Auburn nearing top-10 recruiting class after latest commitment

Hugh Freeze and Auburn continue to climb up the On3 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

The Tigers came into the day with a top-15 recruiting class, but will end it just outside the top 10 of the rankings after a commitment from four-star Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei offensive lineman DeAndre Carter.

The hulking 6-foot-3, 345-pounder is the No. 151 overall player in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 8 IOL and No. 16 player out of California.

Auburn originally offered Carter on Jan. 5 and was one of more than two dozen Power 5 schools that have done so, including Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Texas and more. He chose the Tigers over the Spartans and Longhorns on Sunday.

Carter told Auburn Live after his Big Cat Weekend visit in late July that the family feel at Auburn was a big factor in his feelings about the program.

“Family, I mean I love everything, but probably the thing that stands out more than the others is probably just like the family atmosphere,” Carter said. “A lot of colleges say they have it but I definitely feel it a lot here.”

Tigers closing in on 20 commitments this cycle

His pledge pushes the Tigers not only up in the rankings, but gives them a total of 18 commitments in the 2024 class. Of those, 13 are blue-chippers, ranking as 4- or 5-star recruits nationally.

After a somewhat slow recruiting start in the first few months of Freeze’s tenure, the Tigers have been on fire this summer. In total, they’ve notched 13 commitments since June 1.

That includes flipping in-state five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson away from arch rival Alabama at the end of July, as well as poaching local five-star Demarcus Riddick from Georgia just three days before that.

“I can go build that legacy at Auburn,” Thompson told On3’s Chad Simmons when he flipped his pledge. “I can be someone that helps turn things around and be the guy for the program. It is just the place I feel is the best first for me

…Since Hugh Freeze got to Auburn, he and the staff made me a top priority. Coach Freeze, Coach Marcus Davis, the whole staff and the fan base makes me feel wanted. The feeling for me is just different at Auburn.”

The Tigers are now tied with Oregon and Notre Dame for the sixth-most blue-chip commitments in this cycle.