Auburn found itself looking up at the podium this year – not exactly where Richard Quick and company want to be.  With the departure of Cesar Cielo, the Tigers had a big need for a big sprinter and they go one – no make that two, oh wait three.

Gideon Louw transfers in from Indian River with a resume as big as his vertical.  The South African is the top recruit in the country with top times in the 100 and 200 freestyles (and the 19.66 isn’t anything to sneeze at).  Christopher Fox’s times convert to within an eyelash of Louw’s, though he’s been significantly better short course than long.   At 19.98, Karl Krug’s the third-fastest prepster nationally, but second-fastest on his high school team, 0.03 behind teammate Joey Hale.  Hale’s headed to ASU, but should efforts to save the team fail, imagine welcoming three sub-20’s as a part of your recruiting class. 

Times like those make the rest of the class look downright pedestrian.  Max Murphy is the fourth-best backstroker while flyer rounds out a quartet of top-100 recruits. 

Auburn built its previous men’s championships on big classes that they could develop.  Man-for-man this group matches up with the best of those classes.  What it lacks are those second-line guys who bubble up to the top.  A couple of mid-season additions would go a long ways for this small but talented group.

A rival coach's perspective: "They lost a step when they lost David [Marsh] last year.  The guys they got are as good as anyone, but that's not how they build those great teams.  More guys fighting for spots is what they need."

1	Louw, Gideon	Indian River CC
	Pretoria, S Africa
2	Fox, Christopher
	London, Great Britain
17	Krug, Karl	Redlands Swim Team
	Yuciapia, CA
41	Murphy, Max	Dallas Mustangs
	Flower Mound, TX
97	Middleton, Aaron	Auburn Aquatics
	Auburn, AL