Auburn RB confident Hugh Freeze will take recruiting mantle from Nick Saban

Auburn football running back Damari Alston let it be known on social media that he foresees new Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze taking over the recruiting mantle in the state of Alabama from Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban.

In responding to an Alabama fan who took an Auburn fan’s proclamation as a sign of no confidence the Tigers can flip 5-star Crimson Tide commit Perry Thompson, Alston said that Freeze will, for certain, take over Saban one day.

Is that day soon? It’s unclear, but Auburn football even being in the mix for Thompson is a sign that the blue-chip recruiting futility displayed on the trail — or rather, from anywhere else but on the recruiting trail it seemed — from Bryan Harsin and his coaching staff is a thing of the past.

Auburn football head coach Hugh Freeze got a former Ole Miss star to recruit against his alma mater

Perhaps the most notable part of Thompson’s recruitment to those outside of the state of Alabama is the fact that Freeze got his former star wideout at Ole Miss, DK Metcalf, to recruit against his alma mater as OutKick’s Grayson Weir pointed out.

“Auburn football is going all-out to flip five-star wide receiver Perry Thompson from his commitment to Alabama,” Weir prefaced before saying, “D.K. Metcalf was involved in the recruitment push, even though he went to one of the Tigers’ in-division rivals. Although Metcalf was recruiting against his alma mater, he got on the phone with Thompson for Freeze.”

Thompson could ultimately stick with Alabama, but the palpable buzz Freeze’s attempted flip caused within the state has the Iron Bowl rivalry looking like one that could conceivably be won by either team. That certainly was absent two of the past three years when the game was played in Tuscaloosa.