Auburn Men's Basketball Lands Top-5 In-State Recruit for First 2025 Commitment

The Auburn Tigers land their first commit of the 2025 recruiting cycle and it's a top recruit from their own backyard.

The Auburn Tigers land a top in-state basketball commitment for 2025. / Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Auburn Tigers Men’s Basketball has landed the commitment of a highly ranked in-state recruit. According to the Auburn Observer’s Justin Ferguson, head coach Bruce Pearl has landed shooting guard Simon Walker from Huntsville High School. 

news: Auburn basketball has grabbed a commitment from 2025 4-star SG Simon Walker

the 6-foot-5 Huntsville High product averaged 11 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game as a junior last season

the dude has shoot-it-from-the-parking-lot range — also crafty off the dribble pic.twitter.com/enqISJW0ss

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) September 26, 2024

The 6-foot-5 senior averaged 11 points, four rebounds and three assists per game last season. 

He chose to commit to Auburn over Iowa and Virginia Tech. 

Pearl expressed his enthusiasm for landing the recruit with a single word on X (formerly Twitter): Boom.

Boom

— Bruce Pearl (@coachbrucepearl) September 26, 2024

Walker is the No. 2 player from Alabama in the 2025 recruiting class, according to 247 Sports. He is the first commitment of Auburn’s 2025 recruiting cycle. 

The turnaround between Auburn offering Walker and his commitment was quick. He was offered on Aug. 27 and made an official visit on Sept. 13. Within 30 days, he’s setting his sights on The Plains. The expert prediction on 247 Sports only came on Tuesday. 

The time he spent on Auburn’s campus left a major impression on Walker. 

"Just the environment, the fanbase, the energy and the good vibes that Auburn has," he said. "Everyone enjoys being down there and enjoys people that are around. People don't leave Auburn. They want to stay and build relationships there and they want to be able to call that place home and that appealed a lot to me."

Auburn has been impressing top talent as of late. 

During the 2024 recruiting cycle, Auburn inked two freshmen to the roster: Point guard Tahaad Pettiford and shooting guard Jahki Howard. Both were top-five players from their states and top-20 players at their positions.

However, they have their sights on even greater talent. Auburn is considered to be in the running for the top recruit of the 2025 recruiting class, A.J. Dybansta. 

As Auburn continues their push to prove they can compete with the best on the court, it’s only fitting they make the push to recruit the best talent too.