The last 36 hours have produced reports of all kinds. On Monday, it was a report from the Alabama Reporter that former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had met with Auburn “powerbrokers." This afternoon, 247Sports reported that current head coach Gus Malzahn was “on the verge” of accepting a reduced buyout to stay at Auburn.

Amid the clutter of reports encapsulating drama between millionaire boosters, retired head coaches, beleaguered current coaches, and school administrators, Malzahn himself was in South Carolina on Tuesday with someone far removed from all that drama.

Luke Deal, a tight end commit who will enroll early at Auburn, got his in-home visit with Malzahn and assistant Larry Porter. Deal came into the day excited, and left the day excited about Malzahn and about Auburn. In between, he was given reassurances.

“You can see on Twitter, some of those rumors have already been made false,” Deal told AL.com on Tuesday night. “He just reassured me that he’s gonna be the coach for this year coming up. So I mean, you know what, I’m not worried a bit.”

Deal is a three-star tight end from Emerald High School in Greenwood, South Carolina. That’s where Malzahn was today, snapping pictures with students, teachers, and even the school principal in a photo where Malzahn’s Auburn pin is twisted sideways. Deal said Malzahn was a bit of a celebrity on campus today.

The drama surrounding Malzahn did not come up in conversations with those people at the school, but Deal didn’t deny that the rumors elsewhere existed. And with Deal planning to enroll early and move to campus in December during bowl game practices, he admitted Malzahn’s job security was relevant.

“That’s obviously a concern for anybody that’s going into this type of situation so quickly like I am," Deal said. "But I mean, he’s been through this before. Rumors flying, college football, it’s such a big business that it just happens like that. Knowing that he’s gonna be my coach and Coach Porter is gonna be my position coach is just such a relief.”

Deal’s father, Chis Deal, who took the day off from work for the visit, spoke very highly of Malzahn, and echoed his confidence that Malzahn would be his son’s head coach. He wouldn’t talk specifics of the conversation, but added, “I will say this, I felt very good about our conversation we had. I feel great about my son being coached by a man with high morals and high ethics.”

Chris Deal added that other college football programs have used this perceived uncertainty in their continued recruiting efforts, but that it hasn’t moved the needle on Luke’s commitment to Auburn.