Which five top high school prospects could sign with Auburn football?
Auburn football needs to get to work to in putting its 2021 recruiting class together.
The Auburn Tigers only have the No. 32 recruiting class in the country in the 2021 cycle. According to the 247Sports Composite, Auburn has 10 commits and only five of them are four-stars. They are also No. 9 in the SEC. Auburn typically hovers are the top-10 nationally every year. While that may be a tad out of reach in this cycle, Auburn needs to make up some ground fast.
The good news is there are plenty of players out there who would love to play for Auburn and head coach Gus Malzahn. Auburn regularly contends for SEC Championships. Though they haven’t made the College Football Playoff in any of the last six years, seven seasons ago, the Tigers played for the final BCS National Championship, coming up one play short vs. the Florida State Seminoles.
Auburn isn’t alone in getting off to a slow start when it comes to recruiting in the SEC. It’s no like the cross-divisional rival Georgia Bulldogs have been killing it on the recruiting trails either. While Auburn usually finds itself in the top-10, Georgia has become a mainstay in the top-five. Fortunately, there is a lot of time between now and Early Signing Day in December.
There are plenty of excellent players from Alabama in-state, as well as other neighboring states for Auburn to recruit and sign top-tier talent. Auburn is one of the few places in the country you play college football at and are essentially guaranteed to play in conference championships and high-profile bowl games before your eligibility is completely exhausted.
Here are five players who could sign on to play for Auburn football.
Five-star linebacker Smael Mondon is one of the top recruits who remains uncommitted this “late” into the recruiting cycle. The Dallas, Georgia native is the No. 2 outside linebacker, the No. 3 player from Georgia and the No. 25 player in the 2021 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Mondon has 37 official offers, but is expected to play at one of these five SEC schools.
Vying for Mondon’s commitment along with Auburn are the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Florida Gators, the Georgia Bulldogs and the Tennessee Volunteers. Georgia is seen as the presumptive favorite to keep Mondon in-state, but Auburn, Alabama isn’t all that far away from Paulding County, Georgia. Mondon could totally play for Malzahn down on The Plains.
His primary recruiter to Auburn is secondary coach Wesley McGriff. He has landed his former employers a combined three five-stars, most notably Robert Nkemdiche to the Ole Miss Rebels back in 2013 out of Grayson High School, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Linebackers coach Travis Williams is Mondon’s secondary recruiter, who landed five-star Owen Pappoe out of Grayson.
While Georgia is the leader for Mondon, as eight recruiting analysts have predicted that’s where he’ll end up, one could argue Auburn is the team most likely to end up prying him out of Georgia. Keep an eye on Alabama too, as the Crimson Tide and the Tigers recruit very much the same players. It’s not likely, but Mondon could end up suiting up for Auburn at Jordan-Hare.