In his first year leading the Auburn Tigers, Hugh Freeze’s team went 6-6, but they were just one play away from ending on a very high note. The loss in the Iron Bowl, which let Alabama sneak into the College Football Playoff, hurt the program, but ultimately Auburn is a team on the rise.
Hugh Freeze was very busy in the transfer portal last offseason, but not all his additions paid dividends in 2023. Now, the transfer portal is open and Freeze will be looking to plug the remaining holes on his roster, and replace the five players from his own team who have already hopped in the portal on Day 1.
Competing in the SEC is getting even harder next season, but Freeze, with the No. 11 recruiting class in 2024, has already shown he can get top-tier high school talent. That will ultimately define his success over the long haul, but what improvements he makes in the transfer portal, will make the biggest difference next year.
Let’s take a look at what positions the Tigers should be hunting, and who are the top players and best fits to target at those spots.
Defensive line
SEC size on the defensive line is a clear need for Auburn. You could also point to the linebacker group, but for me, it all starts up front with run defense and pass rush. The Tigers finished the regular season 88th in run defense, allowing 167.2 rushing yards per game and 5.6 yards per rush (77th).
In Auburn’s worst loss of the season, a 31-10 drubbing at Jordan-Hare Stadium by New Mexico State, the Aggies ran for 213 yards and gained 6.4 yards per play. In that game, and most of the season, the Auburn interior pass rush had a negligible impact.
For the season, the Tigers ranked 46th in sacks per game, and only linebacker Jalen McLeod ranked in the top 20 in the SEC in pressures. McLeod had 35 and their top defensive lineman Marcus Harris had 24. Behind Harris, Jayson Jones and Justin Rogers finished tied with seven pressures, ranking 125th in the SEC among all defensive players, and were the second-highest defensive lineman on Auburn’s roster.
Walter Nolen was the crown jewel of Texas A&M’s legendary 2022 recruiting class. He was the No. 2 overall player and is now rated as the No. 1 overall transfer. In two seasons, Nolen has racked up five sacks and in 2023 generated 16 total pressures.
He, like much of Texas A&M’s stacked roster, has been underwhelming in terms of his on-field production, but everyone knows there is more to unlock in Nolen’s 6-foot-4 290 290-pound frame. Nolen is more of a three-technique interior player, but he did lineup over the tackle for 89 of his snaps and on the edge for 110. That not only shows versatility but is similar to how Auburn utilized Marcus Harris this season, only with slightly fewer reps on the edge.
At 6-foot-4 298 pounds, Cook provides a bit more heft to the interior defensive line. He had six tackles for loss and one sack this year at MTSU. His 15 pressures, only rank 134th among defensive linemen, but are much more than Jones and Rogers, who he would be playing over.
In 2022, Cook was a dominant pass-rusher with 6.5 sacks and a staggering 49 total pressures. Whatever team ultimately signs Cook is hoping to get that version of him. He already has offers from plenty of P5 schools.
Mike Elko is off to Texas A&M, so most of the Duke roster is off to the transfer portal. That’s good news for teams who need defensive talent because Elko was excellent at developing it. Aeneas Peebles is a finished product as a graduate transfer who is coming off a season with a career-high four sacks.
Peebles ranked 20th among defensive linemen in the country with his 27 pressures, and the 6-foot-1 286-pound interior lineman also registered 19 stops. A stop is a PFF stat that refers to a tackle that results in a “failure” for the offense.
He would be a true interior pass-rusher, who may not be as helpful against the run but would terrify opposing guards.
Wide receiver
Hugh Freeze got his quarterback from the portal last season, and now it’s time to get him some weapons. Auburn brought in Shane Hooks, Jyaire Shorter, Caleb Burton, and Nick Mardner from the transfer portal last offseason, but none of those receivers elevated themselves to a prominent role in Freeze’s offense.
Now, Hooks and Mardner are out of eligibility, Shorter is in the portal again, and so is Malcolm Johnson Jr. That leaves Ja’Varrius Johnson, Jay Fair, and Caleb Burton, who combined for 60 catches last year. That’s simply not enough production on the outside for Payton Thorne to succeed against SEC defenses, even with tight end Rivaldo Fairweather leading the team in receiving yards.
Freeze is bringing in two five-star wide receivers, Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson as part of the 2024 recruiting class, but the Tigers desperately need a veteran presence for next season.
Ohio State receiver Julian Fleming is the perfect veteran presence for the Tigers to add. In 2022, Fleming had 34 catches for 533 yards and six touchdowns, but that was with CJ Stroud at quarterback. Under Kyle McCord’s watch, he regressed to 270 yards on 26 grabs.
The talent as a playmaker and pass catcher is certainly there, but in his limited role, he developed into a very strong run blocker. That’s not just a very valuable skill on its own, it will make Fleming a great role model for Auburn’s two five-star freshmen.
Oh, and the last underachieving Ohio State wide receiver to transfer to a school in Alabama went for 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns on 79 catches in a single season. That was Jameson Williams in 2021 at Alabama.
There aren’t a lot of bright spots in Nashville, but Will Sheppard is probably the brightest among them. His teammate, fellow wide receiver London Humphreys already left for Georgia in the portal, but Sheppard was the one who led the team in catches and receiving yards with 47 for 684 and eight touchdowns.
He’s a true outside receiver with good size at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. For the 2023 season, with questionable quarterback play, he averaged 1.90 yards per route run and brought in 14 contest catches.
There are a few mid-major players who were highly productive at lower levels that Auburn could target, but those players, like Coleman and Thompson, will have a learning curve, and Thorne desperately needs a talented player who will hit the ground running. That could be Notre Dame’s leading receiver Chris Tyree, as a graduate transfer.
Tyree averaged 18.6 yards per reception with 484 yards on 26 catches. He averaged 2.93 yards per route run, and an impressive 8.9 yards after the catch per reception. The only issue is that Tyree plays exclusively from the slot, which is where Jay Fair led Auburn in receptions from in 2023.
Offensive line
One of Hugh Freeze’s first tasks of the offseason was to get Payton Thorne some protection for 2024. He immediately offered a few of the top offensive linemen in the country, including Gerquan Scott, Easton Kilty, and Alan Herron.
Both of Auburn’s starting offensive guards from 2023 have run out of eligibility, Gunner Britton and Kam Stutts. There is a chance that standout left tackle Dillon Wade departs early for the NFL draft. Freeze’s proactive behavior would indicate that he feels Wade is likely to test the NFL waters, or that his team needs a lot of help even with Wade as the incumbent left tackle.
Scott primarily played left guard at Southern Miss, so he would be a great replacement for either Britton or Stutts on the left or right interior. In his 2,543 snaps over multiple seasons at Southern Miss, he only allowed eight sacks. Thorne was sacked 28 times this year and Stutts and Britton allowed eight of those.
The addition of Scott would sure up the interior of the offensive line and ensure that Thorne is not dealing with those same issues this year.
Even if Dillon Wade stays at Auburn for another year, the Tigers should add a transfer tackle. Wade’s counterpart, Izavion Miller allowed a team-high 18 pressures and three sacks at right tackle in 2023. He received a PFF pass-blocking grade of 47.5.
Kilty played at left tackle in 2023, but the year prior was North Dakota’s right guard, so he’ll provide some much-needed versatility, depth, and competition at right or left tackle.
Alan Herron is the most highly sought-after DII transfer of this cycle. Herron is originally from Jamaica and has taken a much different path through college football, spending his first two years at Shorter University in Georgia.
Herron very quickly was offered by Auburn, Clemson, Louisville, Miami, Penn State, and others once he entered the transfer portal.
Auburn football transfer updates from first day of portal being open
Fly War Eagle presents Auburn football updates from the first day of the fall 2023 open window of the NCAA Transfer Portal.