Auburn football battling Missouri for 3-star safety CJ Johnson

The Auburn football program has a lot of ground to cover ahead of the early national signing period that kicks off at the end of the month on December 21. The Tigers have only 13 commits so far, tied for the fewest number in the SEC, and they place dead last in the conference in recruiting rankings for the class of 2023.

Since Hugh Freeze was hired to replace Bryan Harsin, he’s already had significantly more recruiting wins than Harsin did, including securing the commitments of three different offensive linemen out of high school that were previously on the fence about Auburn or committed elsewhere.

With the clock winding down on this period of recruitment, it’s turned into a battle of SEC programs for 3-star safety CJ Johnson. Ranked as the #64 safety in the recruiting class of 2023 and the #119 prospect out of the state of Texas, Johnson has been hearing a lot from the Auburn football coaching staff lately.

He unofficially visited this week, and that was followed up by an in-home visit conducted by secondary coaches Wesley McGriff and Zac Etheridge. McGriff has been recruiting Johnson for some time, dating back to when he worked at Louisville, and now has been able to offer Johnson a second time.

Although the safety is taking an official visit this upcoming weekend to Missouri’s campus, Keith Niebuhr of Auburn Live reports that Johnson has spoken with Coaches McGriff and Etheridge about splitting the weekend between Missouri and Auburn football.

"“I’m visiting Missouri (officially) this weekend,” Johnson told Auburn Live. “But I might do half and half. Missouri on Friday and Saturday and then I might go to Auburn for Sunday. When I was talking about it with (Auburn secondary coach Wesley McGriff) and Coach Etheridge, they told me I could do half and half.”"

The 3-star safety is expected to make an official announcement next Wednesday between Missouri and Auburn.