What's in the head, what's said and what's read

ATLANTA -- By now, you've probably heard and reacted to a comment Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville made in a blog posted by the Huntsville Times' Phillip Marshall this week.
In case you've missed it, here was Tuberville's quote about recruiting rankings and the fact that rivals Alabama and Georgia have higher-ranked classes:

"I don't worry about what Alabama does or Georgia or anybody else. I have no clue who they have committed. I can't control what they're doing. We work hard at recruiting. We've got good recruiters. We know who we want to recruit. Some we're going to get and some we're not going to get, but we're going to do it the right way and not end up on probation in a few years.
"We don't recruit at all costs. We recruit players that want to come to our place and get an education. I think it's worked for us so far. We've got one of the best records in college football the last 5-6 years."

The quote has been cheered by Auburn fans and jeered by Alabama fans who interpreted it as negative recruiting. For the record, Marshall posted a later blog that gave the question as asked and the full answer from his tape:

Question: "About recruiting. A lot of fans worry about the perception that Alabama is having a great recruiting year and you are not. They are really highly ranked and you're not so much in the recruiting rankings. Do you feel like recruiting is going well?"
Answer: "Oh, yeah. I don't worry about what Alabama does or Georgia or anybody else. I have no clue who they have committed. I can't control what they're doing. We work hard at recruiting. We've got good recruiters. We know who we want to recruit. Some we're going to get and some we're not going to get, but we're going to do it the right way and not end up on probation in a few years.
"We don't recruit at all costs. We recruit players that want to come to our place and get an education. I think it's worked for us so far. We've got one of the best records in college football the last 5-6 years. Of course, we want to win more championships, but so do 90 percent of the other people. Not many people have won them lately other than LSU, Georgia and Florida."

My take?
Tuberville is a very bright man, thorough communicator and crafty with the media. Most often, he says things for reasons, and recruiting is reason number one.
That said, no one is always on their game, and Tuberville has flubbed a few over the years.
In this case, I read his mentioning of Alabama in the first sentence as parroting the question. After the first sentence -- and I base this on hearing Tuberville talk for nine years -- it seems that he's speaking generally.
It was at least a clumsy statement. If he didn't mean to negative recruit, then he shouldn't have used school names.
And it is interesting that he mentioned Georgia when the question did not. That he did might reflect that he interpreted the question as addressing Auburn's recruiting versus that of its chief rivals, not just Alabama. It might reflect that he thinks in those terms generally.
For the record, those credited with knowing the most about the inexact "science" of recruiting say Alabama and Georgia are ahead of Auburn this year. With just more than a month to go before signing day, Rivals.com ranks Alabama's current commitment class No. 2 nationally. Georgia is No. 3, and Auburn is No. 14.
The same inexact scientists rated Auburn's 2007 class No. 7. Georgia was No. 9 and Alabama No. 10.