Taking a look at the Auburn Tigers senior class of 23-scholarship players (not counting Brian Battie), only four were high school signees who have been with the program for the longevity of their college careers. Three of those were brought in by Gus Malzahn – Oscar Chapman, Brandon Frazier, and Luke Deal – while Jarquez Hunter is the lone player on the roster from Bryan Harsin’s 2021 signing class.
Keionte Scott is the only senior who was a junior college signee by Harsin, while Eugene Asante and Jayson Jones are the only seniors on the roster signed by Harsin through the transfer portal. In total, Malzahn brought in three and Harsin four players who are 2024 seniors.
Hugh Freeze, in just his second season, is responsible for bringing in 16 of the 23 scholarship seniors.
Izavion Miller came in from the junior college ranks while the other 15 were transfers – Payton Thorne (Michigan State), Jerrin Thompson (Texas), KeAndre Lambert-Smith (Penn State), Austin Keys (Ole Miss), Dorian Mausi Jr (Duke), Rivaldo Fairweather (Florida Atlantic), Robert Lewis (Georgia State), Isaiah Raikes (USC), Jalen McLeod (Appalachian State), Fa’Najae Gotay (Maryland), Griffin Speaks* (Baylor), Percy Lewis (Mississippi State), Ronan Chambers (Akron), Trill Carter (Texas), and Philip Blidi (Indiana). *Speaks was a walk-on who earned a scholarship before the 2024 season.
Taking a look at Auburn’s scholarship juniors, and again, most were brought in by Freeze. There are only 18 scholarship juniors, two of which were former walk-ons – Justin Jones and Sean Jackson.
Tate Johnson, Jeremiah Wright and Zykeivous Walker were signees with Malzahn in the 2020 class.
Damari Alston, Camden Brown and Caleb Wooden signed with Harsin in the 2022 class.
The other nine juniors were brought in by Freeze. Laquan Robinson, Champ Anthony and Quientrail Jamison-Travis were junior college signees while Sam Jackson V (California), Keyron Crawford (Arkansas State), Jahquez Robinson (Colorado), Dillon Wade (Tulsa), Jaden Muskrat (Tulsa) and Gage Keys (Kansas) came to Auburn via the transfer portal.
In total when looking at Auburn’s scholarship upperclassmen six were high school signees with Malzahn, and four were high school signees with Harsin. Harsin brought in one from junior college, and a pair of players who joined Auburn as walk-ons went on to earn scholarships.
Freeze meanwhile, has brought in 25 of the juniors and seniors – four from junior college and 21 from the transfer portal.
Taking a look at the contributors at each position, Freeze’s signees make up a bulk of the contributors. (It should be noted that the below list isn’t a depth chart. It’s a list of contributors with a cut-off point that doesn’t include all scholarship players).
Quarterback
Payton Thorne – Freeze Transfer from Michigan State
Hank Brown – Freeze Signee
Running Back
Jarquez Hunter – Harsin Signee
Damari Alston – Harsin Signee
Jeremiah Cobb – Harsin Commitment, Freeze Signee
Tight End
Rivaldo Fairweather – Freeze Transfer from FIU
Brandon Frazier – Malzahn Signee
Luke Deal – Malzahn Signee
Micah Riley – Harsin Signee
Wide Receiver
KeAndre Lambert-Smith – Freeze Transfer from Penn State
Cam Coleman – Freeze Signee
Robert Lewis – Freeze Transfer from Georgia State
Malcolm Simmons – Freeze Signee
Sam Jackson V – Freeze Transfer from Cal
Perry Thompson – Freeze Signee
Camden Brown – Harsin Signee
Caleb Burton – Freeze Transfer from Ohio State
Offensive Line
Izavion Miller – Freeze Signee from Junior College
Dillon Wade – Freeze Transfer
Connor Lew – Freeze Signee
Jeremiah Wright – Malzahn Signee
Bradyn Joiner – Harsin Commitment, Freeze Signee
Tate Johnson – Malzahn Signee
Tyler Johnson – Freeze Signee
Percy Lewis – Freeze Transfer
Ronan Chambers – Freeze Transfer from Akron
Defensive Line and Buck
Keldric Faulk – Freeze Signee
Quientrail Jameson-Travis – Freeze Signee from Junior College
Philip Blidi – Freeze Transfer from Indiana
Jalen McLeod – Freeze Transfer from Appalachian State
Keyron Crawford – Freeze Transfer from Arkansas State
Malik Blocton – Freeze Signee
Amaris Williams – Freeze Signee
Zykeivous Walker – Malzahn Signee
Jayson Jones – Harsin Transfer from Oregon
Isaiah Raikes – Freeze Transfer from USC
Trill Carter – Freeze Transfer from Texas
Linebacker
Eugene Asante – Harsin Transfer from North Carolina
Austin Keys – Freeze Transfer from Ole Miss
Dorian Mausi Jr – Freeze Transfer from Duke
Demarcus Riddick – Freeze Signee
Robert Woodyard – Harsin Signee
Secondary
Kayin Lee – Freeze Signee
Jay Crawford – Freeze Signee
Jerrin Thompson – Freeze Transfer from Texas
Caleb Wooden – Harsin Signee
Kaleb Harris – Freeze Signee
Sylvester Smith – Freeze Signee
Kensley Louidor-Faustin – Freeze Signee
Keionte Scott – Harsin Signee from Junior College
Champ Anthony – Freeze Signee from Junior College
JC Hart – Freeze Signee
Antonio Kite – Freeze Transfer from Alabama
Jahquez Robinson – Freeze Transfer from Colorado
Special Teams
Oscar Chapman – Malzahn (Blueshirt offer)
Alex McPherson – Harsin Signee
Towns McGough – Freeze Signee
These are the numbers of signees among the top contributors on the roster from the list above.
Freeze – 39
Harsin – 10
Malzahn – 6
Lastly, here’s the number of scholarship signees by each coach who are currently on the roster.
Freeze – 62 (Jerrin Thompson, Payton Thorne, Laquan Robinson, Perry Thompson, Kayin Lee, Terrance Love, KeAndre Lambert-Smith, Bryce Cain, Austin Keys, Cam Coleman, Walker White, Caleb Burton, Amaris Williams, Jamonta Waller, Malcolm Simmons, Dorian Mausi Jr, Rivaldo Fairweather, TJ Lindsey, Robert Lewis, Tyler Scott, Hank Brown, Keldric Faulk, Demarcus Riddick, Rico Walker, Kaleb Harris, Sam Jackson V, Sylvester Smith, JC Hart, Brian Battie, Isaiah Raikes, Jeremiah Cobb, Jay Crawford, Keyron Crawford, Champ Anthony, A’Mon Lane-Ganus, Kensley Louidor-Faustin, C.J. Johnson, Jahquez Robinson, Joe Phillips, D.J. Barber, Jalen McLeod, Fa’Najae Gotay, Griffin Speaks, Darron Reed Jr, Malik Blocton, Dillon Wade, Bradyn Joiner, Jaden Muskrat, Seth Wilfred, Favour Edwin, Dylan Senda, Izavion Miller, Percy Lewis, Ronan Chambers, Connor Lew, Clay Wedin, DeAndre Carter, Tyler Johnson, Trill Carter, Gage Keys, Philip Blidi, Quientrail Jamison-Travis)
Harsin – 14 (Keionte Scott, Damari Alston, Camden Brown, Eugene Asante, Holden Geriner, Robert Woodyard, Caleb Wooden, Jarquez Hunter, Alex McPherson, E.J. Harris, Sean Jackson, Justin Jones, Micah Riley, Jayson Jones)
Malzahn – 6 (Tate Johnson, Zykeivous Walker, Jeremiah Wright, Luke Deal, Brandon Frazier, Oscar Chapman)
That Freeze, in year two, has signed 62 of his 82 scholarship players in an insane number. Harsin is responsible for just 14 scholarship players only two years after his firing. And only nine of those 14 were high school signees. Two were walk-ons, one was a junior college signee, and two were from the portal.
Only six Malzahn players are still on campus.
It's telling that Gus Malzahn has almost as many players left at Auburn as Harsin. The magnitude of damage done to the Auburn roster in Harsin's brief tenure is undeniable. Freeze has only begun digging Auburn out of the hole.
However, with another top-10 recruiting class in the pipeline, the talent at Auburn is unquestionably on the upswing.
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