Malik Autry is the starting point for the 2025 class at Auburn.

He became the Tigers' first commit in the class on Feb. 1, but his work is far from over in his eyes. Now, he's focusing on building up his class by recruiting some of the top names in the country to come play with him.

What's been his selling point?

"Just to start something different," Autry said. "Everybody wants to go to the Alabamas and the Georgias, but Auburn’s where it’s at. I feel like Auburn’s a really home-type of feeling and you can go there and make an impact fast."

It's a similar vision that head coach Hugh Freeze has on the program.

"Hugh Freeze, that’s his message, too," Autry said. "Everybody goes out with the same message. All the recruits, commits coming together to get the same message, same goal in mind."

Earlier this month, Autry had an opportunity to meet up with some of the names he's been targeting. He attended Auburn's A-Day game, which was loaded with high-profile visitors in both the 2024 and 2025 classes.

"A-Day was great," Autry said. "We had a lot of recruits there. We had a lot of four-stars, a lot of five stars, so it was a great day recruiting. I spent a lot of my time recruiting. Barely got to watch the game, but I had a great time."

The 6-foot-6, Rivals250 defensive end bought into the message months ago. Now he's working to get others to do the same.

"Everybody wants to go for the hype and the money and [Freeze] tells us all the time it’s not about the money or the hype," Autry said. "It’s about really being somewhere you’re gonna be happy, really go out there and play and have an impact on the team."

Autry is still hearing from a couple SEC schools and will likely entertain the idea of visiting Florida and LSU in the summer, but he's still locked in with Auburn.

"As far as this 2024 and 2025 class goes, we’re gonna be very important to Auburn football," Autry said. "That’s [Freeze's] message to us."