Anthony Dasher of UGASports.com is reporting ($) that Auburn is talking to Georgia offensive line coach Stacy Searels. Searels of course played at Auburn in the mid-1980s where he was a first team All-American in 1987. He has both an undergraduate and Master’s degree from Auburn and began his coaching career there as a graduate assistant in the early 1990s.

The key question is, “about which position is he talking to Auburn?” That’s still unknown at this point, and Coach Richt didn’t know yet. That lends itself to speculation. Is it the offensive coordinator position? One would think that a new head coach as under the gun as Chizik would want to make as big of a splash as he could with his staff in order to build legitimacy. We’re talking Norm Chow level. Would Chizik, himself a defense guy, really hire an offensive coordinator without experience directing a proven scheme?

Of course it’s possible that Auburn is talking to Searels about a lateral move as offensive line coach. After all, it was a lateral move that brought him from LSU to Georgia. But Searels also had family considerations when taking the job at Georgia, and he is a Georgia native. He’ll have to consider his ties to his alma mater, but he’ll have to consider the climate not only at Auburn but also within the state of Alabama. Is Auburn entering a period under Alabama’s thumb, and what will that mean for a coaching staff that’s starting out on shaky ground?

Searels earns $235,400 per year at Georgia which is 4th among Bulldog assistants. Hopefully the outcome of this process is a well-deserved raise for Searels and him staying put in Athens. Professionally it would have to be exciting to see this Georgia line begin to mature and come into its own in the coming seasons.

All of this is using our best guesses and logic, and we know that logic and order certainly does not describe the way things are done at Auburn lately. For all we know they’re going to name him coach-in-waiting. At least the possibility of Rodney Garner joining the Auburn staff seems much less likely now.