The third time wasn't a charm for Hugh Freeze. He lost the crown jewel of his program: his top 10 high school recruiting class in 2026.
It was bad as is with the consecutive losing seasons and the building up hot seat talks, not having their recruiting cycle among the top 10 worsened the trolls.
However, Rivals recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong believes Freeze can shed the albatross of having one bad recruiting cycle and get Auburn back into the top 10 recruiting cycle mix in 2026.
"Auburn has injected the roster with two Top 10 recruiting classes and what should be several impact transfers," Wiltfong said, referencing the Texas recruits Freeze and Co. are reportedly aggressively targeting to flip.
"Compete for a playoff spot and they'll be Spatula U at the end of this 2026 cycle."
Coming off two consecutive losing seasons, each with seven losses, getting to the College Football Playoff might sound like the bigger challenge than building another top 10 recruiting class in 2026.
But it does sound good enough to lure in some top-notch recruits from other schools and make them flip. Freeze already has two top recruiting classes integrated into his current roster.
The fans on the Plains are eager to see what the coveted recruits like Deuce Knight and Malik Autry can bring to Freeze's squad. Sought-after transfers like Jackson Arnold, Eric Singleton Jr., and Horatio Fields would be accompanying these recruits to chase a record good enough for the Tigers to make a college football playoff pitch.
Auburn's schedule looks like it could rake up a winning record if they win all the close-call games.
We'll see whether the top recruits and transfers can do that.