Paul Finebaum believes Auburn's recent recruiting surge will be turning point for future success

Auburn has entered a new era. In the past week, head coach Hugh Freeze flipped two commitments from five-star prospects linebacker Demarcus Riddick and wide receiver Perry Thompson. Riddick was previously committed to Georgia, while Thompson was committed to Alabama.

After swiping the two highly-touted talents, Auburn boasts the No. 15 ranked class in the On3 2024 Industry Team Rankings. Paul Finebaum believes Freeze’s two wins on the recruiting trail are a turning point for the program.

“It feels like a moment in time that we will remember,” Finebaum said on “McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning.” “We will go back and say, ‘That was that week or two period in July of 2023 when Auburn finally made the turn back toward the top.’ And, I’m not suggesting that they’ll get there tomorrow. All I’m saying is history has shown these moments have occurred.”

The return to glory won’t be easy. Auburn has not had a 10-win season since 2017. Worse, the team tallied a mediocre 5-7 record last season. Nonetheless, Finebaum believes history is on the Tigers’ side.

“When I go back to 1981, at the beginning of my career, when Pat Dye flipped a player and then ultimately got Bo Jackson, as well,” Finebaum said. “That was that moment that we all remember back to when Auburn started moving toward legitimacy. When Auburn started trying to not only just unrealistically catch up to Alabama and, in this case, Georgia — Georgia was also at the top of the heap back then — but did it realistically.

“You have to start with moments like this. You build on them. That commitment two weeks ago led to this commitment which will lead to others, and, unless you have that, you really can never get off the ground. Hugh Freeze has that now, and I think it will prove to be a bountiful harvest,” Finebaum said.

Hired on Nov. 28, 2022, Freeze didn’t have the same time frame to stack his 2023 recruiting class. However, the coach will aim to make the most of what he has. After all, the 53-year-old coach already envisions his Tigers at the top of the SEC.

“I would see us in the upper echelon of this conference,” Hugh Freeze said at SEC Media Days. “There’s no reason — we have the facilities, we have the support, we have the administration, and you’re in an area that football’s important, and you’re in an area that you can recruit to.”

Freeze and his fellow Tigers take their first step on the treacherous path back to top of college football on Sept. 2 against Massachusetts.