spartans.

Smith released his first batch of bowl predictions for the upcoming season, and like many he evidently isn’t buying much stock in Michigan State. Smith left the Spartans off his bowl predictions last week list — joining Brett McMurphy who also put out bowl predictions that didn’t have the Spartans bowling.

Here’s Smith’s breakdown of the Big Ten teams in bowl games this year:

  • Orange Bowl (CFP Semifinal): Ohio State vs. Alabama
  • Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oregon
  • Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. Florida
  • Citrus Bowl: Penn State vs. LSU
  • Music City Bowl: Michigan vs. Ole Miss
  • Las Vegas Bowl: Indiana vs. Arizona State
  • Pinstripe Bowl: Northwestern vs. Virginia
  • Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Nebraska vs. West Virginia
  • Quick Lane Bowl: Purdue vs. Toledo
  • Redbox Bowl: Minnesota vs. Cal

Click here to read the complete bowl predictions from Smith of USA TODAY.

I don’t blame Smith for aligning with so many others in the national media, but I personally believe Michigan State will reach a bowl game this year. So it’ll be interesting to monitor Smith’s weekly updates on his bowl predictions throughout the season should the Spartans live up to my expectations of reaching a bowl game this holiday season.

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USA TODAY Bowl Projections: Win vs. Maryland could send Spartans bowling

Does a win vs Maryland on Saturday lockup a bowl bid for the Spartans? It may not be a guarantee but a victory keeps their bowl dreams alive

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Should Michigan State get the opportunity to play another game in a bowl, Mel Tucker says the Spartans would certainly accept the offer. The real question is whether or not they’ll even get that offer — but there could be some hope if they win their season-finale on Saturday.

At 2-5, it’s understandable to think MSU is unlikely to get offered a bowl bid this year. I wrote last week that they’d most likely need to win their final two games to receive a bid so, after last week’s 39-24 loss to Penn State, it appeared MSU’s bowl dreams were dead. However, after analyzing all of the factors in play, there may still be a chance for the green-and-white.

Erick Smith of USA TODAY released his latest Bowl Projections on Tuesday, and once again the Spartans were left off the list. That came as no surprise after MSU lost last week, but what stood out to me was where he has the rest of the Big Ten. Here are the bowl games Smith has Big Ten teams playing in:

  • Rose Bowl (part of College Football Playoff): Ohio State vs. Clemson
  • Cotton Bowl: Indiana vs. Oklahoma
  • Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. Auburn
  • Citrus Bowl: Northwestern vs. Ole Miss
  • Duke Mayo’s Bowl: Maryland vs. Wake Forest
  • Music City Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Missouri
  • Guaranteed Rate Bowl: Penn State vs. West Virginia

What’s notable in this projection is Indiana receiving an at-large bid for a New Year’s Six game — this frees up another Big Ten bowl tie-in for teams like MSU. If this holds true, then there will be one potential spot still up for grabs (I’m assuming Ohio State, Indiana, Iowa, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Penn State are all locks at this point).

Should MSU beat Maryland on Saturday, that would put both teams at three wins and give the Spartans the head-to-head victory. That doesn’t necessarily play a role in these bids as the bowls ultimately can choose whoever they want, but it wouldn’t hurt the Spartans’ case.

Assuming MSU wins (since a loss should rule out any chance of making a bowl), then it would come down to the Spartans, Rutgers, Maryland, Minnesota and Nebraska for the final bowl slot. I’m assuming Michigan (COVID-19 issues), Purdue (COVID-19 issues) and Illinois (recently fired head coach) are out of play for the postseason at this point.

Nebraska and Rutgers play each other this week so the loser is most likely out of play, and while it might not be fair, the Scarlet Knights have a slim chance anyway based on brand recognition. Minnesota has a tough rivalry game against Wisconsin so a loss to end the year could also knock them out of consideration. So while there are a lot of factors in play, it does still appear a win against Maryland would give MSU a chance to go bowling this season.

It’ll be extremely interesting to see how this plays out for the league, but at least it appears MSU has a lot to play for this Saturday in College Park. Kickoff for that game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET and can be seen on the Big Ten Network.

Fab Four: Selecting Michigan State football’s Mount Rushmore of all-time recruits

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Will MSU be bowling this year? Assessing where Spartans could end up

Check out the four possibilities where I could see Michigan State football land this bowl season.

In a normal season, we would know by now where (or if) Michigan State football would be bowling this holiday season. However, this year we won’t have that answer for a few more weeks so we still have time to speculate where the Spartans could be bowling this year.

MSU is 2-4 on the season with two games still left on the schedule so reaching a .500 record is still in play. Again, in a normal year that would mean MSU would need to win out to qualify for a bowl, but the normal restrictions are not in place this year. So regardless of the next two week’s results, MSU is able to go bowling this year — whether they are selected or not is what we need to determine.

Erick Smith of USA TODAY currently has the Spartans not listed in his latest bowl projections — which are released every Tuesday. But that doesn’t mean MSU is dead in the water when it comes to making a bowl game. At least, not at this point in time.

Here are the four possibilities where I could see MSU land this bowl season: