In the eyes of rival fans and the so-called “outsiders,” Lane Kiffin has made Tennessee football sort of an offseason laughing-stock. What with Kiffin’s incorrectly calling Urban Meyer a cheater and the secondary violations and taking in Daniel Hood and the other stuff – I’ll save you the recap – UT has been the brunt of jokes and criticism. Of course the beauty in this is that Kiffin doesn’t give a you-know-what about any of it (as should Tennessee fans)…

And while many people are laughing (we Vol fans should like to think it’s in fear) at Tennessee, you should feel free to go ahead and have a hearty chuckle at Auburn. In case you had missed it this weekend, Gene Chizik and the Auburn coaching staff just hosted the first-ever “Big Cat Weekend” down on the Plains of eastern Alabama/western Georgia.

Auburn Big Cat Weekend? Good idea...rolling a tree after winning? Not so much...

If you remember the whole Tiger Prowl limo thing, this was sort of along those same lines of thinking outside the traditional cut-and-dry recruiting tactics and doing it a little differently. Basically, the unofficial visitors just went to Auburn to enjoy a social weekend – with a pie-eating contest, video games, etc – with the Tiger coaches and players, culminating in a mock rolling of Toomers’ Corner Saturday night.

Anyways, a video of the proceedings made it’s way on the internet. Here’s the longer one from Rivals (you might need an account and be warned I had trouble getting it to work last night…) and the shorter one from YouTube. The guy introducing the players supposedly is former Vols RB/WR coach Trooper Taylor.

Now, Auburn’s rivals have and are going to see this and see desperation for a program that’s down (like Tennessee) and clearly the second-best program within the state of Alabama in the sense of recruiting and prospective futures. Most were laughing when Auburn hired Chizik (I was), but he’s quietly gone about hiring a solid staff and recruiting pretty well for a transition. While the desperation is true to an extent, I have no reasons for not liking the Auburn coaching staff’s thinking because it’s pretty creative. It may look and sound silly, but the only people whose opinions are anywhere near relevant are the recruits. Remember when a story came out about Vol coaches’ shirtless pump-up of visiting recruits? That may have gotten some grief, but if the recruits eat this kind of stuff up, then it’s certainly positive. In today’s much-publicized, dog-eat-dog world of recruiting, anything within the rules goes.

Of course the part of this story that I’m thankful to Auburn for is the possibility/likelihood of secondary violations over the weekend. Now someone else gets that supposedly dubious label of having broken silly insignificant NCAA rules. So, if these violations do come to light, someone else can get lambasted or a story on the ESPN front page. Sure, getting some publicity has been a big story for Tennessee this offseason, and any pub is good pub, but the recurring violations might not have been the smartest way of doing so. I would not have any issues with Kiffin, the staff and the team laying low for a little bit – at least until SEC Media Days in a couple months.

Mr. South Florida

Before I forget, we should also thank Auburn for Eddie Gran. Then again, maybe thanking them isn’t the right way of phrasing it, but either way, he came from Auburn and has been excellent at getting Tennessee noticed in the fertile recruiting land in southern Florida. Nu’keese Richardson in the last class, Jose Jose and Ralph Williams for this upcoming class, and hopefully and likely more to come.

To close, as has been linked already, Auburn and Tennessee have a lot in common. In addition to a common hatred for the Bammers, both programs have just come off 5-7 seasons and hired new coaches. That said, when the Tigers visit Knoxville the first Saturday in October, it’s a big swing game for Tennessee.

And I imagine Tennessee will take back the offseason spotlight from Auburn at some point in the next four months…

– … to me.

Images Courtesy of: auburnsports.com • ut sports.com

About the Author:  I'm from Memphis but I'm now entering my third year at the University of Tennessee here in Knoxville. I am majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media and hope to go into sports broadcasting/writing/something like that. I'm a huge Vol fan and have been going to games for as long as I can remember. I started my on blog called "The View From The Hill" but moved here to Gate 21 for bigger and better things. In addition to my passion for Tennessee football and basketball, I enjoy watching the NFL and the NBA as well. Basically, sports are a big part of my life. >> Read more from this author

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