RB signee headed to JUCO

Alaric Williams will enroll at Garden City Community College in Kansas, the Auburn running back signee announced Thursday night on Twitter.

“I appreciate the Auburn staff and family for believing in me and giving me a chance,” Williams’ tweet read. “I came up short academically.”

Williams, from Southside in Gadsden, will enroll at Garden City in the fall. As for Auburn, Williams wrote, “I will be back.”

Williams also used the opportunity to send a message to younger recruits.

“School is something you do not play with and I wish I would’ve realized that from the day I started high school,” Williams wrote. “There is a lot of hype that comes with recruiting but never let the hype take you off of the path you’ve always dreamed.”

Williams is the first signee under Gus Malzahn since 2013 to not qualify. In Malzahn’s first signing class as head coach at Auburn, Jason Smith and Earnest Robinson both failed to qualify.

Because Williams signed and did not qualify, Auburn will lose his scholarship for a year.