On3’s Justin Hokanson had nothing nice to say about the Auburn football recruiting Class of 2021 — one that was between the Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin eras, with a COVID-19 pandemic changing the way procedures took place on the recruiting trail.
“There’s lost signing classes, and there’s however one would describe Auburn football‘s 2021 signing class,” Hokanson prefaced before sharing, “Only five of the 22 combined high school and transfer portal signees from the class are on campus just two years later.”
As Hokanson would later reveal, the Auburn recruiting Class of 2021 has become barebones in every sense. Of those remaining from both the high school and transfer classes, three are expected to have roles in 2023.
“Jarquez Hunter, Garner Langlo and Cayden Bridges are the only prospects remaining from Auburn’s high school signing class that consisted of 19 players,” Hokanson wrote. “LSU transfer T.J. Finley and Vanderbilt transfer Donovan Kaufman are the only two remaining transfer portal players from the class.”
Auburn football Class of 2021 QB could leave after underwhelming showing on the Plains
Finley, a transfer from Ed Orgeron’s penultimate LSU squad in 2020, could leave Auburn football upon graduation from AU in order to take to the transfer portal once more. If he does, he’ll have had an underwhelming showing having been tabbed as QB1 competition for Bo Nix ahead of the 2021 season.
“Finley may transfer following his graduation in June,” Hokanson wrote. “If so, Finley will depart with wins over only Mercer and San Jose State as a starting quarterback. And if Finley does transfer, that’ll be 18 of 22 signees gone within two years and after producing very little, if anything of substance.”
Following a less-than-stellar A-Day performance in which Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze criticized Finley in live time, the Ponchatoula native seems destined to find a third college football home in the next few months.