Paul Finebaum breaks down Auburn's recruiting pitch, why it's exciting

Auburn must be doing something right on the recruiting trail. With Hugh Freeze down on The Plains, you can already feel his impact, especially after swiping a linebacker from Georgia and a wide receiver from Alabama.

However, Paul Finebaum says that it’s more than that. On ‘McElroy and Cubelic In The Morning’ yesterday, Finebaum thinks several things are at play but that the bottom line is that the Tigers are now the brand that’s new on the blocks to recruits at the moment.

“I think it’s a number of things. Playing time matters but being part of something new and fresh (does too),” said Finebaum. “When you’re behind and your two biggest rivals are, essentially, the two best teams in the country? It’s exciting to want to go play there.”

“You either want to go and play for the best, which a lot of guys do. It’s obvious. Or else Alabama and Georgia wouldn’t load five-stars up like the rest of us drink water on a hot July day. Or you want to be part of something new,” Finebaum explained.

The flips of five-star LB Demarcus Riddick and five-star WR Perry Thompson got people’s attention when it came to Auburn over the last week. No one steals prospects from Kirby Smart and Nick Saban in the span of a few days and doesn’t generate some kind of buzz.

Still, to Finebaum, he sees it as the Tigers taking advantage of their new position in the pecking order. After being at the top of the sport to start the last decade, they’ve spent the last few years in the middle or in downright disarray. Now, with Freeze leading the way, Finebaum believes he’s making the right pitch about what their future can be.

“Auburn hasn’t been in a position like this in some time,” Finebaum said. “The last five or six years have been depressing. Even in the last two or three years of Gus Malzhan, the train was off the tracks.”

“This is a moment in time where I think, if you’re a young athlete and you can go wherever you want, you go, ‘I can play at Georgia and win, maybe, the third or fourth national championship’, ‘I can play for Nick Saban and maybe be part of his final national championship’, or ‘I can go to Auburn and be part of a class that will forever be remembered,’” said Finebaum.

Finebaum believes recent recruiting surge will be a turning point for Auburn

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.”

“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.