It's July 2, and unless you live in an igloo or Antarctica*, it's hot. It's also two months from the kickoff the 2012 college football season. This time of year, rising high school seniors are busy traveling around the country, visiting schools, participating in camps and trying to narrow down where they will play college football.
Auburn already has a number of commitments for the 2013 class -- 14 to be exact. It's an impressive group headlined by a pair of defensive linemen.
Current 2012 Commits:
Name 247 Score Rivals Rating Pos Ht Wt
Carl Lawson 5 98 5 6.1 WDE 6'3 245
Dee Liner 4 96 5 6.1 DT 6'2.5 277
Tashawn Bower 4 94 3 5.7 WDE 6'5 241
Trey Johnson 4 93 4 6.0 ILB 6'2 218
Cameron Toney 4 90 3 5.7 ILB 6'3 225
Jeremy Johnson 4 90 3 5.7 QB 6'5 215
Earnest Robinson 4 90 4 5.9 WR 6'1 192
Jahmere Irvin-Sills 3 88 3 5.6 ATH 5'10 172
Arshad Jackson 3 88 3 5.7 TE 6'6 240
Kamryn Melton 3 87 3 5.7 CB 5'11 170
Lemond Johnson 3 87 3 5.7 S 6'1 190
Jarrad Davis 3 85 3 5.7 OLB 6'2 210
Jimmy Hutchinson 3 80 2 5.4 P 6'2 175
Daniel Carlson 3 80 2 5.4 K 6'5 190
But you already knew who these guys were, didn't you? What you were really hoping to see here was a list of names that you should keep an eye on over the next few months as potential prospects to join this already stellar recruiting class. Right? Well, lets have a gander at some of those.
Name 247 Score Rivals Rating Pos Ht Wt Interest
Kenny Bigelow 5 98 5 6.1 DT 6'4 280 Low
Montravious Adams 5 100 5 6.1 DT 6'4 285 High
Reuben Foster 5 102 5 6.1 ILB 6'1 246 Low-Med
Vonn Bell 5 98 4 5.8 S 6'1 190 Low
Derrick Green 4 94 5 6.1 RB 6'0 218 Med
Jalen Ramsey 4 95 4 5.9 CB 6'0 194 Low
MacKensie Alexander 4 97 4 5.9 CB 5'10 175 Low
Caleb Brantley 4 91 4 5.9 DT 6'3 308 Low
David Williams 4 92 4 5.8 RB 6'0 198 Low
Greg Bryant 4 94 4 6 RB 5'11 196 Low-Med
Jordan Wilkins 4 93 4 5.9 RB 6'1 212 High
Tyshon Dye 4 93 4 5.8 RB 6'0 208 Med
Tray Matthews 4 94 4 5.9 S 6'1 192 Low-Med
DeMarcus Walker 4 95 4 5.9 SDE 6'3 276 High
O.J. Howard 4 95 4 6 TE 6'5 221 Low-Med
Isaiah Jones 4 90 4 5.8 WR 6'4 195 Med-High
James Quick 4 95 4 5.8 WR 6'1 180 Low
Laquon Treadwell 4 94 4 6 WR 6'3 195 Med
MarQuez North 4 95 4 6 WR 6'4 212 Low
Jason Smith 4 92 3 5.7 ATH 6'1 180 High
Shaq Wiggins 4 92 3 5.7 CB 5'9 160 Low
Khaliel Rodgers 3 88 4 6 OG 6'2 310 High
Cameron Echols-Luper 3 87 3 5.6 ATH 6'0 190 Med-High
With 14 already committed and a smaller senior class that will be departing after this season, there are roughly nine spots left to fill in this class. That's going to make things very interesting between now and Signing Day. You probably recognize a few names on the list above that are committed to other schools, including a couple of our primary rivals. We mentioned two of those prospects in a recent post. Should Auburn sign those recruits, there is a good chance that come February, a large faction of rival fans will be crying foul. Let them. Whether or not Gene Chizik and company can get some of these guys to flip, it should be fun to watch the Dawgs and Pachyderms squirm.
Who will be Auburn's next commitment? There are a few good candidates here: Khaliel Rodgers, Jason Smith and Jordan Wilkins. The next commitment is likely to come from this group. Rodgers had originally planned to announce on June 30, but that decision was delayed. He wanted to visit USC, where his friend and teammate Kenny Bigelow is committed, but he has been unable to make the trip so far. This should be good news for Auburn, as Rodgers is very high on the Tigers. It doesn't hurt that Auburn currently holds a commitment from Jahmere Irvin-Sills, another friend and teammate of Rodgers'. Also, Angelo Blackson is a friend and a former teammate. Smith is an in-state athlete who plays quarterback for McGill-Toolen and has been high on the Tigers for quite some time. He plans to commit sometime this summer, and a decision could come at any time. Wilkins has visited Auburn a couple of times already this summer, and almost committed on his last visit. He's still visiting other schools, but Auburn holds a strong lead for this talented back. He wants his mom to visit before he makes a decision, but that could happen in the next couple of weeks.
If you have any recruiting questions, feel free to submit them in the comments.