Although the Auburn Tigers struggled in the final two years under head coach Gene Chizik, they were still a force on the recruiting trail. Now that the Tigers posted a 12-2 record last season, including a victory over the rival Alabama Crimson Tide, an SEC Championship and a narrow, last-second 34-31 loss to the Florida State Seminoles in the BCS National Championship Game, they should see their recruiting hit new heights.
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On Saturday, the Tigers landed their 19th commitment in the class of 2014 when 4-Star outside linebacker Richard McBryde gave his pledge to the Tigers.
“I was going to do it next week in front of TV, but I decided to get it out of the way,” McBryde said via Drew Champlin of AL.com. “I called coach Gus (Malzahn) yesterday and told him I would be committing tomorrow.”
McBryde has visited the Tigers three times since April.
“Every time I go to Auburn, they show me love,” McBryde said. “I hang out with Gus Malzahn a lot. From my standpoint, when a head coach recruits you hard and you hang out with him all the time, he really wants you, so I decided to get it out of the way and focus on my senior season.”
The 6’2, 210-pounder is from Troy, Alabama and attends Charles Henderson School. He is ranked as the country’s 18th-best outside linebacker, the seventh-best overall prospect from the state of Alabama and the 258th-best overall prospect in the class of 2015 according to 24/7 Sports’ composite rankings.
McBryde also holds offers from the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida Gators and Southern Cal Trojans, among others.