Auburn football: Air Noland pulls out of Junior Day, plans Bama visit

The Auburn football program will host a massive recruiting event this weekend in head coach Hugh Freeze’s first Junior Day. Prospects from the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes and beyond will visit the Plains this weekend to get to know the new coaching staff and tour the Tigers’ brand new facility.

Earlier this week, Auburn Undercover’s Keith Niebuhr reported that 2024 quarterback target Air Noland would be in attendance at Junior Day. Since then, Noland has quietly disappeared from the list and reappeared on BamaOnline’s Junior Day attendance list. It seems that the longtime quarterback target, who was on the verge of a commitment over the summer, may be considering the Tigers’ rivals as his college program instead.

Noland, a native of Fairburn, GA, is ranked as the #118 overall prospect and the #11 quarterback in the recruiting class of 2024, and is the #22 recruit out of the state of Georgia. He attends Langston-Hughes High School, home to many top recruits—including Auburn football signee Terrance Love—and many recruits that the Tigers have been going after in the last few cycles.

The left-handed QB visited the Plains for four different home games this season, and also visited for Big Cat Weekend over the summer. On both On3 and 247Sports, Noland is predicted to land at Auburn, but it is clear that he has been considering all his options.

Since October of 2022, Air Noland has unofficially visited Mississippi State, Georgia Tech, Miami, and Texas A&M, but it does not appear that he has ever visited Tuscaloosa in a recruiting capacity. Is this bad news for Auburn football, or is the young athlete simply seeing what’s out there before it becomes decision time?

It’s also possible that although Noland was a high priority for Bryan Harsin’s staff, Hugh Freeze and his staffers may be interested in looking elsewhere for a 2024 quarterback, and there are several who are supposed to be on campus this week for Junior Day. Either way, Noland and Alabama is a situation to keep your eye on.