Auburn Daily

Hugh Freeze, Auburn Tigers Make Statement with Big Cat Weekend

Hugh Freeze turns the Auburn Tigers recruitment drive into an avalanche of prodigious talent over Big Cat Weekend

Keith Cummings

The Auburn Tigers had an über-successful recruiting haul during Big Cat Weekend.
The Auburn Tigers had an über-successful recruiting haul during Big Cat Weekend. / Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY
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When Hugh Freeze took command of the storied Auburn Tigers program, he did so by making an impassioned commitment to rebuild through a vibrant recruitment strategy, and now he's absolutely delivering.

Big Cat Weekend was already being hotly tipped to deliver some blockbuster additions to the Tigers squad, but Freeze has subsequently turned it into an avalanche.

It was pretty low hanging fruit that a plethora of Tigers fans will opt to thumb their noses at their rivals Alabama, especially after managing to flip wide receiver Derick Smith, and defensive lineman Antonio Coleman, but that's proving to be only the tip of the iceberg.

Smith was ranked on the ESPN 300 as being their 38th best prospect regardless of position, and his two-way talents were particularly intriguing to a host of major college suitors.

Indeed, question marks over where to play him maybe even opened up a real window of opportunity for Freeze to convince the youngster to spurn Alabama and choose Auburn instead.

"Some other schools are trying to pull him away to play receiver," Smith's coach Charles Moody revealed, via ESPN. "There's some schools that have offered him the opportunity to play both ways. Some other schools have told him he can play whatever he wants to play."

Reading between the lines, it looks pretty much set in stone that Smith is going to line-up as a wide receiver when he gets to the Plains.

This past Saturday, Baltimore native and four-star CB recruit Blake Woodby got things really cooking. Woodby's own pledge has only provided further proof that coach Freeze is making huge big name additions on both sides of the ball.

Freeze wasn't just done with adding a feisty cover corner in Woodby either, he also closed the deal for four-star safety Anquon Fegans. 

Auburn has been conducting a courtship ritual with Fegans for a while now, so it was no real surprise when the Alabama native decided he was going to stay home and play for the Tigers.

You would have to suggest that the days of Auburn languishing outside the top-ten recruiting rankings are now long gone. Furthermore, the Tigers also added three more pledges on the defensive side of the ball for their 2026 recruitment class - markers are being laid down.

In what has delivered a hat-trick of future commitments, Freeze added four-star defensive end Hezekiah Harris and a pair of talented linebackers in JaMichael Garrett and Shadarius Toodle.

Interestingly, Toodle wasn't at all shy about declaring what he thinks the Auburn program is going to achieve moving forward.

"Coach Freeze is changing the program," Toodle told On3's Chad Simmons. "He's turning the program back into a national championship contender. He had a big recruiting class with the 2024 class and I feel like he can do that with the 2026 class too."

Understandably, the 2025 recruitment additions will grab most of the headlines because they will get a chance to make an impact fairly soon, but by planting trees, the future is starting to look very bright indeed for the Auburn Tigers. 

And for that, it's kudos to coach Freeze.

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Keith Cummings

KEITH CUMMINGS

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