Auburn RB on if Tigers will lose top two recruiting targets: ‘No’

Auburn football running back Damari Alston is confident the Tigers won’t miss out on two of their top 2024 recruiting targets, wideout Perry Thompson out of Foley and Clanton (Ala.) Chilton County linebacker Demarcus Riddick — answering the question from a barn tweeter with a resounding “No.”

Both recruits are likely to end up with either AU or Alabama, with Thompson a Crimson Tide commit with eyes on a Big Cat Weekend visit and Riddick a Georgia flip candidate who is considering the Yellowhammer State’s two SEC programs. On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons wrote last week that Riddick is likely to make his decision on July 26.

“Riddick has made it known that on July 26, his mother’s birthday, he will announce his final decision,” Simmons said (h/t On3’s Keegan Pope). “At that time, Riddick is expected to flip to Alabama or Auburn. This is still trending toward Alabama, but Auburn has made up ground this summer. At one time, Joseph Phillips was all but committed to Georgia, then he committed to Auburn.”

Auburn football beating out Georgia and Alabama on recruiting trail would mark a changing of the times

Thompson flipping from Alabama to Auburn football would undoubtedly be the biggest win for Hugh Freeze and Co. during his first offseason cycle, but landing a 5-star linebacker who signed with the two-time defending national champions would not be far behind.

The whole reason Gus Malzahn was fired in 2020 was that it was clear that Alabama and Georgia were leaving AU in the dust on the trail and on the field, so seeing Freeze challenge them in the former before giving it a go at the latter would inspire even more hype for a fanbase that saw the program come nowhere close under Bryan Harsin.

Stay tuned, because it appears Freeze’s players believe we’re getting exactly what the Auburn family needs very soon.