New Auburn DB Receives High Praise From Former Texas A&M Teammate

The Auburn Tigers have experienced a productive offseason following the conclusion of the 2024 campaign, acquiring a plethora of elite talents from the transfer portal to fill remaining holes in various positions.

Former Texas A&M safety Jacoby Mathews signed with Auburn over the summer on July 1, marking Hugh Freeze and company’s most recent addition of the 2025 portal season and bringing a great deal of SEC experience to the Tigers’ relatively young defensive backfield.

Mathews spent two years with the Aggies, appearing in 11 games with nine starts in 2023 and playing in 10 games as a freshman in 2022. He recorded 67 tackles, seven pass breakups and one interception over his two seasons in College Station.

Current Texas A&M junior linebacker Taurean York spoke on his relationship with Mathews as a former teammate at SEC Media Days last month, describing the mentor role Mathews played in York’s acclimation to college during his freshman season.

“[Jacoby] is a great guy,” York said to the media in July. “He kind of took me in as I was a freshman and, of course, I was playing, so I was kind of hanging with the older guys. A lot of those guys in the 2022 class kind of took care of me – they showed me the way through [Texas] A&M.”

York, despite being a former three-star in the 2023 cycle, played significant minutes and started all 13 games for the Aggies in his inaugural season at Texas A&M. As he alluded to, Mathews seems to have had a significant impact on York’s maturation.

“As far as him being back at Auburn, man, I’m excited for him,” York continued. “He went through a lot, it’s been a long time that he’s been away from football, and we’re excited to see him back out there. He’s coming [back] to Kyle Field, so I know he’ll be amped up for that.”

Mathews was ranked as the nation’s No. 2 safety and No. 32 overall player out of high school, according to On3, and stood as the eighth-highest rated signee of Texas A&M’s top-ranked 2022 class.

However, despite being one of the country’s most coveted five-star recruits, the Louisiana native didn’t exactly live up to fans’ high expectations of him in 2022 and 2023, prompting him to step away from football in 2024 to attend a junior college and solely focus on academics.

Now, a hungry Mathews joins an Auburn squad that is thirsting for success – a match that could potentially be extremely beneficial for both parties. And Mathews isn’t too unfamiliar with a new defensive scheme, as he played under Auburn defensive coordinator DJ Durkin at Texas A&M before the Tigers hired him two years ago.

York displayed empathy towards Mathews and his rare situation, and although they will be standing on opposite sidelines, he expresses excitement to see his former teammate and mentor back on the field competing once again.

“So, all in all, I’m proud of him, I really am because I understand and I know what he went through and I know that he missed a lot of time from football,” York said. “Just to see him back out there in that uniform, for one thing is going to be cool, but to see him out there playing is going to be even better.”

Mathews unites with a multitude of incoming transfer defensive backs, including Raion Strader from Miami (OH), Rayshawn Pleasant from Tulane and former Georgia Tech safety Taye Seymore. Auburn already boasts an extremely talented secondary in addition to the Tigers’ portal pickups, like sophomore safety Kaleb Harris backing up elite cornerbacks Jay Crawford and Kayin Lee.

Harris is expected to start at one of the safety positions, but the other remains up for grabs. The official depth chart hasn’t been released just yet, but Mathews will likely have to compete with Sylvester Smith, Jahquez Robinson, and true freshmen AnQuon Fegans and Eric Winters for the starting job.

Nonetheless, Mathews is an important addition for the Tigers, bringing high-level SEC experience and essential depth to Auburn’s safety room. 

He will make his return to College Station when the Tigers travel to Texas A&M on Sept. 27 for their second consecutive road conference game.

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