Auburn A Top Contender For Zion Grady and Eric Winters

The Auburn Tigers staff continues to battle for the nation's top recruits

Auburn is battling Georgia for one of the state of Alabama's top recruits, and there are two more prospects at the same high school to watch.

For the 2025 Tigers' recruiting class, eight prospects are in the fold for Hugh Freeze and his staff. It's a standout group with six defensive recruits among them like defensive tackle Antonio "Big Tony" Coleman from Saraland (Ala.) High School, a former Alabama commitment.

Freeze and his staff are continuing to battle the SEC's best for elite recruits and at least two of those battles are taking place at Enterprise (Ala.) High School. Here's what Enterprise head coach Ben Blackmon said today about his talented trio of 2025 recruits.

Let's start with now former Alabama commitment Zion Grady. He's looking at several potential schools

"Most of them are coming this week and next week," Blackmon said about college coaches that are recruiting Grady. "We've had Ole Miss. Georgia flew in this morning. We've had Auburn, Alabama...Miami's coming through here (today). Florida State will be coming through, Kentucky, Tennessee..."

There's a reason that Grady is highly coveted. He is currently 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, and still lean despite being a talented pass rusher. Blackmon expects him to be a walk-up outside linebacker, at least for Enterprise. He also believes Grady can play in the flat and be successful as a pass defender and not just a downhill pass rusher. 

Based on his recruiting ranking, Blackmon is correct. Rivals.com has Grady as the No. 5 player in the state of Alabama and the #40 player in the nation overall. It could take a while for Grady to reach another decision after de-committing from the Tide on Jan. 17. "He's taking it all in" according to Blackmon, so it's hard to say when a decision will come.

Eric Winters, a player already profiled here at Auburn Daily, is probably closer to a college choice, per Blackmon.

As for a college position, Blackmon also made a great point. "Eric has to figure out what he wants to do as far as a position. He can play nickel, safety...move him to the box to play Will (linebacker). He's just a very explosive athlete.

There's also something else helping Winters, who is currently 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, to be a national recruit.

"The best part about Eric is his football knowledge. He's very smart. We knew that when we got here two years ago and he came in as a freshman, just from having him in meetings."

The 6-foot-1 and 205-pound athlete is someone that could play just about any football skill position and he's also a member of the Enterprise basketball team.

As for recruiting, here's the scoop. Bama is after Grady for sure, but at least until now has not been after Winters as much.

"It's been Auburn and Georgia. I think it's down to those (two), yeah know. There have been some other schools, Florida State is in there. I would say those are the top three. He does like Tennessee. Oklahoma, he loved Oklahoma." 

As for a timeline to decide, Blackmon shared his opinion.

"Um, I think, maybe mid-spring. He was at Auburn last week. He's in basketball season so that makes it tough. I think he's planning to go to Georgia the first week of February. Probably Florida State as well, so I would think somewhere....late February, March, April...sometime in that springtime window, he'll decide where he wants to go."

As if there's not enough talent at Enterprise, cornerback Andrew Purcell is starting to garner quite a bit of attention. He's a first-team all-state player from this past season and has a few offers already including Ole Miss. Remember that name as Auburn and other SEC schools could jump in the race.