Auburn wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor has been named to the list as one of Rivals.com’s Top 25 recruiters in the entire country for the third year in a row.
The recruiting site published its annual list of top recruiters Monday. Taylor has been named one of the nation’s top recruiters five times in the last seven years, and he has earned the honor three years running in his time at Auburn.
Taylor, who has been a part of Gene Chizik’s staff ever since Chizik took over at Auburn and pried Taylor away from Oklahoma State, brought in a pair of four-star wide receivers in Sandy Creek (Ga.)’s JaQuay Williams, the No. 1 receiver recruit in Georgia, and Miami Beach (Fla.) product Ricardo Louis, who made waves at the Under Armour All-America Game.
In both cases, Taylor had to fight off challenges from major competitors due to Auburn’s search for an offensive coordinator. Louis pulled his verbal commitment from Auburn and briefly shifted over to Florida State before choosing the Tigers on national signing day, and Williams was reportedly interested in Georgia.
Taylor also had a hand in several other recruiting efforts for the 2012 class, which still has two prospects, including five-star receiver Stefon Diggs, undecided. The other is Valor Christian (Colo.) lineman Alex Kozan, who would be the seventh offensive lineman in Auburn’s 2012 class.
Despite pulling in a bumper crop of offensive lineman, Auburn offensive line coach Jeff Grimes was not named among the top 25.
Florida linebackers coach and special-teams coordinator D.J. Durkin was named recruiter of the year. Durkin led a large contingent of SEC recruiters on the Top-25 list that included Florida tight ends coach Derek Lewis, Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, Alabama secondary coach Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart and South Carolina defensive coordinator/secondary coach Lorenzo Ward.
For the entire list of Top-25 recruiters, take a look at the list on Rivals.com.
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Rivals Top 25 recruiters
- D.J. Durkin, Florida
- Lance Anderson, Stanford
- Jerry Azzinaro, Oregon
- David Beaty, Texas A&M
- Dameyune Craig, Florida State
- Bo Davis, Texas
- Mike Denbrock, Notre Dame
- Lester Erb, Iowa
- Luke Fickell, Ohio State
- Todd Grantham, Georgia
- Jeff Hafley, Rutgers
- Odell Haggins, Florida State
- Adrian Klemm, UCLA
- Derek Lewis, Florida
- Tosh Lupoi, Washington
- Greg Mattison, Michigan
- George McDonald, Miami
- Jay Norvell, Oklahoma
- Ed Orgeron, USC
- Jeremy Pruitt, Alabama
- Jeff Scott, Clemson
- Kirby Smart, Alabama
- Trooper Taylor, Auburn
- Mike Vrabel, Ohio State
- Lorenzo Ward, South Carolina