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As Auburn football prepares to host LSU in one of the biggest home football games of the year, this weekend is also poised to be one of Auburn basketball’s biggest recruiting weekends of the year. Auburn will host a trio of 4-star prospects in Tyrell Jones, Ismael Massoud and Jaylin Williams for their Official Visits this weekend. Auburn already has 3 players committed to the Class of 2019 in Babatunde “Stretch” Akingbola, Isaac Okoro, and Allen Flanigan. (As for Akingbola, there is still a chance he ends up reclassifying and ends up on the roster for this year but I haven’t heard anything about this in several weeks).
At the moment, 24/7 Sports has Auburn ranked 8th nationally in their Class of 2019 recruiting class rankings. That number could rise a bit if the Tigers can land any or all of these prospects.
Here’s a little bit about each player coming to the Plains this weekend:
Tyrell Jones - Combo Guard, 6-1, 170 pounds
West Oaks Academy, Orlando, Florida
Next year, Auburn will have to replace the graduating Bryce Brown and possibly Jared Harper depending on how his junior season goes. Here’s a guy that’s extremely high on Auburn’s radar and has the potential to be Auburn’s next point guard. Jones’s stock has risen quickly throughout the summer and he’s received over 20 new offers this summer. He was visited by the Auburn coaching staff on Tuesday and his trip to Auburn this weekend will be his first official visit. Jones will then visit Ole Miss next week while Louisville is also pushing hard for his services. Most experts see Auburn as the favorites to land Jones.
Ismael Massoud - Shooting Forward, 6-8. 200 pounds
MacDuffie School, Granby Massachusetts
Massoud is a native of the Bronx and if there’s one thing you can tell from looking at Massoud’s Final 5: he’s the definition of a student athlete. Massoud’s Final 5 consists of Auburn, Harvard, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Rutgers. Massoud visited Harvard last weekend and his second stop is the Plains. After this weekend, he will visit Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Rutgers in successive weekends. Massoud is an outstanding 3-point shooter and his game kind of reminds me a little bit of Chuma Okeke. Auburn’s biggest threat for Massoud looks to be Rutgers, who is pushing extremely hard for Massoud and notably, that’s where his last visit will be.
Check out the article on Ismael Massoud, an underrated prospect from The Bronx, who is now down to five schools, such as @AuburnMBB, @GTMBB, @WakeMBB, @HarvardMBB and @RutgersMBB. Read more on his journey.https://t.co/E9SrTQf4Cu pic.twitter.com/FxIj0nVX4H
— Dave's Joint (@daves_joint) September 11, 2018
Jaylin Williams - Power Forward, 6-7, 205 pounds
Brantley County High School, Nahunta, Georgia
Bruce Pearl and assistants Steven Pearl and Wes Flanigan made a home visit to Williams on Monday before his official visit this weekend. The Tigers have been in on Williams for quite some time and would love to be able to make another recruiting splash in the state of Georgia. Williams also has an official visit scheduled with Georgia on September 28th. In addition, St. John’s and Mississippi State are also making a big push for Williams visiting him at his home this week but as of right now, Auburn looks to be the leader for Williams and no other visits besides to Auburn and Georgia have been scheduled.
So there you have it, Auburn is hosting three extremely talented players this weekend. Maybe the Tigers will get a commit this weekend but I would imagine each of these guys will go through their visits (as they should) before making a final decision. And just to throw this out there, we are only 54 days away from the tip of college basketball! It will be here before you know it. War Eagle!