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With one week to go until Signing Day, Auburn is sitting at the 11th ranked class in the nation according to 247Sports. That sounds pretty good at first, until you realize that is only good for 6th in the SEC.
Twenty-one high school and/or Junior College kids have pledged that they will sign with the Tigers. Of those, eight are already on campus and enrolled at Auburn. There are seven spots remaining in the Tigers' class (assuming they stick to the twenty-eight number), and more than seven targets Auburn is still pursuing.
That type of thing happens. We're not going to hit on every big target that we want. There will be surprises, misses, and drama.
Take this, for instance. Auburn is wanting to take at least two cornerbacks in this class. One, Jeremiah Dinson, committed just the other day. Another target - 3* Sheldrick Redwine - has been committed to Louisville. It was reported last night that he decommitted from Louisville. Then, this happened this morning...
All Rumors Of My De-commitment Were False And I Will Be Signing My Letter Of Intent On Feb 4 To The University Of Louisville #L1C4 ‼️
— Sheldrick Redwine (@_23NeverLeft) January 28, 2015
Apparently Auburn was not ready to take his commitment. The reason? Probably because Auburn still feels it has an excellent chance at landing 4* CB Carlton Davis, who is a current Ohio State commitment, or 3* Davante Davis, a Texas commit.
Auburn could take three cornerbacks, but that is three of the seven slots. That leaves just four slots. Let's take a look at what we've got so far.
Name | Star Ranking | Position |
JUCO enrollees | ||
Jovon Robinson | 4* | RB |
Jason Smith | 4* | ATH |
Maurice Swain | 3* | DT |
HS Early Enrollees | ||
Tyler Queen | 4* | QB |
Chandler Cox | 3* | H-Back/TE/FB |
Tyler Carr | 4* | OG |
Bailey Sharp | 4* | OT |
Tim Irvin | 3* | S |
COMMITMENTS | ||
Kerryon Johnson | 4* | ATH |
Darrell Williams | 4* | OLB |
Jordan Colbert | 4* | S |
Richard McBryde | 4* | OLB |
D'Anfernee McGriff | 4* | RB/WR |
Marquel Harrell | 4* | OG |
Kaleb Kim | 4* | OC |
Montavious Atkinson | 4* | ILB/DB |
Elijah Sullivan | 3* | OLB |
Jauntavius Johnson | 3* | DT |
Jalen Harris | 3* | TE |
Jeremiah Dinson | 3* | CB |
Ian Shannon | 3* | Punter |
Those are the twenty-one currently on board the Gus Bus. So, who are we trying to convince to join up?
KNOWN TARGETS | Star Ranking | Position |
Martez Ivey | 5* | OT |
Bryon Cowart | 5* | SDE |
Terry Goodwin | 5* | WR |
CeCe Jefferson | 5* | SDE |
Terry Beckner, Jr | 5* | SDE |
Jeffrey Holland | 4* | OLB |
John Burt | 4* | WR |
Arden Key | 4* | WDE |
Prince Tega Wanogho, Jr | 4* | SDE |
Chidi Valentine-Okeke | 4* | OT |
Ryan Davis | 4* | WR |
Carlton Davis | 4* | CB |
Darius Slayton | 4* | CB/WR |
Torrance Gibson | 4* | QB/WR |
Davante Davis | 3* | CB |
Camion Patrick | 3* JUCO | WR |
G.G. Robinson | 3* | SDE/DT |
That's seventeen players that are still on the board, and I'm sure I missed one or two. Auburn will only be able to take less than half of those. Personally, I think we can eliminate John Burt, who recommitted to Texas just the other day. The odds of flipping Terry Goodwin from UGA are low, though it could happen. The same can be said for Darius Slayton (also a UGA commit).
My personal gut feeling? Auburn ends up with Jeff Holland, Byron Cowart, Prince Tega Wanogho, Jr, Carlton Davis, Chidi Valentine-Okeke, Camion Patrick, and G.G. Robinson.
Why do I think that? It's a WAG. A Wild-Ass Guess, for those of you who don't speak militarese.
I think Slayton and Goodwin stick with UGA, Davante Davis sticks with Texas, and Gibson stays with Ohio State. Ryan Davis and Martez Ivey end up at Florida, Beckner at Mizzou, and Jefferson at Ole Miss. Arden Key is a wildcard, but I'm guessing he ends up at LSU, though he may be in this class ahead of Prince Tega, I don't know.
According to the 247Sports Class Calculator, that would bump the Tigers up to the 5th ranked class just ahead of Clemson and just behind Tennessee. If Auburn ends up hitting on some of its bigger fish, then the Tigers could have the 3rd or 4th ranked class when all is said and done.
There will be a lot more recruiting information to come. We're hitting the home stretch with seven days to go. Auburn has one more big weekend of visits before the dead period begins, and we'll have a story-stream up for that. In addition, our recruiting writers here will have some much more in-depth looks at the recruiting situation over the weekend.
Have a wish list? Have different thoughts? Sound off below!