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Hugh Freeze’s Massive Undertaking: Tracking Auburn Football Scholarships
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Hugh Freeze’s Massive Undertaking: Tracking Auburn Football Scholarships

Taking a look at Auburn Tigers In the senior class of 23 scholars (not including Brian Battie), only four were high school enrollees and participated in the program throughout their college careers. Three of them were brought by Gus Malzahn – Oscar Chapman, Brandon FrazierAnd Luke Deal – while Hunter Jarquez is the only player on Bryan Harsin’s 2021 signing class roster.

Keionte Scott is the only senior to be signed by Harsin in college, while Eugene Asante And Jayson Jones are the only seniors on the roster signed by Harsin through the transfer portal. In total, Malzahn signed three players and Harsin signed four 2024 senior players.

Hugh Freeze, in only his second season, is responsible for recruiting 16 of the 23 senior scholarship players.

Izavion Miller came from the 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 backup who earned a scholarship before the 2024 season.

Let’s take a look at Auburn’s scholarship juniors, and again, most were recruited by Freeze. There are only 18 young scholarship players, two of whom were former substitutes – Justin Jones and Sean Jackson.

Tate Johnson, Jeremiah Wright and Zykeivous Walker signed 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 recruited by Freeze. Laquan Robinson, Champ Anthony and Quientrail Jamison-Travis were 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, looking at Auburn’s graduate scholarships, six were high school signees with Malzahn and four were high school signees with Harsin. Harsin brought one over from college, and two players who joined Auburn as backups went on to earn scholarships.

During that time, Freeze recruited 25 juniors and seniors – four from junior college and 21 from the transfer portal.

Looking at the contributors to each post, Freeze signees make up the bulk of the contributors. (It should be noted that the list below is not a depth chart. It is a list of contributors with a threshold that does not include all fellows).

Strategist

Payton Thorne – Freeze transfer from Michigan State
Hank Brown – Freeze the signer

Run back

Jarquez Hunter – Harsin Signed
Damari Alston – Harsin Signed
Jeremy Cobb – Harsin commitment, signatory of the freeze

Tight end

Rivaldo Fairweather – Freeze the transfer from the FIU
Brandon Frazier – Malzahn Signed
Luke Deal – Malzahn Signed
Micah Riley – Harsin Signed

Wide receiver

KeAndre Lambert-Smith – Freeze transfer from Penn State
Cam Coleman – Freeze the signer
Robert Lewis – Freeze transfer from Georgia State
Malcolm Simmons – Freeze the signer
Sam Jackson – Freeze transfer from Cal
Perry Thompson – Freeze the signer
Camden Brown – Harsin Signed
Caleb Burton – Freeze transfer from Ohio State

Offensive line

Izavion Miller – Junior College signing gel
Dillon Wade – Freeze transfer
Connor Lew – Freeze the signer
Jeremiah Wright – Malzahn Signed
Bradyn Carpenter – Harsin commitment, signatory of the freeze
Tate Johnson – Malzahn Signed
Tyler Johnson – Freeze the signer
Percy Lewis – Freeze transfer
Ronan Rooms – Freeze transfer from Akron

Defensive Line and Buck

Keldric Faulk – Signatory of the freeze
Quientrail Jameson-Travis – Junior College signing gel
Philippe Blidi – Freeze transfer from Indiana
Jalen McLeod – Freeze transfer from Appalachian State
Keyron Crawford – Freeze transfer from Arkansas State
Malik Blocton – Freeze the signer
Amaris Williams – Freeze the signer
Zykeivous Walker – Malzahn Signed
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 Duke transfer
Demarcus Riddick – Freeze the signer
Robert Woodyard – Harsin Signed

Secondary

Kayin Lee – Freeze the signer
Jay Crawford – Freeze the signer
Jerry Thompson – Freeze transfer from Texas
Wooden Caleb – Harsin Signed
Kaleb Harris – Freeze the signer
Sylvester Smith – Freeze the signer
Kensley Louidor-Faustin – Freeze the signer
Keionte Scott – Harsin Signee from Junior College
Champion Antoine – Junior College signing gel
JC Hart – Freeze the signer
Antonio Kite – Freeze transfer from Alabama
Jahquez Robinson – Freeze transfer from Colorado

Special teams


Oscar Chapman – Malzahn (Blue Shirt offer)

Alex McPherson – Harsin Signed

McGough Cities – Freeze the signer

This is the number of signatories among the main contributors in the list above.

Freeze – 39

Harsin – 10

Malzahn – 6

Finally, here is the number of scholarship players from 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, CJ Johnson, Jahquez Robinson, Joe Phillips, DJ Barber, Jalen McLeod, Fa’Najae Gotay, Griffin Speaks, Darron Reed Jr, Malik Blocton, Dillon Wade, Bradyn Joiner, Jaden Muskrat, Seth Wilfred, Favor 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, EJ 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 its second year, recruited 62 of its 82 fellows, an insane number. Harsin is responsible for only 14 fellows just two years after his dismissal. And only nine of those 14 were enrolled in high school. Two were strangers, one was a college signee, and two were from the gate.

Only six Malzahn players are still on campus.

It’s telling that Gus Malzahn has almost as many players at Auburn as Harsin. The amount of damage done to Auburn’s team during Harsin’s brief tenure is undeniable. Freeze has only begun to dig Auburn out of the hole.

However, with another top 10 recruiting class in the worksAuburn’s talent is undoubtedly on the rise.

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