Auburn coaches hit the road last week.

One stop for wide receivers coach Marcus Davis and offensive coordinator Derrick Nix was to see Rivals100 WR Tristen Keys.

"It means a lot, just knowing coaches will take time out of their day to come visit you," Keys said. "Come get to know you a little bit more, get to know how you fit in your own offense and kinda peek what you do day to day. Peek at the environment that you’re in. They were taking the time out to come watch me, see me, chat it up, means a lot."

The message was clear to Keys from Auburn's staff.

"No matter what happens, they were gonna recruit me hard, keep me a Tiger," Keys said. "Knowing that I wasn’t too far from home, they mentioned that and they were gonna recruit me hard. Try their best to try to get me to be an Auburn Tiger."

Keys, 6-foot-2 and 185 pounds, visited Auburn earlier this year for the Cal game.

"I went up there, it wasn’t the best, they took a [loss] against Cal, but I had a little fun up there," Keys said. "Got to know the coaches a little bit more, they’re a bunch of cool guys. Coach Davis is a young guy and he means well. He’s gonna make sure he works you and he’s gonna make sure he gets you better."

One of the things that Keys took away was how young Auburn's team is. He recognizes that the program is rebuilding and believes things will turn around.

"Despite them losing, I say that it’s okay because I feel like things are going to get better," Keys said. "They got a bunch of young guys and if you look at every game, each one of those guys continues to get better. You can see the development even though they still might lose. They’re producing those young guys and in the next one to two years, they’ll be NFL draft picks."

Seeing that development for Keys is big. It's one of several main factors that he takes a close look at when considering a program. With plenty of time to go, the 2026 prospect is beginning to narrow things down.

Auburn is one of the programs he has a top interest in. As a Mississippi native, he's also familiar with who the Tigers are bringing in at quarterback.

"I know they got a great quarterback coming in, Deuce Knight, that’s my dog," Keys said. "I know he can spin the ball, so just knowing I could have that relationship with the quarterback."

The four-star will visit Texas A&M this weekend, with a return trip to Alabama likely and one tentatively planned to USC for Nov. 30. Is Auburn a spot he'd like to return to?

"Definitely try and do something, me and Deuce trying to make that happen," Keys said.