4-star OL Casey Poe considering Auburn because of ‘Coach Freeze, Coach Thornton, and a lot of Walker White’

How important is 4-star offensive lineman Casey Poe from Lindale (Tex.) to Auburn’s coaching staff?

Well, he’s the first stop of the spring evaluation period for offensive line coach Jake Thornton. Also, Tigers’ coach Hugh Freeze has been relentless in his recruitment of Poe.

“Coach (Jake) Thornton and coach (Hugh) Freeze are (communicating). They both text me multiple times a week. In fact, Coach Thornton has already texted me and said he’s going to be at my school tomorrow morning. And, to make sure I actually show up to class,” Poe said laughingly.

What does it mean to Poe that he is likely the first guy on the list for Thornton?

“That is very cool,” Poe said. “To be that high on someone’s list is a really good feeling.”

Poe is coming off of a visit to Alabama that went extremely well. He will officially visit there in June.

“It went really good, we all had a good time,” Poe said. “It was myself, my parents, my grandfather and one of my cousins were able to go with me.”

What’s next for Poe?

Poe has now been on a big tour of visits recently. He will now be thinking about official visits and cutting his list of schools down to eight.

“So, I’ve already kind of been working on that, thinking about cutting my list down, hopefully getting it to around eight,” Poe said. “I don’t have those specifically yet. I’m still working and talking to coaches. But, I’ll be getting it down to eight and getting that out pretty soon.”

Will Poe return to Auburn in the next few months?

“I’m very much hoping so,” Poe said. “I’m trying to work it out. This is a very busy time for me, I throw shot put. It’s definitely time consuming, but I’m hoping to get back on campus. I really enjoyed it last time. Walker (White) is blowing up my phone every time he can trying to get me back on campus.”

Speaking of Walker White, Auburn’s 4-star quarterback commitment, Poe has been hearing from him constantly.

“He’s hunting offensive lineman right now, you can see it all over twitter when he posts, he’s really hunting guys,” Poe said. “He’s trying to build that wall in front of him and get himself protected.”

Freeze helping lead the charge

Freeze has made it perfectly clear where Poe stands with him. Poe has also been impressed with how genuine Freeze is with him.

“He’s just saying that me along with ten other guys are his top eleven that he wants on his offense,” Poe said. “So he’s just trying to come get me, giving me all the pros of Auburn, all the great things. He’s a really fantastic coach and an even better person. He has a long story, which he is completely open and honest about. That is very impressive. Just him talking about that, it makes him seem real, and it makes it seem like he’s not just trying to sell himself. He’s open to whatever you want to ask him. Then, he’s a very good coach and very intelligent about the game. He knows what he wants to do and he knows he wants to bring a national championship back to Auburn.”

When it comes to narrowing down his prolific schools list, what is that will separate the true contenders from the others?

“Really, I’m a very big relationship person,” Poe said. “I want to build relationships with everybody that I can because that’s my home for the next 3-5 years, or however long I end up staying there. But, I want to have a coach like that, because those are the guys that if I’m far away from home and something happens, I have a family member die or something, they’re the people I’m going to turn to. They will be the closest ones to call. So, it’s really important for me to have that great relationship with multiple coaches on the staff.”

Faith is important with Poe, Auburn coaching staff

When White committed to Auburn, he noted that the faith he shared with Freeze and other coaches on staff at Auburn was a big deal, if not one of the most important details.

The same is true with Poe.

“Oh yeah, Coach Freeze and Coach Thornton, that’s one of the first things they said to me was about their faith,” Poe said.

“Because, they know I am very open about my faith, I’m a strong Christian and I do everything I can to bring people to Christ. It’s open and honest on my Twitter, I’m never going to hide from that or try to deny it in any way, shape or form. I’m an open and honest Christian. So, one of the first things they told me is that they were strong men of faith too and that the rest of the staff is. It’s important to me to be able to grow as a Christian wherever I do end up going and they said they can really help me with that. They have churches that they go to, they have a Chaplain on staff that is a really good preacher, and that’s a very big thing to them.”

The way that Freeze incorporates his faith into his coaching is an important aspect for Poe. While he says that Freeze doesn’t force it on anyone, it’s a big part of his life and how he approaches his team.

“Actually, whenever I was able to get down there, during my spring break a couple of weeks ago, in the meeting, he (Freeze) was talking about Peter walking on water and the faith he had to have in that,” Poe said of Freeze’s message. “Whenever the faith slipped, he was sinking below the water. Just the way that he incorporates the Bible and football and bring it all together–don’t get me wrong, he doesn’t force it on anybody, but he definitely gives a great example and he is able to lead people whenever they want to be lead. That’s a very big thing for me.”

Auburn is one of many top-tier schools pushing hard for Poe. Right now, it doesn’t appear that any school has the upper hand with him yet.

Bottom line, does Auburn have a real shot with Poe in the end?

“They definitely have a shot with me,” Poe said. “I’m going to be completely honest with you, it’s mainly because of Coach Freeze, Coach Thornton, and a lot of Walker White. That dude is recruiting his butt off and it is very nice to know who will be playing behind me and who will be snapping the ball and leading our team. So, building a bond with that guy and starting to get to know some of the other recruits that are going down there, that’s made Auburn pretty likable. He’s doing a great job with what he’s doing. I know that’s what Coach Freeze has gotten him to do and he’s done a good job of it.”

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