Elijah Melendez knew that Auburn was the place for him following his official visit.

An official visit that happened in June — over three months before his commitment.

The Rivals100 linebacker committed to Auburn Saturday, becoming the 24th member of the Tigers' 2025 class. It was long overdue for the former Miami commit.

"I really wanted to do it in the summer, but I had to wait and take my time with everything," Melendez said. "I made the right choice, for sure."

There wasn't any interest in visiting Auburn for Melendez to start. When the Tigers' defensive coordinator and linebackers coach DJ Durkin paid a visit to his school, however, things changed.

That made me want to visit Auburn, for real. That made me consider it and Coach Durkin played a huge factor.

It's not just Durkin, obviously, but the combination of playing in the toughest conference and for Durkin was too good to not pass up.

"Really feels like family here and I wanted to play in the SEC," Melendez said. "I feel like I got a real good shot at getting developed and getting to the NFL from Auburn and playing with Coach Durkin."

Melendez, who was in Auburn Saturday, made the announcement before Auburn kicked off its game against New Mexico. It was his second visit in three weeks, visiting for the opener and also backing off of a Miami pledge on the same day.

"I think they played pretty well," Melendez said. "New Mexico had a pretty good quarterback that was giving Auburn a little bit of trouble on defense, but I think that the quarterback for Auburn did a real great job tonight getting the team the win."

It will be a quick turnaround for Melendez, who despite living in Kissimmee, Fla., plans to be back for the Arkansas game and Oklahoma game. He's got some work to do, after all.

"Just getting closer with all the other commits and whoever else wants to jump on board with us, just building for the program," Melendez said.

Will he visit any other programs this fall?

"Nah, I’m done," Melendez said.