As winter workouts begin in the middle of January, Auburn football has undergone a huge transformation during the offseason.
The two new coordinators that Hugh Freeze has brought on board have not yet been made public. Philip Montgomery and Ron Roberts both left in recent weeks. Position coaches Cadillac Williams and Zac Etheridge resigned, which also had an effect on the Tigers. The team also formally announced the hiring of senior assistant and top recruiter Charles Kelly as co-defensive coordinator.
Amidst all of this turmoil, Auburn signed the top recruiting class in the country for the 2024 cycle, which may include 5-star receiver and Tigers legend Ryan Williams, who announced his decommitment after Alabama head coach Nick Saban retired.
Freeze has made it plain that coach would rather recruit high school players to fill out Auburn’s roster, and in December, he gave locking down those signings more importance than pushing the transfer portal as hard.
However, the Tigers haven’t completely disregarded the gateway. In the current game, FBS transfers are essential, and Auburn appears to have chosen to primarily fill positional needs with experienced depth players during the first window.
In some ways, the window is still open since athletes at various colleges around the nation are still able to enter the gateway later due to a series of coaching changes that followed Nick Saban’s departure. (Depending on whether Jim Harbaugh chooses to leave national champion Michigan and join the NFL, that may continue in the days ahead.)
Auburn still has work to do in the transfer portal, and additional movement will be available during a second window following spring practices. The Tigers may still be searching for a quarterback since in the weeks following their defeat by Maryland in the Music City Bowl, they have been connected to a number of quarterback prospects.
You may not be too familiar with the eight new Tigers who have already chosen to transfer to the Plains, though, because they are joining at what seems to be random points in an already crazy college football schedule.
Here’s a look at all eight of them, starting with an offensive lineman who started for a different SEC team and ending with a former Auburn player who appears to be a playmaker going forward.