The year is officially 2023.
Hugh Freeze has been at Auburn for just over a month and the Tigers are sitting at No. 16 in the 2023 class rankings. There's still work to do, with another transfer portal window set to open soon and signing day approaching, but it's hard to ignore what a new year also means.
Another group of recruits will start gaining serious traction — the class of 2024.
Auburn's ready to set up shop and begin seriously pushing for the next class of Tigers. Junior Day, spring visits and more await the class of 2024. Let's get to know who some of the top in-state targets are.
We'll kick things off with running back J'Marion Burnette out of Andalusia High School. Burnette's one of the top running backs in the 2024 class and ranked as the No. 4 player in the state.
He visited Auburn last summer for Big Cat Weekend and for a couple games during the fall, which put the Tigers in his top 10 schools.
Burnette wrapped up his junior season with 1,473 yards rushing for Andalusia, scoring 17 touchdowns.
Clay-Chalkville has a top-10 talent taking snaps in Kamari McClellan. Rated as the No. 1 pro-style quarterback prospect in the state, Auburn was one of the first to offer him.
He holds other offers from schools like LSU, Florida State and Oregon, however, with a promising senior season ahead, he's sure to see his offer list grow tremendously.
It should be noted that Auburn currently has one quarterback committed in the 2024 class, Adrian Posse, but it wouldn't be surprising to see the Tigers grab two in the class.
Anniston's roster has several playmakers that will get a chance to play at the next level. Cornerback Jayden Lewis is one of them that Auburn is targeting, sitting just inside the Rivals 250 rankings at No. 238.
His offer list is nearing 20 schools, as the 4-star seems to be favoring SEC programs like Auburn, Alabama and Tennessee. He took unofficial visits to each of the three schools, visiting Auburn twice this season.
Cameron Coleman is likely going to see his recruitment reach new heights this season. The wide receiver at Central High in Phenix City was splitting targets with Michigan signee Karmello English this past season, and now with English gone, it appears that the primary receiver role falls on Coleman.
Auburn is one of several power-five offers for Coleman, along with Oregon, Michigan, Georgia, Penn State and Florida State. As of early December, Florida State and Auburn were sticking out to Coleman, who visited the Plains twice over the season.
JacQawn McRoy attended an Auburn camp last June. It's where he turned some heads and picked up an offer from the Tigers. They're not the only ones noticing McRoy, although it might be hard to miss the 6-foot-8 lineman.
Right now, 15 schools have offered him, but with his size, the ceiling is high for McRoy, who's rated as the top offensive tackle in the state.
Rated as the top player in the state, Kavion Henderson committed to Arkansas a couple months ago, but Auburn was right there in the race. Flipping a commit is always difficult, especially when working to pull one away from a conference rival, but Freeze proved in his first month that his staff is capable of doing so.
With a new staff firmly in place and some stability for now, Auburn has a chance for a fresh start with Henderson, who committed prior to Freeze's arrival. Expect Auburn to reintroduce itself to Henderson and work to give him something to think about.
Auburn has been in good standing with Malik Blocton since the start of his recruitment. The brother of current Auburn defensive lineman Marcus Harris, Blocton was at every Auburn home game this season.
He's one of the more local prospects, he's from Pike Road and trains at Madhouse Training, where some top recruits pop out of nearly every year. Not to mention having a brother who knows the ins and outs of Auburn football certainly gives the Tigers an advantage.
Jeremiah Beaman trains at Step-by-Step Training in Birmingham, alongside Auburn defensive lineman Jayson Jones. Beaman is already in the midst of offseason work, as he's gearing up for a busy summer.
With an offer list growing close to 20 schools, Beaman told TideIllustrated that some schools he's interested in seeing this summer include Miami, Alabama, Florida State and Clemson.
He visited Auburn for a game this season.
Another central Alabama native, defensive end Jordan Ross has less than 10 offers at the moment. Don't let it fool you, all of them are from power-five programs and three of them are SEC.
He visited Alabama and Tennessee for games this fall, but the Tide have yet to offer. His offers include Auburn, Georgia, USC, Penn State, Wisconsin and Kansas.
Auburn was one of the first tor reach out to Tuskegee native Joseph Phillips, who has a small, yet impressive list of offers.
Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia and Penn State are other programs that have showed interest and extended an offer to the outside linebacker. Phillips is right in Auburn's backyard, so the Tigers have a shot at playing the close-to-home card.
Jayden Coleman is emerging as one of the top corners in the state for the 2024 class at Central High.
Auburn is nearby for the 3-star out of Phenix City and he visited campus for three games in the fall. He feels like the hiring of Hugh Freeze can turn the program around and Zac Etheridge is in constant contact, Coleman told Rivals in early December.
More visits to Auburn are likely this year, as are trips to Texas A&M, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
Several SEC schools have offered safety Keion Dunlap out of Enterprise.
Auburn, Ole Miss and Arkansas have all extended an offer to the safety, who visited Alabama and Auburn this fall.
He also holds offers from UAB, Troy, Penn State, UCF and Maryland.
Kaleb Harris is up to 15 offers on the first day of 2023, but that will grow. Auburn joins Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina as the SEC programs that have offered Harris up to this point in his recruitment.
Tevis Metcalf visited Auburn for the Western Kentucky game in mid-November, which is where the Tigers offered the 2024 athlete.
Auburn is his second offer from the SEC (Arkansas), and during his visit, Metcalf complimented Carnell Williams' ability to coach and lead a football team. Metcalf was "eager" to know who the new head coach was gonna be, but having Williams retained on staff is certainly a boost for the Tigers in this one.
One of the few attendees of last January's Junior Day, Travaris Banks visited Auburn once this fall for the Penn State game. Being from Tuscaloosa, it's likely a tough swing to pull Banks away from Alabama, which he visited multiple times this season, but worth the effort if the Tigers can do so.
He's rated as a top-10 player in the state, rated in the Rivals 250 and holds a good relationship with Zac Etheridge.
Bradley Shaw finds himself in good position for 2023, as his offer list is close to 20 schools.
Auburn is one of eight SEC schools to offer the Hoover, Ala., native, who also holds offers from Michigan State, Kansas, USC, UCF and Washington. Shaw is rated as the state's best inside linebacker.
There are a couple guys that Auburn has yet to offer sticking around in the Rivals 250. Running back Ronnie Royal out of Gulf Shores and wide receiver Damian Thompson out of Florence.
Royal currently has offers from Arkansas, Florida State, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee and UCF.
Thompson holds offers from Georgia, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Penn State.
Both prospects could see Auburn reach out at some point this year, as the two 4-star players are sure to see more top programs get in contact.
