2/4/23 Auburn Articles

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Four-star 2024 QB Walker White commits to Auburn

Field Level Media

February 03, 2023 at 8:55 pm.

 

Walker White, a four-star 2024 quarterback prospect, committed to Auburn on Friday.

White, from Little Rock (Ark.) Christian Academy, is ranked as the No. 8 quarterback and the No. 92 overall prospect by 247Sports. He chose the Tigers over Baylor and Clemson.

“As soon as I stepped on that football field my heart (jumped),” White told 247Sports about his January visit to Auburn. “I said this is the place.”

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound White said he is excited to play for new head coach Hugh Freeze and his staff.

“When I go to Auburn, I know I’ll be developed to my full potential,” White said.

“They are geniuses about offense and the quarterback position,” he continued.

In his junior season, White passed for nearly 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns, per 247Sports. He added 837 rushing yards and 16 scores on the ground.

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Top247 2024 QB Walker White commits to Auburn

Steve Wiltfong

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Little Rock (Ark.) Christian Academy Top247 2024 quarterback Walker White announced his commitment to Auburn on Friday afternoon during a live broadcast on the 247Sports YouTube Channel.

The 6-foot-4, 218-pound White chose to play for Hugh Freeze and the Tigers over his other finalists in Baylor and Clemson. He also strongly considered the likes of Arkansas and at one point long-time leader Ole Miss.

Tabbed by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 8 quarterback and No. 92 prospect overall, White visited The Plains in January and towards the end of his visit he got a chance to check out Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“As soon as I stepped on that football field my heart (jumped),” White told 247Sports. “I said this is the place.”

It was still the place following White’s future visits to Baylor and Clemson. Regardless of how great those trip were, they din’t give him the same feeling as the one he had spending the day at Auburn.

“When I go to Auburn, I know I’ll be developed to my full potential,” White said. He’s excited to play for Freeze, offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery, quarterbacks coach Jesse Stone and the staff.

“They are geniuses about offense and the quarterback position,” White stated.

White added that he loved the vibe when he was on campus and in the football facility.

“You can tell it’s very family oriented and the players enjoy being there and you could see the players getting extra workouts,” White said. “It was special to see the attitude on the team was an extra-work mentality.”

As a junior White threw for nearly 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns with another 837 rushing yards and 16 more scores. He is commit No. 3 for the Tigers in the 2024 class joining fellow four-stars in cornerbacks Jaden Lewis and A’Mon Lane. White reiterated to 247Sports what he said earlier in the week about how the entire Auburn staff welcomed him when they first walked through the door for his visit. His family loves the decision too.

“I think I loved about Auburn what he does,” White’s father David told 247Sports. “The guys that are going to be in charge of developing him as a player, there are several of them and they’re all really good quarterback coaches. I think the quarterback room there coaching-wise is top notch. Being in the SEC West I love that. We’re going to be able to watch him play at a lot of places we love to watch games at. The new staff is so excited and so energetic and really believes Walker can be a big part of building on what they’re doing. They cast a vision for him personally how he would fit in the program personally and it resonated with Walker big time and I felt the same way.”

White’s head coach Eric Cohu obviously loves the pickup for Auburn.

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“He’s one of the hardest-working players I’ve ever coached and he has got a professional work ethic, great character, solid young man,” Cohu said. “He’s a personality that does great leading in the locker room and on the field. Players love him. He’s well rounded.

"He’s such a phenomenal athlete," Cohu continued. "He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast. He’s a guy that is athletically can take over a game. He can obviously spin the ball really well. Game time, when you’re talking about someone that strong and fast, arm strength, he has made some phenomenal plays for us.”

">247Sports

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Auburn football spring practice will mostly revolve around quarterbacks

Mary Kate Hughes

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Auburn football quarterback Robby Ashford (9) celebrates his first down run as Auburn Tigers take on Western Kentucky Hilltoppers at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022.

 

Things have been nonstop for Hugh Freeze ever since he was hired as the head coach of the Auburn football program at the end of November of last year. From the moment he took the position, Freeze has been focused on recruiting, transitioning from the 2023 class to classes of 2024 and beyond.

February brings on a recruiting dead period in the world of college football, meaning that in-person communication with recruits is not allowed, though electronic communications may continue. Although recruiting never stops, the new coaching staff will be far less busy with recruiting than the past several months.

However, with only a couple of weeks until the Tigers begin an early spring practice on February 27, there really will not be a break for the coaching staff. Instead, they will focus on what the priorities are for spring practice, and high up on the list will be assessing the quarterbacks ahead of the second transfer window before the summer, per The Montgomery Advertiser:

“The sample size for that is pretty small if they weren’t under some type of duress, or maybe it was more of a move-the-pocket scheme. So, I’m anxious to get into spring and kind of see how they handle that, and then I’ll go from there with what we do in the second portal window.”

Freeze and the Tigers have yet to pull in a transfer quarterback, missing out for whatever reasons on several targets in the first transfer window. Robby Ashford showed glimpses of major talent last season, but also struggled with some simple aspects of being a quarterback. TJ Finley won the starting job, but missed out on the second half of the season after being pulled due to injury early on. Redshirt freshman Holden Geriner will be entering his second year on the Plains, and 2023 QB Hank Brown will begin his college career.

By the end of spring practice, Auburn football fans should have a much clearer picture of what the quarterback room will look like this fall.

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Auburn's top 2023 recruit good to go for spring practices

Nathan King

3–4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — The biggest fish in Auburn's 2023 class will be ready for spring practices.

Early enrollee Keldric Faulk played through a wrist issue his senior season at Highland Home High School, then had minor work done after the year. He'd been in a wrist cast and a sling for the first few weeks of Auburn's winter workouts, but his new defensive line coach said Faulk isn't expected to miss time once spring practices kick off Feb. 27.

"He'll be available for practice," Jeremy Garrett said during a chat with reporters Thursday.

Faulk was a huge target for Auburn's previous staff but committed to Florida State in July. Once Hugh Freeze and company arrived, though, they picked things back up, as Garrett and Zac Etheridge didn't accept defeat on the No. 9 in-state player.

On signing day, just a few weeks after meeting Garrett, Faulk flipped to Auburn and became the top-rated prospect in Freeze's first class.

"He’s an Auburn man — we knew that from the beginning," Garrett said. "We just had to give him a reason to fall in love with it again. I felt like he always wanted to be here, we just had to recruit him hard and give him a reason to come. That way he trusts us. The whole staff, the whole building, did a great job of showing his mom and himself and the family that this is the place where he can grow and develop and this is a place that needs you as a cornerstone piece to help build this front.”

A top-75 recruit and the No. 10 defensive lineman in the country, per the 247Sports Composite ratings, Faulk clocked in at 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds last month at the Army All-American Bowl. Garrett said he expects the true freshman to play both defensive end and Auburn's new "Jack" pass-rusher spot.

"He can play multiple spots," Garrett said. "It's good to have guys who can come in and do both."

Auburn can use the all the help it can get along the defensive front in 2023, with pass-rushers Derick Hall, Eku Leota and Marcus Bragg all gone, as is star defensive tackle Colby Wooden. In addition to Faulk, Auburn added former LSU commit Darron Reed in the 2023 class, and also picked up transfers Justin Rogers from Kentucky, Mosiah Nasili-Kite from Maryland and Lawrence Johnson from Purdue.

"You want to have a really good rotation and play as many guys as you can so those guys can play extremely hard and be violent and make plays for you the entire year," Garrett said. "That’s the thing I want recruits to see is ‘hey, we’re going to play as many as can play.’ If that’s eight or nine, however many guys that can play, I’ll roll you in and we’ll find a role for you.”

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Auburn's new tight ends coach eager to work with athletic group

Nathan King

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AUBURN, Alabama — More than two years ago, a true freshman on the opposing sideline caught Ben Aigamaua's and Hugh Freeze's eyes.

Liberty beat FIU 36-34 in a thriller, and Aigamaua, the Flames' tight ends coach for the past four seasons before following Freeze to Auburn, remembers the standout athleticism from FIU's Rivaldo Fairweather, who had one catch for 22 yards.

So when Fairweather became available in the transfer portal, with two more seasons of production under his belt, Aigamaua didn't need any convincing to start pursuing him to join the Tigers' tight end room.

"I got to see him play against us at FIU when they came up there," Aigamaua said during a chat with reporters Thursday. "One, just the athletic ability that he possesses in the passing game and also he’s 250 pounds. For us, we’ve got to be able to do both in our offense. We’ve got to be able to create mismatches against linebackers and safeties, and then we’ve got be able to block some defensive ends in this league. My job is to make them successful."

At 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, Fairweather resembles some of the versatile, pass-catching tight ends Aigamaua and Freeze have had so much success with over the years. Before coaching tight ends at Liberty, Aigamaua was a grad assistant and analyst at Ole Miss from 2012-18, where the Rebels had tight ends like Evan Engram and Dawson Knox, both of whom are still in the NFL. Most recently at Liberty, Johnny Huntley began his career as a wide receiver at Colorado, then caught seven touchdowns across three seasons at tight end with the Flames.

Fairweather seems to fit that mold, and he has the experience and production to expect a strong presence immediately in Auburn's passing game: 54 catches for 838 yards and five touchdowns in three seasons at FIU, including an All-Conference USA campaign in 2022 (426 yards and three scores).

"He reminded me of Evan Engram when we had him, just a little bigger," Aigamaua said.

Another big-bodied, possibly hybrid pass-catcher is Landen King, a redshirt sophomore who caught five passes and a touchdown as a freshman in 2021. He stepped away from the team during the 2022 season and ultimately entered the transfer portal, but withdrew shortly before Freeze's hiring.

At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, King worked with the tight ends his freshman year, then moved full-time to receiver last season. Aigamaua said King will work in both his room and Marcus Davis', but will probably be with the receivers "a little bit more."

"He's long, he's athletic, he can run," Aigamaua said. "We'll just see if he can carry the weight to block the guys that we've got to block on the line of scrimmage."

Of course, Auburn has a handful of other returning tight ends, too: Luke Deal, Tyler Fromm, Brandon Frazier and Micah Riley-Ducker. None of them are as flashy in the passing game as someone like Fairweather, but Aigamaua made sure to emphasize that if one of his players isn't versatile enough to block and catch consistently, he probably won't play very much.

Especially when Auburn has multiple tight ends on the field, Aigamaua needs them to be threat to go up the field and haul in a pass.

"I think it’s important in today’s day and age because tight ends — you have two good ones, it gives the defense something to think about," Aigamaua said. "They’ve got to figure out how they want to play it and if they want to do it a certain way, we’ll have some counters off of it."

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Freeze and Auburn staff locked in and pulling in the same direction

Jason Caldwell

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AUBURN, Alabama—Throughout the last two months, many of the recruits that have come to the Auburn campus have talked about the new staff and how quickly they bonded after coming in with Hugh Freeze. While some were already familiar with the former Ole Miss and Liberty coach, many were coaching on the same staff for the first time.

One of the guys that was already familiar with Freeze and the Southeastern Conference is Auburn’s tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua. Coaching at Liberty and Ole Miss with Freeze after playing for him his last two years at Lambuth, Aigamaua said it was an easy call to make the move to Auburn and join forces with this staff.

“You know, in our time at Ole Miss whenever we came here I always looked at this place as a sleeping giant,” Aigamaua said. “So to be here now, I’m excited about it. I know with Coach Freeze this is kind of his chance to get things rolling and I’m sure all of our coaches were excited about the opportunity to make sure that he’s successful. But this place is amazing from the facilities to the people to the community, welcoming my wife and my kids, it’s been awesome.”

Aigamaua is just one of the pieces of a staff for Freeze that has come together and done some big things already on the recruiting trail. With Ron Roberts and Philip Montgomery coming in as the coordinators, the Tigers have veterans in those roles along with veteran Wesley McGriff in the secondary. They are joined by a group of younger coaches that have all established themselves early in their careers.

Now two months into the job, Freeze said this is a coaching staff that all does some things differently and it’s his job to bring them all together for the common goal.

“One of the things that I do feel very strongly about is to take a group of people, formulate a staff and then say, 'This is the direction we’re going and it only works if we all are talking alike, believing the same and are moving in that same direction together,'” Freeze said. “And I think that one of the reasons that we’ve been able to turn programs around really fast is because of that.

"And I’m pretty steadfast in that everyday from my morning text to the staff to this is what our focus is today, this is what I want your words … it sounds like I’m saying I have to tell everybody how to talk, and I’m not saying that. I don’t care how you formulate it, but I want everyone that we encounter today — here’s kinda the theme that we[‘re trying to get out. I think our staff likes that and they’ve been incredible selling the vision.”

That vision is something that new offensive line coach Jake Thornton saw and heard from Freeze. Now he’s already seeing the results.

"100%. That starts with our head football coach, coach Freeze,” Thornton said. “That's one of the big reasons why i chose to come here, was he treats everybody like family. That's not just a word that's all over our building or that we preach to our kids. It is a family. He treats us like that. When you're somewhere that you feel valued, you feel comfortable and you feel like you're a part of something special.

“I think our entire staff feels that way. We've spent a lot of time together. On the road, in airplanes, in cars, in hotels. Exploring Auburn together. We've fit together and we've meshed together really quickly and it's something unique, I haven't been a part of that before. It's been unique."

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Even Marcus Davis has seen it firsthand. The newest of Auburn’s staff members, the former Auburn wide receiver said the camaraderie on this staff is already something special and he’s excited to see the results.

“It's amazing,” Davis said. “That's a testament to coach Freeze. That's the standard, and you know, that's the people in this building as well. We have a bunch of relentless people that are eager to make this place the best we could. That's the part with Coach Freeze, and it's a trickle-down effect to everyone on staff.”

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AuburnSports - Austin's role vital for Auburn's offense

Caleb Jones AuburnSports No. 4 dual-threat QB commits to Auburn 17h ago

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Hugh Freeze has a reputation for developing quarterbacks. During his stops at Ole Miss and Liberty, the Auburn head coach helped signal-callers such as Bo Wallace, Chad Kelly and Malik Willis become star players.

So, whether it was him being honest or a little humble, it was a bit surprising when the coach said this about Kent Austin, now serving as his offensive analyst, on Thursday.

"He's the best quarterback coach I've ever been around," Freeze said. "That's really not my forte -- the fundamentals. I'm more of, 'Hey, here's the big picture. Here's what I want it to look like at the end. Now you go get his mechanics right to get it done.' He really is the best at looking at a quarterback and saying, 'This is exactly what he needs to improve on. This is what he needs to do."

Yes, Austin was the unsung hero at Liberty, where he shared offensive coordinator duties with Freeze and helped Willis and the Flames become one of the most potent offenses in the nation. And, even after taking a quasi-demotion when coming to Auburn, Austin's role will not be any less vital. Freeze says he sees Austin as his chief quality control on offense, leaning on him to ensure that every instruction down to the minutiae of details is followed by the players, assistants and Freeze himself.

"He has the freedom from me to say to anyone in that room, 'Whoa, whoa. That's not what we said, and we have to get it fixed,'" the head coach said.

And, while new offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery will be in charge of play-calling with a bit of help from Freeze, Austin will play a significant part in game-planning during the week, something Freeze says he is excellent at.

"I think he's going to be huge for us in that off-the-field role," the coach said.

As far as taking a step down from an on-the-field coach to an analyst position, Freeze could not be more complimentary of his right-hand man.

"That speaks to his humility," he said.