5.23.23 Football Articles

[aubiefifty 18,259]

si.com

 

2025 offensive lineman puts Auburn in the 'mix of top three'

Zac Blackerby

~3 minutes

---

Central Phenix City offensive lineman Mal Waldrep likes what Jake Thornton and the Auburn Tigers are selling.

Auburn needs offensive linemen and they need to start winning recruiting battles in East Alabama at a higher rate.

Central Phenix City's Mal Waldrep could help with both of those things. The 2025 offensive lineman visited Auburn last week with teammates wide receiver Cam Coleman and defensive back Red Morgan.

"It was a really good time," Waldrep told Auburn Daily. "I enjoyed going over there with my teammates and hanging out and talking with all the coaches. All of the coaches that were there made us feel very good and like we were a priority to them."

The coach that he spent the most time with was offensive line coach Jake Thornton. He believes they are starting to build something.

The 6-foot-5, 290-pound recruit shared, "Coach Thornton and I are starting to build a relationship with each other and I enjoy getting to talk to him and learn how he coaches and what he does." 

And Thornton has made it clear to Waldrep that he wants him at Auburn.

"One of the things he tells me every time I get off the phone with him he reminds me that he is coming for me and he really wants me at Auburn and it's a great feeling knowing that the school just down the road is really interested in me," Waldrep said.

"Definitely in a mix of top three," Waldrep told Auburn Daily. "I'm still completely open but just know Auburn is high on the list." 

Waldrep is starting to generate more buzz from schools all over the country. The 3-star lineman (as ranked by On3) will get more attention as more schools turn their heads to the 2025 recruiting cycle. He's recently picked up offers from Colorado, Penn State, and Florida State.

Playing at Central, Waldrep understands that he gets to go up against the best every day and he knows it will make him better.

"I love the energy my teammates put into practice, workouts, and in team meetings," Waldrep said. "I’m really enjoying Central so far and everyone here makes me feel like family. Practices are fun with amazing competition levels and I really enjoy working against our defense because they make me better every single day.

"I believe we can (win state), we are loaded with lots of talent at just about every position, it’s just up to how hard everyone wants to work."

---

[aubiefifty 18,259]

auburnwire.usatoday.com

 

Auburn's schedule is, like usual, listed as one of the hardest in the country

Daniel Locke

2–3 minutes

---

Having a tough schedule is nothing new for the Auburn Tigers. With the annual match-ups against the top-two programs in college football in Alabama and Georgia and the consistently competitive LSU, the Tigers play a grueling schedule annually.

That remains true in 2023 as 247Sports ranked Auburn’s schedule as the seventh toughest in the country. Brad Crawford gave his input:

Buy Tigers Tickets

“Welcome (back) to the SEC, Hugh Freeze. Auburn has a strong chance to be 3-0 when SEC play begins in College Station, but there’s the double-whammy of Georgia and LSU after that. That could be a quick three-game losing streak for the Tigers against a trio of opponents who are each expected to field more talented rosters in 2023. How quickly can Freeze implement his offense on the Plains and does he have the quarterback to facilitate with precision? Those are questions Auburn is trying to answer.”

The teams with schedules listed as tougher than Auburn’s include Michigan State, Florida, West Virginia, Minnesota, South Carolina, and Ole Miss from sixth to first.

An odd year benefits Auburn as Alabama and Georgia will travel to the Plains for contests inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers will also be looking for their second straight win over LSU in Baton Rouge after being victorious in Death Valley for the first time in 22 years back in 2021.

Other notable match-ups for Auburn this season include an intriguing road trip to Cal, Hugh Freeze’s first game against Ole Miss since returning to the SEC, and a trip to Nashville as the Tigers drew Vanderbilt as their rotational SEC East opponent this season.

Auburn will begin the new era against UMass on September 2nd. The Kick-off time and broadcast network are still TBD.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Daniel on Twitter @DanielJLocke

[aubiefifty 18,259]

Ranking the impact of Auburn football's newest three transfers

Zac Blackerby

3–4 minutes

---

Auburn football added three talented players over the weekend via the transfer portal.

The Auburn football roster got a little bit deeper over the weekend. Hugh Freeze and the rest of the Auburn coaching staff landed former wide receiver Shane Hooks, former NMSU corner Syrus Dumas, and former Liberty EDGE Stephen Sings over the weekend.

These three transfers give Freeze 21 new additions via the portal since he arrives on the Plains. Auburn holds the number two transfer class in college football.

All three additions serve different purposes and all three make the roster better in different ways. I thought it would be a fun way to rank the impact that I believe these three newcomers will have as a way to recap the weekend.

3. Syrus Dumas

Dumas offers depth at a position group that Auburn boasts the most talent at but could lack depth if a player were unable to compete on any given Saturday. D.J. James, Nehemiah Pritchett, J.D. Rhym, and Kieonte Scott are all fan favorites and are capable of playing at a high level on the outside of the field.

Both Rhym and Scott played some in the middle of the field a season ago and Rhym missed a ton of spring due to an injury. While it's easy to feel really good about your top guys, Dumas adds depth this season and could be a larger contributor next season as well.

Last season, Dumas sported a 73.8 coverage grade according to PFF. He also played over 600 snaps at wide corner at New Mexico State in 2022.

2. Stephen Sings

Like Dumas, Sings is a known commodity, especially to former Librety and current Auburn defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett. Sings was part of a Liberty pass rush that was one of the best in college football last season.

While he could be down the depth chart a bit at the jack position, he offers depth and experience in a room that badly needed it. Elijah McAllister, Keldric Faulk, and Jaden McLeod will more than likely play more snaps than Sings this season, Auburn saw what running out of pass rushers looked like a year ago when multiple got hurt at the position.

1. Shane Hooks

The former Jackson State wide receiver chose Hugh Freeze to coach him for the final year of his college career. His 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame is special and he's shown the ability to win contested passes and use his height to win matchups throughout his time at Ohio and Jackson State.

With the wide receiver room being the one with the most questions, the addition of Hooks seems like a home run for Freeze and the rest of this offensive coaching staff.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

247sports.com

 

Why Auburns 2023 transfer haul is one of college footballs best

Nathan King

11–14 minutes

---

• 

• 

Why Auburn's 2023 transfer haul is one of college football's best

No one has added more 4-star transfers to its roster this offseason than Auburn

There’s a strong argument to be made that no one has worked the transfer portal better this offseason than Hugh Freeze.

Auburn’s 2023 transfer haul is nearly complete, as the Tigers reached the mark of 20 additions Sunday, when Jackson State leading receiver Shane Hooks committed. Auburn has been a mainstay in the top 5 of 247Sports’ transfer rankings throughout the cycle, and with Hooks on board, the Tigers jumped to No. 2 nationally — behind only Colorado, which has brought in 48 transfers, 19 more than any other FBS program.

Here’s a quick look at the top 10.

1. Colorado (48 transfers)

2. Auburn (20)

3. USC (15)

4. LSU (14)

5. Florida State (10)

6. Ole Miss (21)

7. Oklahoma (15)

8. Miami (13)

9. Oregon (15)

10. Arkansas (18)

Just like high-school recruiting, 247Sports calculates classes through a combined formula of quantity and quality. It’s difficult to ascend to the top of the rankings with only a few transfer additions — Georgia, for example, has four incoming transfers, with an average rating of 91, tied for the second-best mark in the country, but its class is only ranked No. 57.

Most, but not all players are given transfer ratings by 247Sports after they enter the portal — though it’s much more of an inexact science than rating a high-school recruit, considering the varying levels of competition and playing time for a current college football player. New Colorado defensive back Travis Hunter, who followed Deion Sanders from Jackson State, is the only 5-star transfer this cycle, while there were five last year (Caleb Williams, Quinn Ewers, Jordan Addison, Jahmyr Gibbs and Eli Ricks). It's worth noting that not all of Auburn's transfer pickups have been ranked yet, namely App State pass-rusher Jalen McLeod.

The metric that’s easiest to point to when assessing the quality of Freeze’s efforts is that Auburn has brought in more 4-star transfers (11) than any other program in the country. No other team has more than nine.

Those 11 players are center Avery Jones (East Carolina), offensive tackle Dillon Wade (Tulsa), nose tackle Justin Rogers (Kentucky), running back Brian Battie (USF), offensive tackle Gunner Britton (Western Kentucky), tight end Rivaldo Fairweather (FIU), linebacker DeMario Tolan (LSU), defensive lineman Mosiah Nasili-Kite (Maryland), Hooks (Jackson State), receiver Caleb Burton (Ohio State) and receiver Jyaire Shorter. The quality of available talent in the transfer ranks was assessed as being much in the first portal window as compared to the second, and that’s reflected in Auburn’s 4-stars, only three of which were brought in after the conclusion of spring practice.

Unsurprisingly, the portal’s top talent is clumped at the top of the team rankings, with Auburn, USC, LSU, Florida State and Ole Miss combining for a whopping 22.4 percent of all 4-star transfer additions this cycle.

Of course, programs like Auburn and Colorado were in need of major touch-ups on their rosters — as is usually the case under first-year coaches — compared to more established teams that are also buoyed by consistent recruiting success. Of the seven programs bringing in at least 20 transfers, four are entering Year 1 under a new coach (Colorado, Auburn, Louisville and Arizona State).

Freeze won’t want to rely on the transfer portal for massive roster overhauls every year, though, as the formula of high-level recruiting mixed with the occasional patchwork in the portal is followed by most championship-contending programs. But Auburn is off to a decent start there, even with only Freeze’s first recruiting class. Auburn is one of only seven teams with a top-20 ranking for both their 2023 transfer hauls and recruiting classes (LSU, Miami, USC, Oregon, Florida, Florida State and TCU).

Again, much of those high marks for Auburn’s transfers come from the fact that the Tigers have plenty of quality pickups in a 20-man class. For comparison, Auburn didn’t add a single 4-star transfer to its roster during the Bryan Harsin era.

Among teams with double-digit incoming transfers this year, Auburn’s average rating of 89.61 is No. 6 nationally, behind Florida State, LSU, USC, Kentucky and Miami. In terms of average rating vs. quantity of players added, teams like Florida State, LSU and USC — which already had strong roster outlooks for 2023 before the offseason began — appear to be best positioned to parlay their portal success into championships.

Sleepers this cycle could be programs like Kentucky and Maryland, which added six and five 4-star transfers, respectively. Oregon also has the No. 9 transfer class for a team that won 10 games last year, while Florida will hope its six 4-star transfers help to turn around a 6-7 season for Billy Napier in Year 1.

Here are the top 10 transfer classes this year based on average rating alone, including only those with a sizable number of additions. We’ll go with a minimum of eight players here to include programs like Michigan (90.71 average) and Maryland (89.11).

1. Florida State (91.70)

2. LSU (90.54)

3. Michigan (90.71)

4. USC (90.0)

5. Kentucky (90.0)

6. Miami (89.92)

7. Auburn (89.61)

8. Oregon (89.36)

9. Maryland (89.11)

10. Ohio State (89.43)

[aubiefifty 18,259]

saturdaydownsouth.com

 

Syrus Dumas, New Mexico State CB transfer, announces SEC commitment

Keith Farner

2–3 minutes

---

Syrus Dumas, a cornerback New Mexico State, has committed to play in the SEC.

Dumas made a pledge to Auburn, On3 Sports reported, after he previously committed to UTSA, and has 2 years of eligibility. He spent the past 2 seasons at New Mexico State where he played in 20 games total, made 83 tackles, including 61 solos and 8 tackles for loss. He also had 4 interceptions and 15 pass breakups.

Dumas is from Columbus, Mississippi and previously played at Independence Community College in Kansas. Dumas last season played in all 13 games for the Aggies, and started 12. He ranked fourth on the team and led returners with 47 total tackles, including 38 solo stops. He was tied for the team lead with 2 interceptions, coming on the road against Wisconsin and UMass.

In 2021, Dumas had a season-high 8 tackles at Alabama, and also broke up 3 passes in a trip to Kentucky.

Dumas also picked up honors as a Phil Steele second-team All-Independent and College Football Network first-team All-Independent selection.

TRENDING

58,148 READS

51,772 READS

23,016 READS

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South. Follow on Twitter.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

whnt.com

 

Auburn adds two transfers Sunday; Now hold #2 transfer class

Josiah Elmore

~2 minutes

---

AUBURN, Ala. (WHNT) – Hugh Freeze has yet to coach an official game at Auburn but that doesn’t mean the Tigers first-year head coach hasn’t been busy.

Since being hired, Freeze has added 21 transfer portal players and signed a 21-player class from high school. As things currently stand, Auburn football will have nearly 45 new players for the 2023 season.

The latest transfer commits came Sunday from a former Jackson State wide receiver and New Mexico State defensive back.

Shane Hooks, a 6’5 200 pound wide receiver announced Sunday that he would be spending his final year of college football on the Plains.

Hooks reeled in 64 catches for 748 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022. He led Jackson State last season in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns. Over his career, which began at Ohio University, Hooks has 114 receptions for 1,582 yards and 18 touchdowns.

He is the fourth transfer wide receiver that has committed to the Tigers this offseason joining Jyaire Shorter, Caleb Burton and Nick Mardner.

The second transfer to commit to the Tigers Sunday was former New Mexico State defensive back, Syrus Dumas.

Dumas spent two seasons at New Mexico State after transferring from Independence Community College. Dumas has totaled 89 tackles, 4 interceptions and 15 pass deflections over his career. He was named First-Team All-Independent in 2022.

With the latest additions, the class ranks as the second-best transfer recruiting class in college football, trailing just Colorado.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

Apologies for no articles yesterday as i felt turrible...................

[KansasTiger 3,261]

4 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Apologies for no articles yesterday as i felt turrible...................

You made your own thread 'hot' 🌶🌡 by yourself with just posting Auburn content. That's remarkable! Hope you feel better!

[toddc 13,197]

6 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Ranking the impact of Auburn football's newest three transfers

Zac Blackerby

3–4 minutes

---

Auburn football added three talented players over the weekend via the transfer portal.

The Auburn football roster got a little bit deeper over the weekend. Hugh Freeze and the rest of the Auburn coaching staff landed former wide receiver Shane Hooks, former NMSU corner Syrus Dumas, and former Liberty EDGE Stephen Sings over the weekend.

These three transfers give Freeze 21 new additions via the portal since he arrives on the Plains. Auburn holds the number two transfer class in college football.

All three additions serve different purposes and all three make the roster better in different ways. I thought it would be a fun way to rank the impact that I believe these three newcomers will have as a way to recap the weekend.

3. Syrus Dumas

Dumas offers depth at a position group that Auburn boasts the most talent at but could lack depth if a player were unable to compete on any given Saturday. D.J. James, Nehemiah Pritchett, J.D. Rhym, and Kieonte Scott are all fan favorites and are capable of playing at a high level on the outside of the field.

Both Rhym and Scott played some in the middle of the field a season ago and Rhym missed a ton of spring due to an injury. While it's easy to feel really good about your top guys, Dumas adds depth this season and could be a larger contributor next season as well.

Last season, Dumas sported a 73.8 coverage grade according to PFF. He also played over 600 snaps at wide corner at New Mexico State in 2022.

2. Stephen Sings

Like Dumas, Sings is a known commodity, especially to former Librety and current Auburn defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett. Sings was part of a Liberty pass rush that was one of the best in college football last season.

While he could be down the depth chart a bit at the jack position, he offers depth and experience in a room that badly needed it. Elijah McAllister, Keldric Faulk, and Jaden McLeod will more than likely play more snaps than Sings this season, Auburn saw what running out of pass rushers looked like a year ago when multiple got hurt at the position.

1. Shane Hooks

The former Jackson State wide receiver chose Hugh Freeze to coach him for the final year of his college career. His 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame is special and he's shown the ability to win contested passes and use his height to win matchups throughout his time at Ohio and Jackson State.

With the wide receiver room being the one with the most questions, the addition of Hooks seems like a home run for Freeze and the rest of this offensive coaching staff.

Doesn’t look like Dumas will have an impact.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

4 hours ago, toddc said:

Doesn’t look like Dumas will have an impact.

i am sure he is a certain piece of the puzzle freeze needs. shrugs

[toddc 13,197]

4 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

i am sure he is a certain piece of the puzzle freeze needs. shrugs

Didn’t take his commitment because we are at the 85 limit. Things may change though.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

1 minute ago, toddc said:

Didn’t take his commitment because we are at the 85 limit. Things may change though.

thanx. i have been under the weather a bit.i missed this.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

Former Auburn quarterback headed to ACC school

Published: May. 22, 2023, 3:46 p.m.

2–3 minutes

Former Auburn quarterback Joey Gatewood, shown here in 2019, has transferred to Louisville. He has also played at Kentucky and Central Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)Getty Images

By

Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com

Former Auburn quarterback Joey Gatewood is on the move again, this time to the ACC.

Gatewood, who played for the Tigers in 2018-19, has committed to Louisville. He also played one season at Kentucky (2020) and two (2021-22) at Central Florida.

Gatewood is expected to play tight end at Louisville, according to multiple reports. Including the extra year granted due to COVID, he has one season of eligibility remaining.

The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Gatewood was a four-star recruit in Auburn’s 2018 signing class, drawing comparisons to Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton. The Jacksonville, Fla., native played in one game while redshirting as a true freshman, appearing late in Auburn’s rout of Purdue in the Music City Bowl.

Gatewood lost out to freshman Bo Nix for Auburn’s starting quarterback job in 2019, but appeared in seven of the Tigers’ first eight games in a relief role. He left the team in late October, and eventually transferred to Kentucky.

Gatewood played in six games at Kentucky in 2020 as the backup to Terry Wilson. He lost out to Penn State transfer Will Levis for the starting job in the spring of 2021, and eventually transferred to UCF.

Reunited with former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn in Orlando, Gatewood played in 10 games as a backup quarterback for the Knights in 2021. He did not appear in a game last season after converting to wide receiver.

In 24 career games at three schools, Gatewood has rushed for 380 yards and four touchdowns. He has completed 24 of 51 passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns with one interception.

 

looks like yall were right. he is going to louisville to be a tightend...........

[toddc 13,197]

3 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

Gatewood is expected to play tight end at Louisville,

Exactly where a bunch of us said he should play to start with! Finally came to fruition and it may be too late.