AUBURN - Gene Chizik appears to have his staff nearly in place, but he’s not ready to talk about it - not until he squeezes every last second out of the open recruiting period.

Once the hands-off dead period begins Saturday at midnight, then Chizik will shift his full attention to his staff, “knowing I already know basically what direction I’m headed,” Chizik said Friday.

“I’m going to be fighting and battling and scrapping for the next two days,” Chizik said on WJOX radio station Friday. “When that slows down, then we’ll go in the next direction and that is to start putting together the best Auburn staff that we can put together.“

Chizik has remained mum when asked about his staff and has refused to name names. He could possibly wait until his entire staff is settled before making a public announcement.

“I feel real good about it,” Chizik said. “Obviously I can’t divulge exactly what direction we’re going to go in. But I can tell the Auburn people that it will be an extremely good staff.”

One name that emerged Friday as a possible addition to the staff was Georgia offensive line coach Stacy Searels.

Auburn asked for and received permission from Georgia coach Mark Richt to talk to Searels, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.

Searels, 43, is in his second year with the Bulldogs and is credited with getting more than expected out of a banged-up and youthful Georgia line. He previously spent four years at LSU in the same position and is an Auburn alum. He was an All-American in 1987.

Auburn has yet to contact Georgia assistant Rodney Garner, according to the AJC. Bulldogs defensive tackle Jeff Owens told the newspaper that Garner told him he was staying in Athens.

“The staff is going to be there,” Chizik said. “Many of them know the direction that I want to go.”

As Chizik has made his rounds this week on the recruiting trail, more commitments appear ready to sign on with the Tigers.

Four-star linebacker Eltoro Freeman made his verbal commitment official Friday and four-star running back Onterio McCalebb appears ready to sign sometime next week, according to AuburnSports.com.