AUBURN | Auburn signed 26 players in its 2020 class, which was ranked No. 10 in Rival.com’s team recruiting rankings.

Ten from that group enrolled in January and Gus Malzahn is expecting the remaining 16 to be ready to go whenever the University reopens and the NCAA and SEC allow on-campus football activities to resume.

“As of right now, everybody is scheduled to come on time, which I think is important,” Malzahn said. “But yea, so far, so good. We’re hearing really good reports with the information that we have.”

Most of the signees are finishing up schoolwork within the next couple of weeks and the NCAA has waived standardized test score requirements for incoming freshmen in the 2020 class.

Auburn's class includes five junior college players and a number of highly-rated high school prospects that would be expected to make an immediate impact under normal circumstances. But with Auburn University announcing Monday that the school will remain closed through June 30 due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the window for the group to get in and get acclimated is getting shorter.

“You know, if by chance we are able to get back in June and start practice, it may even be better from the standpoint that some of the freshmen that didn't come early can actually do some things with the football,” said Malzahn Monday afternoon before the University announcement. “But obviously, the later, if you get into July or late July or whatever, that's a different story. I think it all matters on when we come back about how ready the freshmen are.”

Malzahn is hoping to get clarification on a potential return date by mid May.

“I’m hoping in the next two weeks we get some kind of direction,” he said. “But you’ve seen things change daily, things change weekly. You’ve see some states opening it up a little bit more. But I assume once the NCAA makes a call, I assume it’ll be across the board. Patiently waiting.”