Now that the dust has settled a bit from national signing day, we can begin to review the class as a whole. For The Auburn Tigers, they brought no one new to the table this time around. Each member of their class had signed during the early signing period in December.
Where do we stand on ranking the class?
According to Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports, it’s not great Bob.
Not everyone can reel in a litany of five-star recruits like Texas A&M, Alabama, and Georgia. Those schools all did well for themselves. With the constant turmoil that has struck the Tigers football program, it isn’t a huge shock but after losing 18 players through the transfer portal, one should have expected more movement. Head coach Bryan Harsin also missed out on one of their big targets as TreVonte’ Citizen opted to head to Miami.
Let’s take a look at how they rated the Auburn class.
What Smith Says…
The inauspicious start of the Bryan Harsin era continues with this recruiting class that sits at the back end of the top 20 after finishing in a similar position last year. Better results are expected with fans unsatisfied unless the Tigers are SEC West contenders. The hope is that LB Robert Woodyard and DBs Austin Ausberry and JaDarian Raym, along with junior college DL Jeffrey M’ba, are players that bolster the defense. Harsin better hope so after a 6-7 start to his tenure and the departure of both coordinators.
It wasn’t just the Auburn Tigers that were losers on this national signing day but the first-year coaches as well. Billy Napier of the Florida Gators and Brian Kelly of the LSU Tigers were also among the teams listed as losers. They took over their programs in December and were tasked with trying to salvage their transition classes.
LSU fired Ed Orgeron with more than a month left, and while Brian Kelly did his best, the Tigers were squarely outside of their usual place in the top 10. Oregon and Miami (Fla.), both impacted by the move of Mario Cristobal, had smaller-than-usual groups. Florida also took a step back even with Billy Napier pulling off some late wins.