2025 Recruiting Thread

[DAG 34,724]

I don’t know who posted the graphic but it was regarding are good we have been doing in scooping Alabama talent. I’ve been begging for this forever. I get with Saban coaching ,we may not get the top Alabama prospect but there is no reason why we could not own most of the state with Alabama focusing more nationally. We should always own the state in that regard .

[TitanTiger 21,219]

We currently have commits from 7 of the top 10 players in Alabama (according to the 247 rankings), and expect to pick up an 8th this weekend.  The other two are committed to Ohio State right now, but are rumored to be considering flips to us as well.  And three of the big commits we have for 2026 are top ten players in the state.

Think about that for a second.  Granted things can change, but Bama is looking at being shut out of the top ten in their own backyard for this year and is running behind already for next year.  When is the last time that happened?

[Viper 3,491]

24 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

We currently have commits from 7 of the top 10 players in Alabama (according to the 247 rankings), and expect to pick up an 8th this weekend.  The other two are committed to Ohio State right now, but are rumored to be considering flips to us as well.  And three of the big commits we have for 2026 are top ten players in the state.

Think about that for a second.  Granted things can change, but Bama is looking at being shut out of the top ten in their own backyard for this year and is running behind already for next year.  When is the last time that happened?

Half past never. Unheard of. Truly unprecedented. 

Not under Dubose. Not under Fran. Not under Mike Shula. Has never happened. 

[GreenTiger 1,056]

Recruiting is going great!!! Now it’s up to the staff to get wins on the field. And it needs to happen this year IMO. Obviously Saban was able maintain his recruiting success because he won and kept winning

[subterranean_jack 113]

 

[HAPvsOA 418]

15 hours ago, DAG said:

All very good momentum. We must get a QB now. Y’all got my hopes up for JuJu.

Agreed. ON3's algorithm seems to think KJ is trending to Bama (although they already have a higher rated signal caller) with us not necessarily pushing super hard. So if JuJu is off the table, it seems like we may have 1 target left in this class.  

[lutzcammed 471]

2 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

We currently have commits from 7 of the top 10 players in Alabama (according to the 247 rankings), and expect to pick up an 8th this weekend.  

Jared smith???

[augolf1716 21,962]

19 minutes ago, lutzcammed said:

Jared smith???

Yes..........Tesla Jared 

[Viper 3,491]

1 hour ago, augolf1716 said:

Yes..........Tesla Jared 

Auburn 8

Ohio St 2

bammer 0

[Viper 3,491]

8 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

We currently have commits from 7 of the top 10 players in Alabama (according to the 247 rankings), and expect to pick up an 8th this weekend.  The other two are committed to Ohio State right now, but are rumored to be considering flips to us as well.  And three of the big commits we have for 2026 are top ten players in the state.

Think about that for a second.  Granted things can change, but Bama is looking at being shut out of the top ten in their own backyard for this year and is running behind already for next year.  When is the last time that happened?

What are the bammers saying about this dramatic swing of change on their forums? I can imagine the outrage. 

[Auburn93 770]

8 hours ago, GreenTiger said:

Recruiting is going great!!! Now it’s up to the staff to get wins on the field. And it needs to happen this year IMO. Obviously Saban was able maintain his recruiting success because he won and kept winning

He was able to maintain recruiting success because of paying guys under the table. Mike Dubose was terrible and had the number one recruiting class. 

[GreenTiger 1,056]

2 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

He was able to maintain recruiting success because of paying guys under the table. Mike Dubose was terrible and had the number one recruiting class. 

Was he also paying score keeper for championship wins and nfl teams for draft picks? Elite players don’t like to be a part of a loosing team which starts and stops with coaching 

[TitanTiger 21,219]

1 hour ago, Viper said:

What are the bammers saying about this dramatic swing of change on their forums? I can imagine the outrage. 

Lots of cope, insinuations of cheating and such  

A few express some worry about allowing Auburn to make such deep inroads into the state’s HS programs that Saban owned.

Most say “we’re recruiting the best nationwide, not just the best in Alabama.”  Or they write it off as something that will fade when we look mediocre again.

They’re nervous. 

[AUwent 3,828]

Just for reference here is a list of how many of the top five, ten, and 15 prospects in AL (and GA for good measure) we’ve signed since 2001 (247 Composite—note that pre-2006 is difficult because they tied rankings past a certain point back then).

[DAG 34,724]

Win the state first. Finally a sound recruiting plan. We don’t always have to go get skilled people from the likes of Texas , Florida. Alabama has quite a bit of underrated talent. 

[AUY2K 277]

To me if we load our classes with our state high school players Auburn will have the upper hand emotionally/heart - vested interest for our players beating the turds!  On the other side uat players who are all out of state just view it as another game with no interest or heart in the rivalry.  
 

Just think about the intensity of practice that week of the game.

Auburn prep and focus - majority of players from our state vs uat prep and focus with players from cal, wash, mich, ten, tx,etc.

Edited July 31 by AUY2K

[ScotsAU 1,387]

1 hour ago, AUY2K said:

To me if we load our classes with our state high school players Auburn will have the upper hand emotionally/heart - vested interest for our players beating the turds!  On the other side uat players who are all out of state just view it as another game with no interest or heart in the rivalry.  
 

Just think about the intensity of practice that week of the game.

Auburn prep and focus - majority of players from our state vs uat prep and focus with players from cal, wash, mich, ten, tx,etc.

UAT is filling their team with folks that don’t understand the rivalry. Good luck amping up folks from California for the iron bowl. 

[Quietmaninthecorner 2,029]

5 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

UAT is filling their team with folks that don’t understand the rivalry. Good luck amping up folks from California for the iron bowl. 

I came to Auburn from out of state.   It does not take long to understand the rivalry.   

[EastLakeTiger 57]

52 minutes ago, ScotsAU said:

UAT is filling their team with folks that don’t understand the rivalry. Good luck amping up folks from California for the iron bowl. 

This logic is kinda silly.  Good players trump random players from in state.  They've destroyed us since 2009 with plenty of non-Alabama players.  3 of the last 4 QBs that have beat bama were from Georgia and Texas.

I think there might be something there about keeping a roster together through the portal when kids are home-state, but that is really it.

[Viper 3,491]

1 hour ago, AUY2K said:

To me if we load our classes with our state high school players Auburn will have the upper hand emotionally/heart - vested interest for our players beating the turds!  On the other side uat players who are all out of state just view it as another game with no interest or heart in the rivalry.  

Just think about the intensity of practice that week of the game.

Auburn prep and focus - majority of players from our state vs uat prep and focus with players from cal, wash, mich, ten, tx,etc.

All true, but most importantly, it’s relationships with programs and their high school coaches, hence pipelines that are established by staying in-state.

Sure, the one-offs from CA (Young) and Hawaii (Tag) are awesome, but are you guaranteed future talent from those programs like you are in your own state?

Bottom line…dink had strangleholds on in-state programs by building relationships for 17 years. His replacement comes in with zero in-state relationships. JUST like Harsin, which I expressed numerous times as a huge concern.

We all now see how valuable in-state relationships are. Our staff has taken full advantage of it.

Auburn 8 (after this Saturday)

Ohio St 2

bammer 0

[ScotsAU 1,387]

7 minutes ago, EastLakeTiger said:

This logic is kinda silly.  Good players trump random players from in state.  They've destroyed us since 2009 with plenty of non-Alabama players.  3 of the last 4 QBs that have beat bama were from Georgia and Texas.

I think there might be something there about keeping a roster together through the portal when kids are home-state, but that is really it.

Sorry. Jokes don’t come through well in text. I was being silly.

[Viper 3,491]

17 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Lots of cope, insinuations of cheating and such

[TitanTiger 21,219]

2 minutes ago, Viper said:

Who wants to break it to them that everyone can pay players now, not just them?

[EastLakeTiger 57]

59 minutes ago, Viper said:

All true, but most importantly, it’s relationships with programs and their high school coaches, hence pipelines that are established by staying in-state.

Sure, the one-offs from CA (Young) and Hawaii (Tag) are awesome, but are you guaranteed future talent from those programs like you are in your own state?

Bottom line…dink had strangleholds on in-state programs by building relationships for 17 years. His replacement comes in with zero in-state relationships. JUST like Harsin, which I expressed numerous times as a huge concern.

We all now see how valuable in-state relationships are. Our staff has taken full advantage of it.

Auburn 8 (after this Saturday)

Ohio St 2

bammer 0

Partially agree.

In State relationships are good.  It'll always be your easiest source of direct talent.  But it's much more important to Auburn than it is to Alabama.

Harsin was a garbage person and coach, we see how awful his classes were.  he couldn't recruit out of state, let alone in-state.  Alabama has always been able to recruit nationally as their brand is national.  While they've done well in state historically, under Saban they were able to do much more than "one offs"

2024 - 3 top 5 from OOS.  2 5 * and 5 in top top 100
2023 - 4/5 top 5 OOS.  Top player OO.  3 5* kids OOS.  8 top 100 OOS kids
2022 - 5/5 top 5 OOS.  3 5* kids from OOS.  11 top 100 OOS kids 
2021 - 4/5 top 5 OOS.  4 5* kids from OOS.  11 top 100 OOS kdis

This is much more than "One off" elite recruits nationally.  I don't think this is something auburn could ever do.

2025 - 5 5* kids from OOS.  8 top 100 OOS kids.  It's not wildly different tbqh when you start looking at the class composition.

[Viper 3,491]

29 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

Who wants to break it to them that everyone can pay players now, not just them?