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Auburn Football Recruiting News: Back to Back Busy Recruiting Weekends for Auburn

The Tigers have seen no shortage of talent visit campus recently and this weekend for A-Day should be the same.

By AUNerd
4* OT Richard Gouraige was on campus this past weekend and might be back for A-Day as well.
Student Sports

It’s been a very busy past few weeks for Auburn. Not only is spring practice coming to a close but the Tigers have had plenty of high profile recruits stop by to check out this year’s Auburn team in person. This weekend should be the busiest of the bunch as A-Day offers a little taste of gameday allowing coaches to give some top targets an idea of what it’s like on a Saturday on the Plains. However, last weekend ended up being an impressive weekend as well for Auburn recruiting.

Second Scrimmage Visitors

It wasn’t supposed to be a big recruiting weekend for the Tigers but it kind of turned into one. Plenty of 2018, 2019 and even some 2020 talent was on campus to watch the 2nd spring scrimmage and check out what Auburn has to offer. Benjamin Wolk over at SECCountry has a great breakdown of who was in attendance along with some nuggets on many of the visitors. The visitor list included:

  • 4* WR Justyn Ross
  • 4* OT Richard Gouraige
  • 4* TE Tyneil Hopper
  • 4* QB Gerry Bohanon
  • 4* LB Zakoby McClain
  • 4* CB Christian Tutt
  • 3* DE Andres Fox
  • 3* DE Caleb Tannor
  • 2019 4* OG Keiondre Jones
  • 2019 4* WR Dominick Blaylock
  • 2019 TE Richard Goede
  • 2020 RB Cartavious Bigsby
  • FSU grad transfer OG Wilson Bell

The biggest news was 4* LB Zakoby McClain naming AU his leader this past weekend and by a large margin.

McClain is an undersized LB at 200 lbs but he plays much bigger than that. He can cover a lot of ground in a hurry and when he arrives it’s usually with very bad intentions. I think he slots in perfectly at the strongside LB spot that Darrell Williams currently occupies. As long as Auburn keeps up the pressure, and I expect they will, chances are high that McClain will be jumping on board this summer.

Another interesting note was the visit of 4* QB Gerry Bohanon. There are some mixed reports on whether or not AU is recruiting him as an athlete or a quarterback but it seems clear the staff would at least give him a shot at the position if he signed. Auburn already has a QB committed in 4* Joey Gatewood but with Tyler Queen’s recent transfer along with fact that there’s a chance (this is pure speculation on my part) one of Sean White (grad transfer), Jarrett Stidham (NFL) or Woody Barrett (transfer) might also be gone next year, Auburn might want to be safe and double dip at the spot in 2018. Obviously, they will need Gatewood to be ok with the move but if so Bohanon appears to be a clear top target.

Finally, Auburn was able to get one of the top OTs in the country on campus this past weekend 4* OT Richard Gouraige. Gouraige has mentioned AU in his top group for awhile now but had never visited until this past weekend. It appears he was blown away and claims he will be back for A-Day. There is some skepticism over whether that will happen or not but either way it’s clear the Tigers are a legitimate threat to land the stud OT. Clemson and Florida are the other teams to watch along with North Carolina.

A-Day Visitor List

Typically, Auburn is battling some other SEC rival (lots of times Alabama) to get recruits on campus for A-Day. However, this year the only real threat is Clemson and there isn’t a ton of crossover in recruiting targets though 4* WR Jacob Copeland will be going there instead of AU. The major barrier for Auburn this week will be the ACT which is the reason two top targets, 4* CB Jalyn Armour-Davis and 3* Buck/LB Richard Jibunor, will not visit. Still, this should be a loaded weekend and a chance for AU to impress many of their top targets. Keith Niebuhr has an early list of talent that is expected to make the trip. More than likely more lists will start rolling out today and tomorrow so this is just an early taste of what kind of talent is expected on campus:

  • 4* WR Justyn Ross
  • 4* OG Trey Hill
  • 4* LB JJ Peterson
  • 4* DE Brenton Cox
  • 4* QB Joey Gatewood (AU Commit)
  • 4* DT Coynis Miller
  • 4* S Quindarious Monday
  • 4* RB Asa Martin
  • 4* ATH Nathaniel Watson
  • 4* OG Jalil Irvin (AU Commit)
  • 4* OG Dylan Wonnum
  • 3* DE Andres Fox
  • 3* RB Harold Joiner
  • 3* ATH Kolbi Fuqua
  • 3* S Juanyeh Thomas
  • 3* Buck Caleb Tannor
  • 2019 OG Clay Webb

Once again Auburn will have their top target in Justyn Ross on campus. Ross, thanks to recent recruiting bumps by 247 and Scout, is now a composite 5* on 247. He has been to Auburn a bunch recently and every visit helps the Tigers out a little bit more though his recruitment really won’t start until his mom gets back from Kuwait. Caleb Tannor is another frequent visitor expected this weekend. This would be his 3rd straight weekend on campus. Just a few weeks ago he held a handful of offers but now holds over 20 including recent offers by Auburn, Georgia, and Alabama. Definitely, a name to watch moving forward.

The two biggest visitors are 4* LB JJ Peterson and 4* OG Trey Hill. Both are top 50 recruits who haven’t made a ton of trips to Auburn (this might be Peterson’s first) and are targets who probably have Auburn in their second group. Peterson recently named Alabama his leader but it’s early and if there’s any coach who can flip the script on a recruit it’s Travis Williams. Hill, on the other hand, claims he doesn’t have a top group though everyone is reporting the Georgia Bulldogs will be the team to beat. Hill might have the best first punch I have seen at the high school level in some time and could play any of the 5 positions on the OL at the next level.

Offers

Moving forward I am going to try and do a better job of reporting who landed offers the previous week. Thankfully, recruiting master Keith Niebuhr over at 247 put together this awesome slideshow recapping all the offers that went out in March. Below though are a few more that went out this past week:

  • 4* LB Solomon Tuliaupupu - Apparently, the big time LB out of California is contemplating a visit to Auburn as his teammates 4* OT Tommy Brown and 2019 QB JT Daniels are expected to visit both Alabama and Auburn this summer so he might tag along. As of now though this kid looks like a future USC Trojan.
  • 3* DE Azeez Ojulari - No one is hotter on the recruiting trail right now than Ojulari. The pass rusher dropped by AU this past Thursday and landed a Tiger offer.
  • 3* S Cameron Jonas - Greg Brown has been stingy with DB offers since being hired by Auburn so if he offers a kid we should pay attention. Jonas is a physical safety who plays in the box a lot for his high school team.
  • 2019 CB Jalen Alexander - Auburn is his first offer though many more are expected to start rolling in. He’s a rangy corner that plays on a juggernaut in Grayson High School. Expect to hear plenty more on him in the future.
  • 2020 ATH Cartavious Bigsby - Everybody ready to start talking about the 2020 class? Bigsby, out of Hogansville, GA, will more than likely be a top 100 recruit in that class and a player to watch this high school football season.

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