WAS HE FAKING DECENCY TO RECRUIT PLAYERS...:

Has the former coach changed in the 11 years since he left Auburn? Or is Tuberville just recruiting again, a specialty that, for Tuberville anyway, involves saying whatever he needs to in exchange for a preferred result? (After agreeing to make Tuberville available for an interview, two campaign staffers stopped replying to The Washington Post's messages.)

"I've seen this guy in the heat of battle, and we've bled and cried together," said former Auburn quarterback Ben Leard, who's white and usually votes Republican. "It's a question on all of our minds. It's not just the African American minds; it's in all of our heads: 'Did he really mean that? Did Tubs type that?'"

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