The last month hasn’t been kind to
Auburn football
recruiting.
The Tigers had four players decommit, and now have a 2026 class that currently holds just six players and ranks 89th in the country, according to 247Sports.
Despite the rough summer, head coach Hugh Freeze is still confident that the class can finish strong. According to Freeze,
the recent House settlement
and Auburn prioritizing its revenue sharing money toward maintaining the current roster has hurt the Tigers’ efforts on the recruiting trail.
“Retaining the roster does affect the way you approach recruiting and that’s new. That used to not be the case,” Freeze told reporters during Auburn’s AMBUSH coaches caravan in Alexander City. “You were gonna sign some kids and figure out the numbers on the back end, but you can’t do that when you have to be under the revenue sharing cap.”
While navigating the new-look financial aspect of recruiting has been an adjustment for Auburn since the settlement was approved, Freeze remained confident in his pitch and the relationships with recruits.
“We’re talking about a staff that’s put together two top 10 classes and here we are, we’re really not in that realm right now.” Freeze said. “Do I think we will be in December? I do. I believe that wholeheartedly. We had over 50 visits in June and I thought those families felt like ‘man this is a great place to be.’”
The early signing period is still six months away, meaning there’s still time — and a whole season — for Auburn to improve its class.
What happens on the field this fall could be another key factor in the recruiting turning around, especially if Auburn can win and compete in the Southeastern Conference, something it hasn’t done the past five seasons.
Another factor will likely be who Auburn expects to have return in 2026, something that obviously isn’t clear in July, but will be clearer in November and December.
“It’s hard to feel great when you’re not one of the top-ranked recruiting classes,” Freeze said. “But I’m confident in our administration and the way they lead and trust them immensely that we’re doing things the right way. At the end of the day, that’s really what we have to do.
“In my opinion we can’t put ourselves in jeopardy. We’ve got great interpretations from our administration and our legal team on what the settlement really means and how we should operate. That’s what we’re doing. If others are operating in a manner not with that, I’m hopeful they’ll be called out on that at some point.”
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for
AL.com
. You can follow him on X at
@peter_rauterkus
or email him at
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