In recruiting, more important than landing Top 100 prospects is often taking the right players for your system. But if you can land Top 100 caliber prospects that also fit your system, you're definitely on the right track.
Bruce Pearl is doing exactly that in Auburn. He's scouring the country for athletes nad landing commitments from them at an impressive rate.
On Saturday, Pearl landed a commitment from Santa Monica (Calif.) shooting guard New Williams, the third four-star prospect in Auburn's 2015 class, joining small forward Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military Academy small forward Danjel Purifoy and Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep center Horace Spencer. Like Williams, Purifoy and Spencer are two of the best athletes in the class and perfect fits for Pearl's system.
Pearl also has a 2015 commitment from Columbia (Tenn.) State shooting guard T.J. Dunans, another athlete who is considered one of the top JUCO prospects nationally.
When you add those four 2015 prospects to go with his four-man 2014 class of Burlington (N.J.) Life Center Academy center Trayvon Reed, who is another four-star prospect, along with Mobile (Ala.) McGill-Toolsen small forward T.J. Land, Marianna (Fla.) Chipola College power forward Cinmeon Bowers and Melbourne (Australia) Grammar School power forward Jack Purchase, you have a nice foundation to build on.
It's not going to happen right away for Pearl and company, but the way he's quickly landing athletes, he's not far away from having a team of players who perfectly fit his up-tempo style of play, which can only be good news for the Auburn program moving forward.
