Former Central Michigan running back Jordon Ingram is reportedly signing with Auburn and set to enroll for summer classes.
Auburn’s running back room just got a bit bigger.
Per Jeffrey Lee of AuburnSports.com, former Central Michigan running back Jordon Ingram is expected to sign with the Tigers and enroll for the summer semester.
Ingram, a former three-star recruit from St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, signed with the Chippewas in 2020 but did not appear in a game last season. He will come to Auburn as a redshirt freshman and add depth to a group that includes Tank Bigsby, Shaun Shivers and Devan Barrett along with incoming freshman Jarquez Hunter.
As senior at St. Paul’s in 2019, Ingram rushed for 1,394 yards and 18 touchdowns while catching 15 passes for 195 yards and a score.
Five-star defensive lineman James Smith from Carver High School in Montgomery is set to visit Auburn on Tuesday.
June has arrived and with it on-campus visits are permitted again.
Auburn is starting the month off with a big one from five-star defensive lineman James Smith who is visiting the Plains on Tuesday.
Out of Carver High School in Montgomery, Smith is ranked the No. 3 defensive lineman and No. 6 overall player in the 2023 signing class.
From 247Sports scouting report on the 6-foot-3, 270-pound playmaker:
Physical young defensive lineman who could fit multiple fronts, but likely projects best to 3-tech in an even look. Possesses requisite size/frame. Consistently flashes vs. the run and as a pass rusher. Bull in a china shop who made plays as a freshman with size, strength, tenacity. Impressive closing speed relative to size. Physicality really stands out for such a young prospect. Technical development and improved body control could make for truly elite front-line defender. Early returns suggest impact high-major potential with early-round NFL Draft ceiling.
According to Auburn Undercover, Auburn also expects Smith teammate Jaquavious Russaw, a three-star edge rusher, to visit the Tigers on Tuesday as well.
Three-star safety Emory Floyd from Powder Springs, Georgia has set an official visit date for Auburn.
Powder Springs, Georgia has been extremely good to Auburn basketball with Isaac Okoro and Sharife Cooper coming from McEachern High School there and now the football team is looking to get one of their own from the town.
Three-star safety Emory Floyd, who plays at Hillgrove High School, has set a date for his official visit to Auburn on June 4.
Somehow and some way, McClain was left off the All-SEC team last season after finishing third in the SEC in tackles (113) and being one of the most consistent playmakers in the league.
Expect the senior to use that for motivation heading into 2021.
āIt hurt a little they didnāt give me any award last year,Ā but it just gives me more motivation,ā he said. āI have got a chip on my shoulder to just keep going harder and harder.ā
McClain and Pappoe form a vaunted linebacker corps for the Tigers that should be a major strength for Derek Mason’s defense. With his talent and the inspiration from getting snubbed, expect McClain to have another outstanding season.
Not many players made a better impact this spring on the new coaching staff than Johnson who was on the end of praise by Bryan Harsin back in April.
āHeās been one of the more consistent players, day in and day out, as far as his execution and preparation. Being able to come off the ball and be an explosive player play after play, the great ones who play that position at wide receiver, thatās what they do. Heās played faster, and heās done it more consistently. Heās made some plays in practice.ā
With the receiver corps depth chart being full of inexperienced players, Johnson will have a major chance to become a contributor.
Pro Football Focus predicts Auburn’s passing game to be among the worst in the SEC during the 2021 college football season.
A lot of focus this offseason and into the start of the schedule is on Bo Nix and his progression as both a passer and leader for the Auburn offense under new head coach Bryan Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.
Likely to be the starter for the third straight season, Nix is still looking to break out for the Tigers after a mediocre sophomore season in which he threw just 12 touchdowns to seven interceptions.
According to Pro Football Focus, that trend continues this season for Auburn’s passing game and Nix.
The bad news is that Auburn will likely have one of the worst passing offenses in the SEC this year. Running back Tank Bigsby, the nation’s top returning back in our 2021 preseason rankings, can only carry the entire offense so far. The Tigers ranked fourth-to-last in the SEC in successful pass play rate in 2020. Their top three wide receivers from that group all took off for the NFL, too, leaving quarterback Bo Nix, who owns a middling 66.2 passing grade for his career, with no proven option to throw to.
The departures of Seth Williams, Eli Stove and Anthony Schwartz has left a void in receivers that Nix has had a bond with over the past two seasons. During the annual A-Day Spring Game, the quarterback seemed to find Elijah Canion the most, including on a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone.
Four-star defensive lineman Khurtiss Perry visits Auburn and new head coach Bryan Harsin on June 2.
When the month of June arrives, on-campus visits for student-athletes can begin again all across the country.
That includes for Auburn football who new head coach Bryan Harsin admitted will have a busy summer recruiting. One of the first recruits they will host is four-star defensive lineman Khurtiss Perry who has set his visit for June 2.
Perry will be a busy guy with a visit to Tuscaloosa the day before he arrives on the Plains and then, two days later, goes north to Columbus, Ohio to visit Ohio State.
Stout, broad-built front-line defensive playmaker who’s not overly tall or long but plays simultaneously faster and stronger than listed size. Plays varied defensive roles with high activity and violence. Pursuit ability is terrific relative to size and projected position. Strong tackler with big-hit capability. Screams off the edge whether aligned as standing rush end or hand on the ground. In fact, shows outstanding pass-rush get-off, dip, and arc-running ability from three-point stance. Functional strength shows in disengaging pop and ability to fight through traffic to make plays vs. the run. Naturally plays to space, senses leverage, and bursts to nooks and crannies to disrupt. Shows some counter ability as a pass-rusher but can still expand move set. Physical upside could be limited. Motor and playmaking drive can occasionally run him out of a play. Elite defensive prospect who could possibly fit myriad roles depending on scheme. Plays like a big, powerful edge but could thrive as an even-front 3-technique. Projects to high-major level as one of the 2022 class’ top defensive linemen and owns long-term NFL Draft potential.
Out of Park Crossing High School in Montgomery, Perry is ranked the No. 8 defensive lineman and No. 44 overall player in the 2022 signing class.
Ever have a live caged tiger growl just a couple of feet from you? Takeo Spikes has. That was one of the surprising moments of his life when he started to take the field at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge prior to the 1995 matchup between Auburn and LSU.
“You walk out of the locker room, you see this damn big a– tiger LSU got right by our locker room and I’m thinking, ‘Lord, I’m about to be eaten before the game starts,'” Spikes told Auburn Wire while admitting, “intimidation factor, great move.”
LSU mascot Mike the Tiger is seen on the field at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, before a 2013 game between LSU and Furman. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
The Bayou Bengals got the best of the Tigers on that September night in 1995, but two years later, the two teams faced off in what turned out to be one of the greatest games in the series.
“Listen, man, that game was epic,” Spikes said.
The weather was hot and humid on Sept. 20, 1997, and the Tigers were facing another intimidating factor in LSU running back Cecil “The Diesel” Collins. Auburn was ranked No. 12 in the nation, and LSU was No. 10.
“We get out on the field and I’m like, ‘Who in the hell is this dude Cecil ‘The Diesel’ Collins?'” Spikes said. “He ran for near 200 yards. LSU ran for 400 yards that night, and they still lost.”
LSU running back Cecil Collins runs from the pursuit of Auburn linebacker Takeo Spikes on Sept. 20, 1997 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
The exact figures are 232 rushing yards and two touchdowns for Collins and 377 net yards for LSU that day. The Tigers needed more than that to counter struggling quarterback Herb Tyler, who completed just 6-of-21 passes for 115 yards and a score while being intercepted twice, including once by Spikes.
The most crucial moment for the linebacker came on the final play as LSU lined up for a 64-yard, potential game-tying field goal just 30 seconds after Auburn running back Rusty Williams capped off one of the most clutch drives of the season with a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up, 31-28.
“I remember having an interception, 15 tackles and blocked the kick at the end of the game to sustain the win against LSU,” Spikes said.
Auburn linebacker Takeo Spikes heads down the sideline after intercepting a pass from LSU quarterback Herb Tyler on Sept. 20, 1997. Spikes is chased by LSU wide receiver Tyrone Frazier. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
That game certainly has entered the lore of great Auburn-LSU matchups, especially in the minds of Spikes and other players that were on the field that night. You can watch a complete replay of the game below.
“One of the best games, and I even talked to even a lot of the guys who played at LSU at the time, Booger McFarland, Ryan Clark. So talking to those guys man, we talk about that game because that experience is on another level. Like one of the best places that you ever can play in.”
Auburn made Tiger Stadium its home away from home again two years later in a 41-7 blowout of host LSU. Tommy Tuberville, coaches and Auburn players lit cigars and smoked them on the field to celebrate. Auburn has yet to win in Baton Rouge since that night, Sept. 18, 1999.
Playing in environments like that inspired Spikes, and for him, road games were a blast.
“I personally liked playing on the road because I feed it off for the crowd and everything,” he said.
Spikes and Auburn shut up the crowd of more than 80,000 that night in Tiger Stadium in a game no one will soon forget.
Auburn transfer commits Dreshun Miller and Donovan Kaufman are both listed in 247Sports’ Transfer Portal Top 100.
The NCAA transfer portal taketh and it also giveth.
Auburn has been extremely active in the portal this offseason with several players deciding to come to the Plains to play for new head coach Bryan Harsin.
247Sports recently ranked the top 100 players that have committed to a new school via the portal and two are now in the orange and blue of Auburn.
26. Dreshun Miller, CB, Auburn (from West Virginia): Regarded as one of Bryan Harsin’s biggest offseason additions. Had a PFF grade of 73 in 2020. Miller could push for a starting corner job this fall. At the very least, he should be in the playing rotation.
Miller added depth to the Auburn secondary for the season and will contribute immediately for the Tigers.
62. Donovan Kaufman DB, Auburn (from Vanderbilt): It wouldn’t be a shock if Kaufman is Auburn’s starting boundary corner in 2021.
Kaufman will play for former head coach Derek Mason who became the Tigers’ defensive coordinator this offseason.
Eight Auburn Tigers led by linebacker Zakoby McClain made the post-spring All-SEC teams by Athlon Sports.
In the past, we had to wait almost all summer long to first see the predictions for the Athlon Sports and Lindy’s of the world when the magazines hit the book shelves.
Not anymore as the Internet has changed that for some time now. Athlon Sports is on top of the conferences after spring practice concluded by releasing post-spring all conference teams including the SEC in which eight Auburn Tigers have made the list.
