Auburn basketball: Tigers offer top-10 prospect in class of 2023

Auburn is going after one of the best rising high school sophomores in the country.

Auburn basketball may have recently missed out on five-star prospect Jonathan Kuminga after he decided to sign with the NBA G-League rather than take the college basketball route but that doesn’t mean that the Tigers don’t have their eyes on the elite talent of the future.

Fort Bend Bush high school sophomore Tyler Smith may have just finished his freshman season but the 6-foot-7 small forward is already seen as one of the top talents of his class. Smith, a five-star prospect out of Richmond, Texas, is rated by ESPN as the No. 10 prospect in the nation and the top player in the state for the class of 2023.

And while it’s still a few years before he graduates high school, Smith has already received multiple offers from power five schools, which, as of Thursday, now includes the Auburn Tigers.

https://twitter.com/tksmith1104/status/1283797191123927044

Smith has also recently received offers from schools such as Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, LSU and Baylor to name a few. As he continues to grow into his 6-foot-7, 195-pound frame and dominates at the high school level for years to come, his recruiting will likely pick up even more.

Nonetheless, it’s a positive sign to see Bruce Pearl and his staff contend with traditional powerhouses in college basketball for these top prospects. It’s also a good sign to see Auburn get in early on Smith’s recruiting.

And even though he was just a freshman, Smith helped the Fort Bend Bush Broncos to a 24-13 overall record last season before they fell in the second round of the state championships.

Smith’s recruitment by the Tigers also shows a continued recent trend of Pearl going into the state of Texas to recruit elite talent. In this month alone, Auburn has offered 2022 five-star center Lee Dort, four-star guards Rylan Griffen, Cason Wallace and three-star point guard Noah Shelby — all of whom are from the Lonestar state.