Only 5 Players Remain From The 2021 Class

[ellitor 33,884]

Only 5 signees from Auburn's 2021 class on campus two years later

Justin Hokanson•about 2 hours

(Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

AUBURN — There’s lost signing classes, and there’s however one would describe Auburn football‘s 2021 signing class. Only five of the 22 combined high school and transfer portal signees from the class are on campus just two years later.

The class represented Gus Malzahn‘s last class and technically, Bryan Harsin‘s first class.

From the class, the departed players are as follows: Dylan Brooks, Lee Hunter, Dematrius Davis, Ahmari Harvey, Hal Presley, Tar’Varish Dawson, Marquis Robinson, Tobechi Okoli, Landen King, Ian Matthews, Kamal Hadden, Joko Willis, A.D. Diamond, Ro Torrence and Colby Smith. Juwan Gaston signed, but ended up at Northeast Mississippi Community College, never making it to Auburn.

Six players – Brooks, Dawson, Okoli, King, Willis and Smith – all announced their intentions to transfer since the start of Hugh Freeze‘s first spring camp at the end of February.

Of the 16 departures, none were full-time starters. Most saw little playing time or seemed buried on the depth chart.

Who is left?

Jarquez Hunter, Garner Langlo and Cayden Bridges are the only prospects remaining from Auburn’s high school signing class that consisted of 19 players.

LSU transfer T.J. Finley and Vanderbilt transfer Donovan Kaufman are the only two remaining transfer portal players from the class. Georgia transfer Demetris Robertson was also part of the class, but played his one and only season in 2021.

Finley may transfer following his graduation in June. If so, Finley will depart with wins over only Mercer and San Jose State as a starting quarterback. And if Finley does transfer, that’ll be 18 of 22 signees gone within two years and after producing very little, if anything of substance.

Langlo and Bridges remain on the roster as the final day of the spring transfer portal wraps up.

In the end, the entire 2021 signing class might only produce three full-time starters in Robertson, Hunter and Kaufman, and only two full-time starters for more than one season in Hunter and Kaufman.

And even more shocking, the 2021 class could potentially result in only one full-time starter from the high school ranks – Hunter.

[toddc 13,197]

Cole might have living in the past with this quote. Times they are a changing!

Edited April 30, 2023 by toddc

[Gowebb11 9,945]

4 minutes ago, toddc said:

Cole might have living in the past with this quote. Times they are a changing!

I believe the jury is still out. 3 of the 4 playoff teams were portal light and the one that was portal heavy lost by 60. Until some of these heavy portal teams like USC and Mich St replace teams like Bama, Clemson, Ohio St, and UGA, going high school heavy still works best long term. 

[toddc 13,197]

9 minutes ago, Gowebb11 said:

I believe the jury is still out. 3 of the 4 playoff teams were portal light and the one that was portal heavy lost by 60. Until some of these heavy portal teams like USC and Mich St replace teams like Bama, Clemson, Ohio St, and UGA, going high school heavy still works best long term. 

But even those teams are having bigger turnover this year and it’s getting worse.

[Sizzle 3,948]

1 hour ago, toddc said:

Cole might have living in the past with this quote. Times they are a changing!

I think i agree with him. The teams that stay together for awhile will do better just like in college basketball. 

[AUINSY 2,273]

5 minutes ago, Sizzle said:

I think i agree with him. The teams that stay together for awhile will do better just like in college basketball. 

It makes sense. When they’ve been together/on the same team longer, they know one another’s tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses. They get more reps together, and have a more consistent game plan. They practice together more, they care about one another more, and aren’t playing mercenary ball, only looking out for themselves, but rather looking out for the good of the team and one another. 

[toddc 13,197]

I’m not disagreeing with his statement per say, but that is not what’s going to happen in the portal Wild West . I agree that a team staying together for 3-4 years is the ideal, but not realistic.

[cbo 8,832]

3 hours ago, ellitor said:

Only 5 signees from Auburn's 2021 class on campus two years later

Justin Hokanson•about 2 hours

(Photo by Matt Rudolph/Auburn Live)

AUBURN — There’s lost signing classes, and there’s however one would describe Auburn football‘s 2021 signing class. Only five of the 22 combined high school and transfer portal signees from the class are on campus just two years later.

The class represented Gus Malzahn‘s last class and technically, Bryan Harsin‘s first class.

From the class, the departed players are as follows: Dylan Brooks, Lee Hunter, Dematrius Davis, Ahmari Harvey, Hal Presley, Tar’Varish Dawson, Marquis Robinson, Tobechi Okoli, Landen King, Ian Matthews, Kamal Hadden, Joko Willis, A.D. Diamond, Ro Torrence and Colby Smith. Juwan Gaston signed, but ended up at Northeast Mississippi Community College, never making it to Auburn.

Six players – Brooks, Dawson, Okoli, King, Willis and Smith – all announced their intentions to transfer since the start of Hugh Freeze‘s first spring camp at the end of February.

Of the 16 departures, none were full-time starters. Most saw little playing time or seemed buried on the depth chart.

Who is left?

Jarquez Hunter, Garner Langlo and Cayden Bridges are the only prospects remaining from Auburn’s high school signing class that consisted of 19 players.

LSU transfer T.J. Finley and Vanderbilt transfer Donovan Kaufman are the only two remaining transfer portal players from the class. Georgia transfer Demetris Robertson was also part of the class, but played his one and only season in 2021.

Finley may transfer following his graduation in June. If so, Finley will depart with wins over only Mercer and San Jose State as a starting quarterback. And if Finley does transfer, that’ll be 18 of 22 signees gone within two years and after producing very little, if anything of substance.

Langlo and Bridges remain on the roster as the final day of the spring transfer portal wraps up.

In the end, the entire 2021 signing class might only produce three full-time starters in Robertson, Hunter and Kaufman, and only two full-time starters for more than one season in Hunter and Kaufman.

And even more shocking, the 2021 class could potentially result in only one full-time starter from the high school ranks – Hunter.

Justin is stealing his ideas from us. I'm joking (maybe). 

 

[AURex 2,262]

So, am I understanding this correctly? Harsin ran off the majority of those recruits. A few more are now departing because ??? CHF is not listing them in the 1-2 rotation ??? Did I understand that right?

I appreciate and applaud their contributions to AU and wish them well wherever they end up.