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Harsin: Auburn has their man. Although he may not have been their top choice or tenth, he has fans excited. That is the nature of fans. And it's alright.

Whether or not Harsin will be a success is a question for Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends. We really don't know.

Many have called the hire a "homerun." I've seen that word used on multiple occasions. Lyn Scarbrough of Lindy's Sports said Auburn was down to its third strike before hitting it out of the park.

To use a football analogy, maybe it was a "Hail Mary," or possibly even the "Statue of Liberty."

Tallassee coach Mike Battles had a chance encounter with Harsin when he was at Arkansas State. Harsin was in town with another coach now in the SEC, Eliah Drinkwitz, who is now at Missouri.

The two were in town visiting recruit Dijon Paschal. He did become a Red Wolf.

Drinkwitz told Battles that Harsin was famous for the Statue of Liberty call in the now famous Boise State victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl of 2007.

Harsin didn't create the Statue of Liberty play - it's been around - but he had the guts to call it.

What will be the difference in Harsin making it or not at Auburn will be those same visits with future prospects.

It's real easy. The teams that are winning at the highest level are recruiting at the highest level.

Harsin wasn't helped out much by Gus Malzahn. Malzahn had some good classes, but he left with his worst - at least according to the rankings.

Based on those rankings, it might have been Auburn's worst class ever. Maybe there will be some diamonds in the rough. There are depatures as well of players that were already in the barn.

There is the great divide in the recruiting. Being top ten in the nation might place you seventh in the SEC. Auburn, according to Rivals, is No. 60 nationally. That's 13th out of 14 in the SEC.

The two teams that played for the national championship this past season are No. 1 and 2, Alabama and Ohio State respectively. Those same two teams were No. 1 and 2 with the freshmen that arrived in 2017.

247 Sports' Bud Elliot ranked the two teams as the highest ever in recruiting rankings. Alabama had 83 percent of its players as four- or five-stars. Ohio State had 80 percent blue chippers.

The rich are getting richer and its tough to catch up. Bama has 20 four- and five-star players in this year's signing class (tops in the country). Ohio State has 18, which is second only to the Tide.

Auburn's 2021 class has only three blue chippers. None are five-stars.

Can Harsin win? He's got to recruit better than that. And he certainly will. But again, being No. 10 year in and out will probably get you Gus Malzahn results.

Harsin has a 76-24 record as a head coach. If you're quick at math, that's 76 percent. Seven of his eight years have been at his alma mater Boise State.

Most of the competition was vs. Mountain West foes. That ain't the SEC.

Harsin was 4-6 vs. ranked teams. He was 4-2 in bowl games.

Auburn will not be ranked high or at all when the preseason rankings come out in August. Expectations won't be very high initially, but pressure will come to win at the highest level - as it should.

76 percent might cut it - if there are peaks and wins vs. the rivals. There was a lot of that with Malzahn. He had some peaks. He had some big wins - certainly some against the Tigers' arch-rival. He won 66 percent of his games in a tougher league.

Harsin's best season at Boise might have been his first. He went 12-2. The Broncos were ranked 16th in the final AP and Coaches' polls, his highest ranking in seven seasons. He also went 12-2 in 2019.

All that aside, it appears that most fans are pleased with Malzahn's dismissal and the hiring of Harsin. The future is still unknown unless you've got Ms. Warwick on speed dial.