Auburn football is in the running for a 4-star wide receiver for the class of 2022, which has already brought in a trio of recruits for the 2022 season.
Darrius Clemons, a prospect who relocated from Oregon to Utah–due to the Coronavirus pandemic wiping away high school sports in the state of Oregon–has the Tigers on his list of schools he could potentially be suiting up for in a year and a half.
While the Utah Utes seemingly have a built-in home-field advantage to land the six-foot-four, 210 lbs receiver, there is a long list of competitors from all across the country lining up to land the speedster from Portland.
Here’s each competitor by conference, per 247sports:
ACC: Virginia
Big Ten: Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Wisconsin
Big 12: Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia
Independents: Brigham Young
MAC: Central Michigan
Mountain West: Boise State, Nevada, UNLV, Utah State
Pac-12: Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Utah, Washington, Washington State
SEC: Auburn, Ole Miss
As you can see, Auburn football has its work cut out for them, with 29 other teams vying for Clemons as well.
Luckily, there are two built-in advantages Auburn has. The first, as Clemons pointed out, is familiar with head coach Bryan Harsin on a personal level (per Rivals):
"“Coach Harsin offered me before he took the job at Auburn, so I’ve known him,” Clemons said. “I like his offense. They like to get receivers that are really good at specific things, whether that’s a small, shifty guy or someone who can take the top off or a big-bodied receiver. They like to incorporate plays for them. Their offense is really catered to receivers.”"
The second advantage is that new receivers coach Cornelius Williams has already done a masterful job in his first month on the job, leaving a positive impression on the budding offensive superstar:
"“I just talked to Coach Williams again (on Tuesday),” Clemons said. “He is recruiting me hard and we’ve started to form a bond.”“I like him a lot,” Clemons said. “He’s a young guy. He’s new to Auburn and you can tell that he takes his job seriously and wants to build something great there. He is determined to be the best. He is determined to be a great coach, and I like that about him a lot.”"
With strong connections already being formed, Auburn football is keeping itself in the race for top recruits in the class of 2022 after a lackluster 2021.
Luckily, it appears that the hard work is paying off, as the Tigers are most definitely a legitimate landing spot for Clemons:
"“I’m very interested in Auburn,” Clemons said. “I’ve never been there, but I think I’m going to set up a virtual visit sometime soon.”"
Let’s hope the beauty of the Plains translates well over Zoom, and that Harsin and Williams can continue to woo Clemons in their recruitment pitches.