Tag: Big Cat Weekend

Na’eem Offord makes return to the Plains for Big Cat

The state’s top 2025 recruit enjoyed a “fun” time on the Plains for Big Cat Weekend.

Auburn football is attempting to stay competitive in the race for many of the nation’s top players in the 2025 recruiting cycle. After a successful Big Cat Weekend, have the Tigers made any gains in tight races?

They certainly think so, especially on five-star cornerback [autotag]Na’eem Offord[/autotag], who committed to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Feb. 4.

Offord has been a star throughout his high school career at Parker (Ala.), doing whatever he can to make plays on the ball and cause havoc for opponents.

During the weekend’s festivities, Offord did not do a lot game-related activities. Instead, his visit was more focused on meeting others and seeing the culture that has been developed on the Plains.

“It was just a fun day,” Offord said. “It was more having fun and just hanging around. We did that little scavenger hunt and were running around. That was fun.”

Offord is currently ranked as the No. 9 overall player and No. 3 cornerback in the nation according to the On3 industry ranking, but is seen by all major outlets as the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama.

Former Buckeyes’ commit Blake Woodby already committed to Auburn on Saturday. Now, the Tigers are in heavy pursuit to get another top prospect on their side.

“I’m currently committed to Ohio State, but still enjoying the process,” Offord said. “With Auburn, I’m an in-state guy, so they want to recruit me as hard as they can.”

Auburn currently holds the No. 12 recruiting class in the country for the 2025 cycle, looking to continually improve as the fall season nears.

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2025 CB Blake Woodby commits to Tigers on Big Cat Weekend

Woodby is Auburn’s 4th commitment of Big Cat Weekend, and the first of the day for the 2025 class.

Big Cat Weekend stands out as one of the most eventful recruiting weekends of each year, and this year is no different for an Auburn football program that is looking to rebuild itself back to success.

A key component of that process is loading up on commitments, and the Tigers landed four-star cornerback [autotag]Blake Woodby[/autotag] this weekend during the festivities.

Woodby has been heavily pursued by head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff for months. Now, the St. Francis Academy (Md.) product is heading to the SEC for collegiate career.

Auburn was favored by many experts to land Woodby, and the Tigers beat out Maryland and Oregon for the commitment after Woodby was formerly pledged to Ohio State. This was largely predicted after a very positive visit in June.

The On3 industry ranking shows Woodby as the No. 17 cornerback and No. 138 overall player in the nation. He is also the No. 3 player in Maryland.

With the commitment, Auburn is ranked No. 14 in the nation for their 2025 class, with Woodby ranking as its second-highest secondary player behind safety [autotag]Eric Winters[/autotag]. His high school teammate, linebacker [autotag]Bryce Deas[/autotag], is also committed to the Plains.

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Can Auburn flip another Georgia commit in Jadon Perlotte?

Perlotte says that Auburn is “going to be hard to beat” after his recent visit to the Plains.

Last week, Auburn was able to change the tune of five-star linebacker [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag]. Riddick, one of the top players of the 2024 cycle, elected to stay home by flipping his commitment from Georgia to Auburn.

After Big Cat Weekend, it seems as if [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and his staff are working to change the mind of another Georgia pledge.

[autotag]Jadon Perlotte[/autotag], a 2025 four-star linebacker from Buford, Georgia, paid a surprise visit to the Plains for Big Cat Weekend. He tells Bryan Matthews of Auburn Rivals that he enjoyed his visit, and is even considering a flip to Auburn.

“Surprise coming soon, around August time,” Perlotte tells Matthews.

He visited Auburn for A-Day but says that his most recent visit was different. He got a chance to visit the newly built Woltosz Football Performance Center and was blown away.

“Probably just the new facilities. It’s crazy. I ain’t ever seen anything like this,” Perlotte said. “And the love that the coaches showed. They’ve been watching me since my ninth-grade year and they’ve just kept being hard after me.”

The news of his possible flip is important in itself but is worth noting that Perlotte attends the same high school as 2024 target KJ Bolden. Bolden is set to announce his commitment this weekend. If that works in Auburn’s favor, Bolden may try to get Perlotte to join him. However, he is also teammates with Georgia quarterback pledge Dylan Raiola. So it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Perlotte is the No. 10 linebacker for the 2025 class and is the No. 9 prospect from Georgia according to 247Sports.

The aftermath: 2024 SEC recruiting rankings following Big Cat Weekend

The Auburn Tigers are among the nation’s biggest movers following a successful weekend.

What a weekend it was on the Plains.

Big Cat Weekend has officially wrapped up, and it was one of the most successful events in recent memory. Auburn made a great impression on several recruits, as many have now placed the Tigers high on their radar.

In even better news, two talented wide receivers announced their commitment to Auburn. Five-star [autotag]Perry Thompson[/autotag] flipped his pledge from Alabama, and [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] elected to stay close to home with his commitment.

Those two talented additions go hand-in-hand with five-star [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag], who flipped from Georgia to Auburn ahead of Big Cat Weekend.

How much has Auburn climbed in the recruiting rankings following their successful week? The answer is quite a lot. Two weeks ago following the commitment of four-star defensive back [autotag]Jayln Crawford[/autotag], the Tigers were No. 37 overall in 247Sports’ 2024 recruiting rankings. Now? The Tigers are in the top 25.

Here’s a look at the updated SEC recruiting rankings from 247Sports as the calendar flips to August.

The next AJ Brown? Perry Thompson could play same role at Auburn

Auburn’s latest commitment is drawing similarities to another great receiver to play for Hugh Freeze.

When college football fans think of Hugh Freeze, his ability to develop quarterbacks and receivers usually jumps out.

Freeze has had five seasons of 3,000-yard passing performances from his quarterbacks, and his receivers are a part of the reason why.

Freeze had the pleasure of coaching several talented receivers such as Donte Moncrief, Laquon Treadwell, Evan Engram, and DK Metcalf during his time at Ole Miss, and Auburn’s latest commitment is drawing comparisons to the most talented receiver Freeze has ever coached, AJ Brown.

Following his commitment on Saturday, five-star [autotag]Perry Thompson[/autotag] told Hayes Fawcett of On3 that the coaching staff at Auburn sees him taking on a similar role that Brown played at Ole Miss.

“Love the coaching staff and the energy everyone brings. I’m really close to Freeze and coach (Marcus) Davis,” Thompson tells On3. “We’ve built a pretty strong relationship. They see me as an AJ Brown type in their offense. A lot of one on one matchups and just getting the ball in my hands to make plays.”

Brown hauled in 29 passes for 412 yards in his lone season playing for Freeze in 2016. He ended his college career with 2,984 yards on 189 catches with 19 touchdowns. Brown currently plays for the Philadelphia Eagles and has 4,491 receiving yards with 35 touchdowns in four professional seasons.

If Thompson can build a similar reputation as Brown, Auburn fans will be happy over the next several seasons.

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Watch: Walker White and Bryce Cain go through drills ahead of Big Cat Weekend

White and Cain continued working to build a strong bond over the weekend.

Many of Auburn’s top targets, and even some commitments, flocked to campus for Big Cat Weekend.

Auburn landed two wide receiver commitments during the weekend, which brings their total to three for the 2024 cycle. Auburn fans are already dreaming of what it will be like to watch Auburn’s talented commitments hit the field, and wide receiver commit [autotag]Bryce Cain[/autotag] provided a preview of what that could look like.

He posted videos of a workout that he did with four-star quarterback commitment [autotag]Walker White[/autotag] on X, formerly known as Twitter. The videos showed the pair working out at Duck Samford Stadium, with Cain running routes while White passed him the football.

The duo has built a strong bond ever since working out together during a 7v7 camp at Auburn in June. White had a great first impression of Cain.

“Man, (Cain) was good,” White said in an interview with 247Sports in June. “He just was flying out. His dad, who was a quarterback at Miami, he came up to me and was like, ‘Dude you’ve got a pistol.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah I’ve got a pistol but this dude’s got wheels on him.’ He was just really fast and I got to meet Bryce. He just had a really good attitude, he was a smiling dude. Easy to talk to and I’m actually going to hit him up after I leave and try to get him here.”

Watch White toss passes to Cain here:

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Auburn makes late push for KJ Bolden at Big Cat Weekend

Can Auburn lock in their third five-star of the 2024 recruiting cycle?

Auburn has gained significant recruiting momentum the last two weeks by landing several of the nation’s top names from the 2024 recruiting class.

During Big Cat Weekend, the Tigers snagged two wide receivers: four-star [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] and five-star [autotag]Perry Thompson[/autotag], who flipped to Auburn from Alabama.

Despite the exciting haul, [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and his staff are not satisfied. They are making a late push for five-star safety [autotag]KJ Bolden[/autotag]. Bolden is set to announce his commitment next Saturday and spent his final weekend ahead of the announcement by visiting Auburn for Big Cat Weekend.

The visit was successful; Bolden almost pledged a week early.

“The way that coach (Hugh) Freeze just gave me that great talk in the office, he definitely almost had me commit today,” Bolden told Christian Clemente of Auburn Undercover.

Bolden will have a week to think things over. He will choose among  Auburn, Georgia, Alabama, Florida State and Ohio State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT on On3’s YouTube channel. He shared his thoughts on Auburn with On3’s Chad Simmons after releasing his top schools last week.

“I’m definitely very interested in Auburn. Coach Freeze, I told him when I went up there, ‘Coach I’ve got to see if you can get an OV, I’m not sure yet.’ And he said if you give me an OV, just make sure it’s the last one. That’s how he makes things shake for sure, and I made sure he got that last OV. Freeze and his staff have made Bolden one of their top priorities since they took over, even as other national programs are in pursuit and have been for some time They just really stay communicated, and I knew Auburn was really interested when coaches at my school were talking about Auburn and how badly they want me. When I got down there, the family environment was like no other.

Bolden is the No. 1 safety in the nation for the 2024 recruiting class and the No. 3 prospect from the state of Georgia. As it stands a week out from his commitment date, Georgia is the favorite with four crystal ball predictions from 247Sports. On3 gives Georgia a 44.1% chance to land his commitment.

Freeze has swayed one prospect away from Georgia in [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag] this cycle, can he do it again with Bolden?

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Social media reacts to Auburn flipping 5-star WR Perry Thompson from Alabama

It’s safe to say that Big Cat Weekend has been a succes.

There is not another team in the country hotter than the Auburn Tigers on the recruiting trail.

[autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] and Co. just pulled off one of the biggest recruiting wins in the program’s history, flipping five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson from Alabama. He is the second recruit Auburn landed during Big Cat Weekend and the third in the past four days.

Fellow five-star [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag] started the wave on Wednesday, flipping from Georgia, and four-star wide receiver [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] committed to Auburn earlier Saturday afternoon. 

With the three commitments, Auburn has the No. 17 recruiting class on the 247Sports composite and is one of seven programs to have multiple five-star commitments. It’s average player rating of 91.85 is the fifth best in the country.

The Auburn fans, who were already fired up about landing Simmons, were ecstatic to learn about Thompson picking Auburn and took to social media to celebrate, here are their top reactions.

Another one: Auburn flips five-star WR Perry Thompson from Alabama

Thompson is the second five-star to flip to Auburn from an SEC rival in a week’s time.

Big Cat Weekend had a great start when four-star wide receiver Malcolm Simmons announced his commitment to Auburn on Saturday morning.

The day became more riveting when Auburn landed its second five-star recruit of the 2024 class.

[autotag]Perry Thompson[/autotag], the nation’s No. 4 wide receiver in the 2024 class, announced Saturday afternoon he plans to flip his commitment from Alabama to Auburn. He made the announcement live on [autotag]Walker White[/autotag]’s Instagram live. Fellow recruits who are visiting Auburn for Big Cat Weekend celebrated the news by throwing head coach [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] into a pool.

Although committed to Alabama since last year, Thompson has been a frequent visitor to the Plains since receiving an offer on Jan. 11. Since receiving an offer, Thompson has visited the Plains six times.

After a visit in June, Thompson told Christian Clemente of Auburn Undercover that wide receiver [autotag]Marcus Davis[/autotag] contacts him every day, and that he believes he can leave a legacy at Auburn.

“This environment and the coaches, they made me feel like family,” Thompson said in an interview with Auburn Undercover. “Just spending time with coach Freeze, coach Davis. Going through the plays and seeing how they’d use me in the offense. Just tell them how big of a legacy I can make if I come here.”

With Thompson’s commitment, Auburn has added three wide receivers to its 2024 class. Auburn also has two five-star recruits on its docket. [autotag]Demarcus Riddick[/autotag] committed to Auburn on Wednesday.

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Social media reacts to Malcolm Simmons’ Auburn commitment

Simmons became the first recruit to commit to the Tigers during Big Cat Weekend, and he may not be the only commit of the weekend.

Big Cat Weekend is off to a great start. Four-star athlete [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] announced his commitment to Auburn on Saturday morning.

Simmons crossed off a goal on Saturday by committing to a Power Five program, and he knew very early on in his recruitment that he would be an Auburn Tiger.

“Coaches, they make me feel like family and trust the process,” Simmons said in an interview with AuburnUndercover. “Coach Freeze and coach Davis, they told me from Day 1 just trust the process. It took a big role in my recruitment. Once they said that I already knew what school I wanted to be at.”

Auburn fans were excited to learn of Simmons’ commitment and shared their positive emotion on Twitter. Here’s a look at the best social media reactions to Malcolm Simmons’ commitment.