REPORT: 5-Star Ohio State Commitment Visiting Auburn on Saturday

The Auburn Tigers almost have a clean sweep of the top recruits in Alabama, but the No. 1 player in the state is committed to Ohio State.

Na'eem Offord is the No. 1 recruit in the state of Alabama. He's committed to Ohio State but visiting Auburn for Week 1. / Brian Smith-Auburn Daily

As Auburn Football starts its regular season on Saturday, they’ll have a chance to leverage it on the recruiting trail out of the gate. 

The consensus No. 1 recruit from Alabama and current Ohio State commit, cornerback Na’eem Offord, will visit Auburn for their game against Alabama A&M, per On3's Steve Wiltfong. 

Along with being the top player from Alabama, Offord is the sixth-ranked player in the country for the 2025 class on 247 sports.

Now, that is a major opportunity for head coach Hugh Freeze and company. 

The Tigers already have a strong hold on the top 10 in-state recruits with eight of the 10 committed to Auburn for 2025. The only other school that has any top-10 commits is Ohio State. If there is a chance to siphon off those recruits. Now is the time. 

This could be their chance too to bump up even higher in the recruiting rankings. Another top-10 player in the country should do that.

Auburn is ranked fifth in the 2025 recruiting class rankings on 247 Sports. A recent tear on the recruiting trail had them soar up the rankings after falling into the low teens. Ohio State is ahead of them with the top recruiting class. 

It would be a massive victory to pry one of those recruits away and knock them down a peg, putting the rest of college football on notice that the Tigers are coming for their top talent. 

Should Auburn manage to flip this prized recruit, he would, naturally, immediately become their top commit. Their current top commit, edge Jared Smith, is the second-ranked player from Alabama. 

Auburn will hope to use the proximity angle in keeping Offord in state. He's from Birmingham, Ala., roughly two hours from Auburn. However, it's certainly closer than the 570 miles to Columbus, Ohio.

Offord will see Auburn take on Alabama A&M on Saturday. Kick-off is set for 6:30 CDT.