With spring practice officially beginning today for Auburn football, we can expect to see lots of recruits visiting the Plains to get a feel for the Tigers’ program and coaching staff between this month and the next.
The Tigers are hosting a pair of 4-star defensive backs on the Plains today, and more visitors are already scheduled to make their way to campus throughout the 34-day period permitted for spring training.
One of second-year head coach Bryan Harsin’s top priorities since taking over Auburn football has been to keep major talent in the state of Alabama and at Auburn University, and the trend continues on as the Tigers prepare to have 4-star Kelby Collins on campus this spring.
The Gardendale, AL, native is currently listed as the #77 overall prospect and #9 defensive lineman in the recruiting class of 2023, and the #8 prospect out of the state of Alabama. He has received over 20 offers so far from programs including Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ole Miss, Miami, and Texas A&M, among others.
Back in October, Collins listed his Top 8 programs as Alabama, Clemson, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida, Texas, South Carolina, and Auburn football. He noted in a later tweet that his Top 5 will be announced after the month of March, and it may include new programs:
Year 17❤️ my recruitment is still 100% open pic.twitter.com/qcKiFf6wrQ
— Kelby Collins (@kelby_collins) October 21, 2021
After March the list is down to 5 and there will be new faces 👀
— Kelby Collins (@kelby_collins) March 13, 2022
Auburn football’s defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh is working hard on Collins’ recruitment, and Auburn Undercover reports that Collins is eager to get on campus to get more facetime with the coach and see the inner workings of the program:
"“I am going — I’m not sure yet (when). I just know I want to get to a practice. I think it’s going to be in March,” Collins said. “Just to feel how everybody works together, how the new coaching staff is doing. I want to see how the players take coaching from (Brumbaugh).”"
Collins was present on the Plains for the 2021 Iron Bowl and expects to be back sometime this spring. He plans to narrow down his choices following visits taken in March, and hopefully make a final commitment before the beginning of the season.