Auburn football: Previewing the first unofficial visitors to the Plains

It’s finally happening! The world is healing and recruits are allowed to visit schools in person, which means that the Auburn football team is juggling a packed schedule this month. The first official visits for the Tigers begin the weekend of June 4-6, but unofficial visitors will arrive on the Plains first thing Tuesday morning.

The first week free of the NCAA recruiting dead period is full of action for the Tigers, with unofficial visitors scheduled Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before seven prospects arrive for their official visit Friday.

The most important difference between official and unofficial visits is that official visits are financed by the program, while unofficial visits are completely funded by recruits and their families. There is also no limit on the number of unofficial visits a recruit can take, while the NCAA allows only one official visit per school per recruit and only five OVs total.

Auburn football will kick off their unofficial visits by hosting Eston Harris Jr. and Tre Emory, both 3-star athletes in the class of 2022.

Eston Harris Jr. is an offensive tackle from Opelika, AL, just outside of Auburn. Ranked as the No. 17 recruit out of the state of Alabama and the No. 40 offensive tackle in the recruiting class of 2022, he’s being recruited by the Tigers’ O-Line coach, Will Friend.

The Beauregard High School athlete has 34 offers so far from schools including Georgia, Florida State, Penn State, and USC, but his only official visit listed on his recruiting profile is to Oregon on June 18. 247 Sports lists his main interests as Auburn, Oregon, and FSU.

The other recruit taking an unofficial visit to the Plains on June 1 is Tre Emory, a defensive lineman from Mount Pleasant, TX. Emory’s offers come from all over the map, and he has already scheduled all five of his official visits in the month of June. Emory will officially visit Arkansas, Arizona, Baylor, Oregon State, and Oklahoma State.

As a junior, Emory played nine games in the 2021 season and totaled 48 tackles including 9 tackles for loss. He also recorded six sacks, two passes deflected, and one fumble recovery.

Both Eston Harris Jr. and Tre Emory would be valuable additions to the 2022 roster, and hopefully, the experience of being on the Plains is enough to convince them to stay.