Bryan Harsin united Auburn football's locker room, but can he win over recruits before it's too late?

ATLANTA — At 6 a.m. Friday, the morning after SEC Media Days, Tank Bigsby and other Auburn football players planned to line up at the bottom of Jordan-Hare Stadium's steepest set of bleachers.

Bigsby will run 17 "decks." It's the most brutal cardio exercise: Scale that level of bleachers to the summit of the building, then return to base camp, then do it again and again and again, crossing the stadium.

When Bigsby needs motivation, he will find his coach in the crowd.

Bryan Harsin, as always, will run with his team.

His team, in turn, will stand with him.

"If you have a head coach who can work out like he's 19 or 20 ... it's very inspiring," Bigsby said. "You see almost a 50-year-old running almost 20 decks? When I'm 50, I want to be able to do that."

Harsin is 45, but his first year in Auburn might as well have taken five years off his life. He was close to losing his job during an internal investigation regarding his treatment of players and coaches.

His career survived that ordeal. Now on-the-field concerns come to the forefront as the 2022 season approaches with hot seat speculation. Auburn's win total is set at 5.5 by Vegas sportsbooks, a lack of faith that "doesn't come from the coaches we play," Harsin says. "It comes from the media. We don't play the media."

It doesn't come from the media, but that's beside the point. Ever since the inquiry, Harsin has united his locker room with indignance directed at the doubters.

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He kept vital pieces on board, including star running back Bigsby and senior edge rusher Derick Hall, both of whom project as high NFL Draft picks next year.

Bigsby could have transferred. There were rumors he would. His home state school is a defending national champion that would have welcomed him.

"I looked back when I first got to Auburn and just remembered why I came to Auburn," he said. "Me leaving would be like I'm running away from my problems. I just told myself, if I run, I can't run forever."

Hall told his mom after the Iron Bowl that "I was done. I was gone. I'm going to the league." Then he reflected more. He returned and testified in defense of Harsin during the investigation.

Nineteen transfers departed. Five assistant coaches have left or been fired since the start of last season. Harsin has seemingly expunged anyone whose vision doesn't align with his. Those remaining are enthusiastic about his leadership, deriving from active participation in workouts.

"If you run decks, you would be shocked by what he can do," tight end John Samuel Shenker said. "That is one of the hardest things I've ever done. The fact that he does it nonchalantly – coaches can yell at you from the sideline because they're not tired, but when coach Harsin's talking to you and he's gasping for air as well, you're like, OK, I should probably get it together."

It's an impressive feat, given he is five months removed from an Instagram video of former players discussing his failure to relate to athletes.

But it doesn't mean he's in the clear.

Can Harsin win over recruits before it's too late?

His first signing class was ranked No. 21 thanks to a strong finish in December. Still, that was low for Auburn. Now his 2023 class has four commits – the second-fewest in Power Five.

Remember, the investigation conveniently surfaced two days after Harsin failed to land any new commits in the February signing period.

The clock is ticking.

"We won't sign until December. There's a lot of time between now and December to go out there and see what happens during the season," Harsin said. "See how the team's improved. There's going to be a lot of narrative changes that happen over that time"

When asked for his message to recruits? "Watch," he said simply.

He's counting on the results of his remodeled culture to speak for themselves. He very well might be betting his job on it.

Until then, he'll keep joining players who stayed in the Jordan-Hare bleachers.

The team goal is to run 20 decks next week. Last year's record was 22.

Last year's standards must be broken.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football recruiting: Will united locker room help Bryan Harsin?