THE WAR ROOM
Auburn traveled to Penn State last season looking to put a stain on the Nittany Lion's white-out game. The Tigers ultimately fell short of a win, but on Saturday, get a chance to redeem themselves in their own backyard.
It's set to be an exciting, all-orange weekend, which means it's time for the AuburnSports.com WAR ROOM presented by Lynch Toyota of Auburn.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Saturday is not just the biggest on-the-field test for the Tigers this season, it's also the biggest recruiting weekend Auburn may have all year. Jordan-Hare Stadium will be LOADED with top recruits in several classes and Auburn has a chance to make a big impression.
OFFICIAL VISITORS
Three Auburn commits are set to make their official visits this weekend, with one uncommitted offensive lineman out of Florida also taking his official.
Gernorris Wilson, an offensive lineman out of Lakeland, Fla., will make his return to Auburn after visiting unofficially for Big Cat Weekend. It will be the first official visit for Wilson, who has yet to schedule an official visit with a school that's not Auburn — putting him on commit watch this weekend.
Other schools of interest include Georgia Tech, North Carolina, West Virginia and Missouri, but it appears that Auburn may be the leader right now.
The rest of the official visitors will be Auburn commits Daquayvious Sorey, Wilky Denaud and Terrance Love. Love is bringing some friends, too, but we'll get into that later.
OTHER COMMITS
Jeremiah Cobb and A'Mon Lane will make their first trips of the season to Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday, while JC Hart will make his third appearance and Adrian Posse makes his second.
THE LANGSTON FIVE
As mentioned earlier, Love is bringing some friends. Not just any friends, but the rest of the Langston Hughes Five.
Jelani Thurman, currently committed to Ohio State, has been to Auburn several times and Love is preaching opportunity to the tight end.
"I feel like Ohio State is not gonna bring what Auburn is gonna bring for [Thurman]," Love said last week.
Two lineman — one offensive and one defensive — also will visit. Georgia commit Bo Hughley and North Carolina commit Joshua Horton are set to visit this weekend; Auburn continues to recruit them and attempt to flip the two from their respective schools.
Another visitor will be 2024 quarterback Air Noland. Auburn already has a quarterback commit in the class with Posse, but it's still pushing hard for Noland.
It's looking like the Tigers may not pick up a quarterback in the 2023 class, which is fine because the team already has four scholarship quarterbacks. Still, taking a pair of 4-stars in the 2024 class is something Auburn would love to see.
UNCOMMITTED 2023 VISITORS
Jaquavious Russaw and James Smith are returning this weekend, both unofficially. The pair of defensive lineman out of Carver Montgomery popped up at the season-opener against Mercer and Auburn is pushing for them hard. They're still wanting to go as a package deal.
JUCO player Derick Hunter will also make an appearance. Although listed as an offensive tackle, Auburn likes Hunter on the defensive line.
Transitioning to the offensive line, DJ Chester and Vysen Lang are visiting unofficially.
Chester visited Auburn officially, followed by LSU officially, back in June and plans to wrap up his final three officials this fall. It begins next week at Florida State, Ole Miss a week later before heading up to Michigan at the end of October.
Lang is planning an official visit to Auburn at some point this fall, along with at least LSU. It's down to six schools for the Pike Road (Ala.) School standout — Auburn, LSU, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas and Georgia.
Marcellius Pulliam will make back-to-back trips to see Auburn, beginning this weekend with the Penn State game. He'll be back next week for the Missouri game as well, the first of three scheduled official visits. Miami and Kentucky are the other two that are scheduled, both in October.
COMMITTED VISITORS
Along with the 2023 visitors that have yet to make a decision, Auburn is also welcoming several recruits that are flip targets.
The two most intriguing on this list might be Arkansas State commit Tyler Scott and LSU commit Darron Reed.
Auburn recently popped up in Scott's recruitment and are emerging as a threat to snag one of the Red Wolves' safeties. He'll visit unofficially this weekend, although an official visit later down the line is expected.
Reed will make his second trip to Auburn in the last three weeks, with another one planned for Oct. 1. Auburn may have gotten in slightly late in Reed's recruitment, but the Tigers are working to make up for lost time. He's still fairly firm in his commitment to LSU, but he hasn't closed his ears just yet — he can at least hear what Auburn is saying to him.
Three offensive linemen that are committed elsewhere will make the trip, all from either Georgia or Alabama.
Paul Mubenga, who's an LSU commit, was offered by Auburn earlier this week. Out of Buford, Ga., there's at least some interest in Auburn from Mubenga, whose last trip to the Plains was for A-Day in April.
Georgia commit Kelton Smith and Michigan State commit Stanton Ramil are two more offensive lineman that will be in attendance.
Defensively, the Tigers also will play host to Georgia commit Kaveion Keys, Michigan State commit Colton Hood, Arkansas commit RJ Johnson, along with Selma, Ala., native and Penn State commit Dakaari Nelson.
CAN'T IGNORE THE 24's
Auburn is hosting a plethora of 2024 recruits from several southeastern states, but mostly comprised of Alabama and Georgia natives.
Kavion Henderson will be a big name to watch in the coming months. He's the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama and is making his second consecutive weekend trip to Auburn. With his commitment coming Nov. 6, Auburn is considered to be a major contender to land the 4-star edge.
J'Marion Burnette is another guy who attended Auburn's Big Cat Weekend in late July. With over 20 offers and growing, Auburn is looking to get in early for Burnette, who dropped a top 12 with the Tigers in it back in June.
The No. 20 player in the nation for the 2024 class, KJ Bolden, will take his first visit to Auburn this weekend. Georgia might be the team to beat for Bolden, who's visited UGA more than any other school.
Another talented player out of Buford, Ga., Eddrick Houston, got the slight edge over his teammate Bolden in the Rivals rankings. The No. 2 player in Georgia with nearly 40 offers will get his first look at Auburn this weekend.
Sterling Dixon is one of many in-state products that Auburn is pushing for heavily. Out of Mobile, Dixon said recently that Auburn, LSU, Alabama and USC are the ones that seem the most interested, although he specifically mentioned that Auburn and LSU are the two "making their voices most heard."
Daniel Calhoun has been to Auburn several times and is returning once more this weekend. Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Texas are other contenders for the No. 3 OT in the nation.
The No. 2 player in the state of Alabama, behind Henderson, Demarcus Riddick picked up the Auburn offer in March. The Tigers didn't make the top five schools for Riddick, who said Georgia, Tennessee, Florida State, Oklahoma and Kentucky are the main schools he's focusing on.
The Tigers will try and make up ground this weekend and climb back into contention.
A pair of SEC commits will be in town this weekend. Alabama commit Jaylen Mbakwe and Florida commit Myles Graham will take in the orange out, as Auburn is not throwing in the towel on the two Rivals 250 players.
Fletcher Westphal camped at Auburn back in June and will make his second trip to the Plains this weekend. The 6-foot-8 lineman won MVP honors while at camp and has stayed busy since, visiting over 10 schools since the camp.
Malik Blocton has been at every home game this season for Auburn and Saturday will be no different. The Pike Road, Ala., native plans to be at every home game this season.
One of several talented guys coming out of Anniston, Ala., Jayden Lewis is another guy who is near the top of a lot of school's radars. Lewis has a good relationship with secondary coach Zac Etheridge and has a lot of love for Auburn.
Willis McGahee IV visited Auburn for Big Cat Weekend, and following his visit, said Auburn seemed the most interested in him out of his offers. It's led him to make a return to the Plains.
Thompson standout Kaleb Harris was in Auburn last week for the San Jose State game and will make the trip again this week. He has over a dozen offers, the latest being Auburn in late August. This weekend will mark two visits since picking up the offer.
Other 2024 attendees include: defensive back Ty'Shun White, linebacker Cayden Jones, linebacker Ashton Woods, linebacker Edwin Spillman, linebacker Jayden Parrish, running back David Eziomume, athlete Dwight Phillips, quarterback Jake Merklinger, defensive back Ricardo Jones, offensive lineman Barry Walker, offensive lineman Jameson Riggs, linebacker Wendell Gregory, wide receiver Mario Craver, center Waltclaire Flynn, offensive lineman JacQawn McRoy, defensive back Keion Dunlap, and offensive guard Malachi Harris.
KEEPING AN EYE ON 25's
The initial Rivals 100 for the class of 2025 was released earlier this week and several that made the list are in Auburn this weekend.
Auburn will host a couple of top-15 recruits, who happen to both be in-state guys that play defensive end. The Tigers were one of the first schools to offer Birmingham native Jared Smith and Troy native Zion Grady. Grady took a visit to Auburn back in June.
Three offensive lineman from the initial Rivals 100 will be in attendance. Micah Debose of Prichard, Ala; Nicolai Brooks of Alpharetta, Ga; and Juan Gaston Jr. of Atlanta are making the trip.
Another offensive lineman to keep an eye on is Brayden Jacobs, who's an Auburn legacy. Jacobs' father, Brandon Jacobs, played tailback at Auburn in the early 2000s. Brayden attended an Auburn camp back in June, where he won underclassmen MVP honors.
One of the top running backs in his class, Anthony Rogers is just down I-85 in Pike Road, Ala. The 2025 running back already has a list of offers 20 schools long.
Jaylen Bell is originally from New Jersey, but made the move to Georgia a couple years ago. He wants to play in the SEC and Auburn is one of the schools drawing early interest from the No. 85 player in the nation.
Eric Winters will return to Auburn after being offered at Big Cat Weekend back in July. The Enterprise, Ala., native grew up an Auburn fan and said the offer was a 'dream come true."