Auburn Tigers news: Ex-Tigers DL commits to Illinois, Freshman All-American offered

Hugh Freeze’s Auburn Tigers had a busy weekend on the recruiting trail as Army-Navy and the FCS postseason carried the load for college football fans ahead of bowl season. Particularly in the trenches.

On one side of the ball, Freeze has offered a Freshman All-American transfer from an SEC program undergoing a rapid offseason rebuild, while on the other, there’s an outbound transfer who found a new home in the Big Ten.

Let’s get to it.

Auburn Tigers offer Texas A&M offensive lineman transfer Chase Bisontis

Texas A&M offensive lineman transfer Chase Bisontis, who’s also been offered by LSU, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, Oregon, Missouri, Oklahoma, USC, Michigan, Tennessee, Michigan State, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Penn State, Syracuse, South Carolina, Rutgers, Kansas State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Miami, Boston College, Nebraska, and SMU (h/t Auburn Daily’s Zac Blackerby), figures to be an uphill climb for Freeze and Jake Thornton, but fortune favors the bold — and there hasn’t been a single powerhouse Auburn is afraid of challenging after flipping Demarcus Riddick from Georgia, Perry Thompson from Alabama, and Cam Coleman from Texas A&M.

If Freeze can once again pick the bones of former Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher after nabbing Coleman from the portal on December 1, AU will have made major strides offensively after a largely underwhelming 2023 season.

Former Auburn Tigers defensive lineman Enyce Sledge chooses Illinois in transfer portal

In the defensive trenches, Auburn officially suffered the loss of Enyce Sledge, who decided on Bret Bielema’s Illinois as his next collegiate landing spot. While the Tigers only saw a quarter’s worth of snaps in his two-year Auburn tenure, The Champaign Room’s Noah Cowell believes Sledge can be an essential presence for the Fighting Illini.

“Sledge only played 15 total snaps over two years with the Tigers, but his presence may prove to be essential for a line that needs to fill the gaping holes that the NFL Draft departures of Johnny Newton (All-American) and Keith Randolph Jr. (All-Big Ten) are leaving,” Cowell wrote.

If he can be that at Illinois, here’s to seeing Sledge breakout in Champaign.