Auburn Class of 2020, One of Malzahn’s Best Ever?
With the great success Auburn’s coaching staff has had recruiting this off-season the class of 2020 is poised to be one of Malzahn’s best yet.
Fireworks aren’t the only “booms” you’ll be hearing this July. The Auburn Tigers are making plenty of noise on the recruitment trail this summer.
Gus Malzahn and his coaching staff have been hitting the recruitment trail extremely hard this summer receiving seven commitments since just the beginning of June and their efforts are paying dividends. On July 1st four-star receiver Ze’Vian Capers committed to Auburn and less than 24 hours later the Tigers landed four-star linebacker Wesley Steiner.
The talent in the 2020 class is stacked with 13 total commits and the class ranks 13th nationally and 6th in the SEC. In the 48 hours that Capers and Steiner committed, Auburn jumped six spots in national rankings.
Two coaches that have been working particularly hard this offseason have been wide receivers coach Kodi Burns and offensive line coach J.B. Grimes.
Wide receivers coach Kodi Burns has also received four commitments total in four-star receivers Kobe Hudson, Ze’Vian Capers, J.J. Evans, and three-star receiver Elijah Canion. Recruiting success isn’t new for Burns. Last year he was recognized by Rivals.com as one of 2018’s top recruiters after adding Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz, Matthew Hill, and Shedrick Jackson to Auburn’s roster. The receiving corps shined in this year’s A-Day game with Seth Williams and Matthew Hill each scoring two touchdowns in the first half. In a postgame press conference Williams was adamant about turning Auburn into Receiver U which is what Burns and his squad are well on their way to doing.
On the heels of a season where depth at offensive line broke the offense, Malzahn and Grimes have pushed the emphasis on recruiting offensive linemen. In February Grimes acquired commitments from three-star offensive tackle Jonathan Buskey and three-star offensive guard Avery Jernigan. In June Grimes brought in even more talent when four-star offensive guard Tate Johnson and four-star offensive tackle Javion Cohen both committed to Auburn almost within a week of each other. Auburn’s offensive line will be one of the most improved units on the field this upcoming season, but with depth and strong talent like 6’7 320-pound JUCO commit Jonathan Buskey coming in this future line has the opportunity to be championship caliber once again.
Well evidenced amid all this recruiting success lies the foreshadowing that the future’s bright for Auburn football. Check out 24/7 Sports for a full list of Auburn’s 2020 commits.
https://247sports.com/college/auburn/Season/2020-Football/Commits/