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Remember what I said the other day about Auburn's 2016 recruiting cycle being strange? Yeah, it continues to be that way.
Composite 4* DT Quinnen Williams told AuburnUndercover today that he is no longer committed to the Auburn Tigers.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">4-star DT Quinnen Williams tells AuburnUndercover he no longer is committed to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Auburn?src=hash">#Auburn</a></p>— Keith Niebuhr (@Keith247Sports) <a href="https://twitter.com/Keith247Sports/status/606899155282345985">June 5, 2015</a></blockquote>
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This marks the third decommitment from the Tigers in this recruiting cycle. The first was Nate Craig-Myers, a wide receiver. That was followed by the pick up of CB John Broussard. Just last week saw the decommitment of DT David Marshall shortly after the commitment of Eli Stove. Auburn picked up a QB on Wednesday in Woody Barrett, and then now loses Quinnen Williams.
If this pattern of losing a commitment on one side of the ball and then gaining one on the other continues, Auburn should be picking up an offensive commitment, soon. Oh, and look, here's FB Malik Miller getting set to announce next week.
What's The Problem?
So what's going on with Auburn's recruiting right now? I really have no answer. Both of our recent decommitments have come after a defensive lineman camped at Alabama. You have to wonder if Auburn's recent history with putting defensive linemen in the league is a part of what Alabama is selling and Auburn is short of.
If that's the case, then it's definitely important for Auburn for Dee Ford, Gabe Wright, and Angelo Blackson to do well this coming season in the NFL. I would particularly point to Blackson and Wright given their positions on the interior of the line. Their success will help Auburn get back to convincing recruits that Rodney Garner can get them to the NFL.
The Class
Auburn had moved up to 25th with Woody Barrett's commitment on the 247Sports Composite. Williams is a composite 3* (though a 4* in 247Sports' own rankings). With this, Auburn falls back to 29th juuuuuust behind Virginia Tech. VT's composite score is 120.50, and Auburn's is now 120.49.
If you're worried about the defensive line recruiting, I'm not going to try to persuade you otherwise right now. It's disconcerting. What I can tell you is that Auburn has been getting in good with composite 5*s like Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson. So, again, there's still plenty of time between now and signing day. Auburn's defensive performance this season will likely going a long way towards fixing what ails the defensive recruiting so far this cycle.