Auburn football: Tre Donaldson is Bryan Harsin’s loss and Bruce Pearl’s gain

Instead of competing with the likes of Zion Puckett, Cayden Bridges, Caleb Wooden, and co. for a spot in the Auburn football secondary, Tre Donaldson will be trying to earn backcourt minutes in a crowded AU hoops rotation against Wendell Green Jr., Zep Jasper, and KD Johnson.

The six-foot-one 4-star safety product out of Tallahassee is choosing not to compete on the gridiron this fall, instead, focusing solely on the hardwood and what he can accomplish on an Auburn basketball squad coming off a regular-season SEC title. 

Auburn basketball HC Bruce Pearl and Auburn football HC Bryan Harsin updated Tiger fans at an AU alumni event in Atlanta Tuesday evening.

Here’s what Pearl had to say about his incoming PG product:

"“He loves basketball. He loves being a floor general. He’s a tough, physical defender. Pretty good with and without the ball. [Donaldson] is truly going to be basketball only.”"

Tre Donaldson was a higher rated recruit for Auburn football

In many ways, this is a pretty big blow to Bryan Harsin and co. At the same time, it’s a huge victory for Bruce Pearl’s coaching staff, particularly the team’s medical staff, because of how healthy and fresh Donaldson will be when he takes to the court for the Tigers without any heavy bruising from football activities.

That said, Donaldson was actually a higher-rated football recruit than he was as a basketball recruit. The FSU High School product played both sides of the ball, as both a safety and a quarterback.

Obviously, that means very little when it comes to how Donaldson will perform for Pearl moving forward, but it’s still interesting to see the pull that the Tigers’ basketball program has. Ten years ago, you wouldn’t catch a dual-sport recruit choosing hoops or football on the Plains.

The times they are a-changin’ indeed.