The Time Has Come For Auburn Recruiting To Strike Gold

This is a huge recruiting weekend for the Auburn football program

Ahead of today's Auburn spring practice, several top-notch 2025 and 2026 recruits are or will soon be on the Plains.

Auburn's spring practice will help this year's Tigers improve, but the advantage of bringing in elite recruits, could be argued, is the more important aspect of what's happening today. 

From that point of view, here's my take on Auburn's weekend recruiting efforts and what's next for the Tigers' 2025 recruiting class.

First, I will be quite surprised if Auburn does not gain at least one verbal commitment from this weekend. To be crystal clear, that does not mean an immediate public commitment. 

Rather, it will be due to the overall Auburn vibe, and the good people in and around the greater Auburn community, that eventually create at least one commitment (and quite possibly several more) from this weekend.

As Auburn Daily publisher Zac Blackerby told me right before I moved up here to cover the Tigers, "Auburn sells itself." Blackerby is correct.

Next, I'm not buying Alvin Henderson committing to Auburn talk; at least not yet. He's already lining up official visits to other schools and I believe he wants to be sure prior to announcing his college choice. Do I believe Auburn is the team to beat?

Yes, I do.

Florida State is the other team to watch here, from my perspective. It's a similar distance to Tallahassee – as it is to Auburn – from Henderson's Elba, Ala. home. 

The Noles are recruiting Henderson hard and do make consistent efforts to recruit the Yellowhammer State. Miami could be the wildcard here as Henderson is going to take an official visit.

From an overarching theme, and I've hinted at this within other articles here at Auburn Daily, recruiting the state of Georgia is going to be a priority. Today's unofficial visitors will help display the Tigers' recruiting plan.

When I read the AL.com report that Hugh Freeze would be bringing in Kenyatta Watson into the recruiting operations, it was an eye-opener. Watson has ties to just about all of the Atlanta prep programs that truly matter, just for starters. The Tigers are about to reap the rewards.

As I will say until the day I die, '"Recruiting is about relationships.'" Many college coaches I've spoken with will be happy to tell Auburn fans the same. Watson has deep connections to prep coaches and trainers around that state. Combining him with several AU assistant coaches that also know the state of Georgia well, that's a tremendous alliance.

To that point, Rivals' #6 overall 2026 recruit, linebacker Tyler Atkinson, will be on campus. He comes from Loganville (Ga.) Grayson, the same high school. where Watson's son goes to school (small world).

That's one of several examples of the talent heading to Auburn this weekend. After I gain more information today and throughout the next week, I will bring the latest to the Auburn Daily faithful.