Auburn Football Recruiting: Updating the Wide Receiver Board

Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

One of Auburn’s top targets is off the board. A look at where the Tigers might turn next.

Auburn’s recruiting has been on a nice run lately but that run hit a speed bump last night. Arguably Auburn’s top wide receiver target, 4-star Christian Leary, had reportedly been trending to the good guys the last couple of weeks. There were even rumors he had silently committed to the staff. But recruiting is fluid, especially with someone like Leary who has had multiple leaders over the past couple of months. Last night, he decided to pull the trigger.

COMMITTED. pic.twitter.com/Bip45a4RtB

— 6 (@ChristianLeary4) June 17, 2020

Losing Leary to Bama absolutely hurts. Auburn might sign only two wide receivers in this class and Leary is likely in the top 2 on Auburn’s wide receiver board. The Tigers were in on him early and it appeared that the addition of Dematrius Davis might allow Auburn to pull this off. But it’s still durn hard to beat Saban on the trail for prospects he really wants. Auburn will continue to recruit the explosive playmaker but given the Tigers’ not so great history flipping kids from the Tide, I think Auburn fans should move on.

So where does Auburn go from here? Well, plenty other top targets remain. Auburn is still hard after 4-star Shadrach Banks. He looks locked in with the Aggies but we will see where things stand later this fall. Auburn is also a top contender for 4-star Malcolm Johnson Jr. I don’t see Johnson and Leary signing in the same class so expect the Tigers to really turn the heat up there as Alabama had been one of his top teams. Georgia and Maryland are also major factors in that recruitment.

There’s also 4-star Deion Colzie. The Athens native was thought to be a virtual lock to the Dawgs for some time now but there’s some buzz that things might be cooling between the two parties. There are a lot of teams though in that race but the Tigers are a factor.

The new name to really watch now is 3-star Brashard Smith. The former Gator commit dropped a top 5 last month that included Auburn. He’s a great fit for the 2 spot in Auburn’s offense and I expect the staff to really ramp up their recruitment of the Florida native moving forward.

Finally, keep an eye on both 3-star Latrell Neville and 3-star Adonai Mitchell. Neville is a former Virginia Tech commit who is good friends with Davis. Nebraska appears to be trending but if the Tigers make him a priority they would be tough to beat. Mitchell is committed to Ole Miss but reportedly in communication with Auburn’s staff. If Auburn strikes out on Colzie and Johnson it wouldn’t shock me to see the Tigers ramp up their efforts with Mitchell.

247 Rankings Update

This afternoon, 247sports dropped an updated Top 247 Rankings that is mostly focused on offense. Last month’s update wasn’t kind to Auburn commits. However, things went better for future Tigers this month. And by better, I mean they pretty much stayed the same but didn’t drop any further.

Auburn Commits

• 76.) RB Armoni Goodwin (Down 2 spots)
• 93.) QB Dematrius Davis (Up 5 spots)
• 99.) DT Lee Hunter (Up 5 spots)
• 235.) Caleb Johnson (Down 2 spots)

Auburn Targets

• 9.) LB Smael Mondon (Down 1 spot)
• 12.) OT Tommy Brockermeyer (Down 2 spots)
• 13.) OT Amarius Mims (Up 2 spots)
• 15.) LB Xavian Sorey (Down 3 spots)
• 18.) CB Ga’Quincy McKinstry (Down 1 spot)
• 23.) CB Nyland Green (Up 1 spot)
• 33.) RB LJ Johnson (Down 4 spots)
• 56.) BUCK Jeremiah Williams (Up 2 spots)
• 77.) OT Savion Byrd (Down 41 spots)
• 111.) WR Deion Colzie (Down 67 spots)
• 119.) WR Malcolm Johnson Jr (Up 6 spots)
• 127.) TE Michael Trigg (Down 13 spots)
• 131.) OG Dietrich Pennington (Up 2 spots)
• 148.) BUCK Keanu Koht (Down 2 spots)
• 176.) WR Shadrach Banks (Down 47 spots)
• 202.) OT Rod Orr (Up 322 spots) - Instate OT that doesn’t hold an AU offer
• 210.) S MJ Daniels (Down 1 spot)
• 217.) BUCK Jabril McNeil (Down 2 spots)
• 223.) LB Chase Smith (Down 2 spots)
• 228.) S Ahmari Harvey (Down 1 spot)
• 231.) LB Prince Kollie (Down 1 spot)
• 232.) LB Jamon Dumas-Johnson (Up 1 spot)

War Eagle!

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