Joseph Mbatchou is working to find his future home.
His latest stop in his recruitment was Auburn.
The former Florida commit, which backed off his pledge to the Gators last month, was in town over the weekend on his official visit. Along with his family, he toured the facilities, campus and attended the Tigers' home game against Vanderbilt.
"It was a good visit," Mbatchou said. "Got to see the game. Even though it didn’t go the way they wanted it to go, I feel like the defense played really good. Everyone here showed me and my family a lot of love and I just had a really good time here."
Leading the charge in his recruitment is defensive tackles coach Vontrell King-Williams, whom Mbatchou saw coach a practice in the spring and holds in high regard.
"I think he’s a good, honest person," Mbatchou said. "I think he’s a good coach. I came to see one of their practices actually, so I got to see a little bit of how he coaches. I think he’s a good person, a good coach."
While sitting in the stands Saturday, Mbatchou played close attention to Auburn's defensive front, specifically sophomore Keldric Faulk. While the play of Faulk impressed, Mbatchou also liked how the entire defensive line as a whole played. The loss doesn't matter that much when compared to the play of the d-line for Mbatchou.
"I feel like the loss, you can fix that," Mbatchou said. "But for defense, it shows you what the standard is if the d-line is playing good or not, so I care more about that than the loss."
This was his second game day visit of the season, also visiting for the Cal game. This trip gave him an opportunity to go more in-depth about Auburn.
"I think everything was good," Mbatchou said. "Other schools, everyone has nice facilities and everything, but I think it comes down to people and I know the people of Auburn are really good people."
Mbatchou's next step will be to visit Florida in two weeks (Nov. 16), either LSU or Tennessee Nov. 23 and then USC Nov. 30. He'll then make his decision around early signing day and will enroll in the summer.
The 6-foot-6 defensive end listed Auburn, Michigan and Texas as the top three schools currently.
"I think the best part of Auburn is definitely the people and what they value," Mbatchou said. "Family-oriented place. A lot of love here, a lot of love for their brothers. I think they’re building it back up by doing it the right way, getting young players. It might not look good now, but in a few years as the young players develop and teach the younger guys coming in how to be good players, good people, I think it’s really gonna show how good Auburn can be."
