Signed, sealed and delivered

HOOVER | Gus Malzahn has brought in seven recruiting classes since taking over at Auburn in late 2012. That’s 163 players that have signed a National Letter of Intent.

And 158 of those have qualified and enrolled at Auburn including all 21 signees in the 2019 class after offensive lineman Kamaar Bell enrolled earlier this week. That’s a 97 percent return, which is especially important since the SEC and NCAA began limiting oversigning a decade ago.

“It says a lot about the players we recruit,” Malzahn said. “We’re not like a lot of programs that will just recruit everybody. We really try to filter in the character part, the fit for Auburn-type people and so that has a lot to do with it.”

In the last five classes, which makes up the Tigers’ 2019 roster, only Carlito Gonzalez and Alaric Williams in 2017, and Kayode Oladele in 2018 failed to enroll.

And that’s not all of the story. Malzahn and his staff have brought in a number of key transfers over the past seven years including two more in 2019 in grad transfers Jay Jay Wilson and Zach Farrar.

Wilson, an H-back from Arizona State, arrived earlier this summer while Farrar, a wide receiver from Youngstown State, arrived this week. The 23 total newcomers give Auburn approximately 80 on scholarship heading into fall camp.

“Anytime you take a graduate transfer, you’re expected to play in some way. There’s no doubt about that,” Malzahn said. “You know with the freshmen; it just seems you play more and more freshmen than you used to. So, everyone’s got an opportunity.

“We’ll see where that goes in fall camp and you know you look at the teams we’ve had that won championships, they’ve had quite a few freshmen that actually helped up play. We’re hoping the same out of this class.”

Farrar, who originally signed with Oklahoma out of high school, is expected to compete at X receiver where Darius Slayton started the past couple of seasons before being drafted by the N.Y. Giants this spring.

“I think he'll be a factor,” said Malzahn of Farrar. “But we've got so many other guys that can run. To have a chance to have a go-to guy, you've got to be able to run. So we've got a lot of different options. We'll make that clear the first game.”

Preseason practice begins Aug. 2. Auburn opens the season Aug. 31 against Oregon in Arlington, Texas.