ESPN Heaps Praise on Auburn Tigers Newcomers

For the last half-decade or so, praise has evaded the Auburn football program, and with good reason.In all honesty, the program's repeated failures has taken its toll on the Auburn Family as well. 

However, thanks to some recruiting sorcery, the Tigers sit in a far better position than they have in years. Whether those gambles pay off or not, Hugh Freeze put his best foot forward off the field. 

Auburn fans, by nature, are resilient due to circumstance. They contend with Alabama and Georgia teams that seemingly always win. However, within those doubts resides a reservoir of belief. The same belief that gets them to Jordan Hare or in front of a television during the fall. 

It is with that same passionate, almost maniacal belief that the Tigers will turn things around. Well, according to ESPN, the Tigers assembled the third-best incoming class in FBS. 

ESPN’s Craig Haubert and Billy Tucker list CB Blake Woodby, DT Jourdin Crawford, DT Malik Autry, S Anquon Fegans, WR Sam Turner as the top impact recruits for 2025.  

“Although secondary wasn't an urgent need, it might be tough to keep both Woodby, a five-star prospect, and Fegans, a top-5 safety prospect, off the field -- especially after some post-spring departures,” wrote ESPN. “Woodby is a supremely confident corner with excellent speed, while Fegans brings versatility and is already battling for a starting spot.”

ESPN sees some of the big men in the trenches seeing early snaps next season as well.

“Teams can never have enough defensive linemen, and Auburn signed several impactful big men, including Crawford and Autry,” wrote ESPN. “Both are 300-pounders with the tools to contribute on the interior this season.”

Head coach Hugh Freeze is in win-now mode, and it caused him to hit the transfer portal hard including quarterback Jackson Arnold. ESPN lists a host of transfers as players who will make an impact in the fall including Arnold and WR Eric Singleton Jr., CB Raion Strader, OT Xavier Chaplin, OT Mason Murphy, LB Caleb Wheatland, DT Dallas Walker IV, DE Chris Murray. 

“Both Auburn and Arnold needed a fresh start in 2025. A five-star in 2023, the dual-threat Oklahoma transfer has the physical tools to become one of the most impactful transfers of the 2025 cycle,” wrote ESPN.

“Singleton, a Georgia Tech transfer, will provide experience and leadership after logging 100 catches over the past two seasons. His speed and production can help solidify a wide receiver group that was a liability not too long ago. On the offensive line, Chaplin and Murphy are in the mix for starting jobs at tackle.”

Freeze hopes he assembled the best team he could in the offseason. Auburn, as a program, is too widely known to function under the radar. In fact, they will need to carry out their plan on the sport's biggest stage, the SEC. 

In taking a wide-net approach, the Tigers addressed just about every area of need. More importantly, they also signed depth. Not just depth, but talent that could start elsewhere. As a result, from a distance, the team could possibly withstand the attrition that comes with the injuries associated with high-level college football. 

Suffice to say that more than a dozen of the incoming players will play a role this season. Without hyperbole, this shakes out to become one of the better teams, from a talent perspective, in almost a decade. To his credit, Freeze accomplished part of his goal, which is landing talent. 

Now, the rest of the way requires not only a great coaching effort but also the athletes executing. You can find players, but if they cannot thrive within your scheme, you'd have a better chance of counting the grains of sand in the Sahara than actually winning games. 

The time is now for Freeze and his Auburn Tigers.