Auburn recruiting: How George Pickens is emerging as biggest piece to Tigers’ 2019 class

The 2019 Auburn recruiting class is shaping up nicely and there’s a lot of momentum with it as we move into summer.

Auburn is fortunate in that three of its biggest members of the 2019 class — QB Bo Nix, LB Owen Pappoe and WR George Pickens — also are three of the Tigers’ biggest recruiters.

Normally, the quarterback becomes the face of the recruiting class and plays the role of lead recruiter. Nix has embraced that role. It’s also good to have your 5-star commitment out in front of the headlines and talking to recruits. Pappoe is doing that.

It also helps to have a player making headlines with his performances on the camp circuit. All three are doing that. But Pickens continues doing eye-popping things.

And there’s no bigger stage to do it than at The Opening. According to AL.com’s Josh Bean:

"At The Opening, Pickens’ 1-handed catch on the first day of the camp turned heads, and he showed an amazing ability to pick up yardage chunks — and make defenders miss — during 7on7 action. While he needs to be more consistent, no player showed a greater ability to make acrobatic catches than Pickens."

The last several weeks, Pickens has shown up on highlight after highlight and 247Sports’ John Garcia Jr. highlighted the connection between Pickens and Nix in one of his best-of-the-day videos. Here’s Nix-to-Pickens in No. 7.

It’s clear that it’s only a matter of time before Pickens gets bumped in the 247Sports player rankings and if he doesn’t receive a fifth star by the time the 2019 wraps up, there’s something wrong with the star-measuring system.

At The Opening finals, Pickens was named to the “Dream Team,” ahead of Georgia commitment (and Auburn target) Jadon Haselwood. Haselwood is a 5-star player ranked as the nation’s top receiver and No. 6 player overall.

This came from Barton Simmons, 247Sports’ national director of scouting:

"Pickens barely edged out his teammate Jadon Haselwood for this spot and it was huge showing in the championship game that ultimately gave him the edge. Pickens delivered big plays and highlight-worthy moments all weekend and no defensive back could deal with his size. He’s committed to Auburn."

“Committed to Auburn” sure sounds nice, doesn’t it?

Here are more highlights from 247Sports, focusing on Pickens:

The challenge for Gus Malzahn and his staff from now until National Signing Day will be fending off every major program that wants to get Pickens on campus in an attempt to sway him from Auburn. But it sounds like Pickens is all Auburn.

The more attention he gets, the more he dominates on big stages and the upcoming season at Hoover, the more other recruits will be drawn to playing alongside him in college.

He told AuburnUndercover’s Keith Niebuhr this about Haselwood:

"He loves me and Bo. He likes Auburn a lot. He just doesn’t know right now. But I really think his top two are Auburn and Georgia — I know that."

The next seven or so months of the 2019 recruiting cycle should be interesting for the Auburn recruiting class. As long as Nix, Pappoe and Pickens are part of it, the sky is the limit for the impact it could have on Auburn football.

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