The spring transfer portal window has come and gone, so now, barring anything unforeseen, Auburn’s roster for Year 3 of the Hugh Freeze era is complete. The Tigers are coming off back-to-back losing seasons with major pressure on their head coach, and he acted accordingly with significant additions in both the winter and spring portal windows.
Freeze has dominated the recruiting trail, but with his loaded 2024 class still just entering its second season in the program, Freeze needed to make win-now moves to add veterans in the transfer portal, and that’s exactly what these three players are.
Auburn’s 3 biggest transfer portal additions
The most important position on the football field has been Freeze’s biggest problem through two seasons on The Plains. Payton Thorne wasn’t an SEC-caliber quarterback in his first season after transferring from Michigan State, and Freeze wasn’t able to develop him into one for last season either.
Thorne is gone, and Freeze went back to the portal for the solution to his QB conundrum, adding former five-star Jackson Arnold. Arnold struggled in his only season as a starter at Oklahoma, getting benched for a true freshman on a dysfunctional offense in Norman. Now at Auburn, Arnold won’t need to worry about wide receiver talent because there is more than enough, so he’ll have every opportunity to reach his full potential for the Tigers.
Still, Arnold is unproven with just 10 career starts. He averaged 5.8 yards per attempt last season and failed to crack 1,500 passing yards. If Freeze got it wrong, he has a promising backup plan in true freshman Deuce Knight, but if neither QB can vault this program into SEC contention, this could be Freeze’s final season at Auburn.
You wouldn’t think that the program that added the most talented group of wide receivers in the country in the 2024 recruiting class would need to take a big swing at an offensive playmaker in the transfer portal, but Freeze can’t afford to take chances on an all-sophomore wideout room.
A dynamic weapon, Singleton caught 56 passes for 754 yards and three touchdowns while adding 131 yards on 21 carries. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Georgia Tech transfer can line up all over the offense and will be the perfect WR2 complement to Cam Coleman as the former five-star grows into a bigger role this season.
Singleton will help replace the lost production from KeAndre Lambert-Smith as he moved on to the NFL. Behind Coleman and Singleton, sophomores Malcolm Simmons and Perry Thompson will battle for WR3 reps, and after all the injuries suffered by wide receivers at Oklahoma last season, any of those four would have been Arnold’s most talented target.
With Eugene Asante, Dorian Mausi, and Austin Keys all gone, DJ Durkin had to completely overhaul the linebacker group, and Caleb Wheatland completed that process when he arrived at Auburn in the spring portal window. Wheatland played 466 defensive snaps for Maryland last season, racking up 42 tackles and four sacks.
The Virginia native fills a massive hole on Auburn’s defense and should be in line for a starting job from Day 1. Robert Woodyard, Demarcus Riddick, and freshman J.J. Faulk should all be in the mix for reps at middle linebacker, but no matter who wins the lion’s share of the reps, Wheatland will be a significant contributor.
Auburn’s 2 biggest transfer portal losses:
It’s never easy to build offensive line depth, and in the transfer portal era, it’s even harder to keep it. After transferring from Mississippi State, Percy Lewis spent just one season at Auburn before heading to Ole Miss this offseason.
The 6-foot-7, 355-pound offensive tackle replaced Tyler Johnson at left tackle early in the season before relinquishing the starting role to Dillon Wade. Freeze addressed the tackle spots with the additions of veteran transfers Xavier Chaplin and Mason Murphy, but you can never have enough bodies in the trenches, so the loss of Lewis could be felt if the Tigers sustain injuries up front.
Keionte Scott started 22 games over three years at Auburn and played safety, outside corner, and nickel for the Tigers. He has just one season of eligibility remaining and, after transferring to Houston in the winter window, has decided to spend it at Miami (FL) with a spring portal move.
Kayin Lee, Jay Crawford, and Miami (OH) transfer Raion Strader should provide Durkin with solid options at cornerback, but the Tigers may be forced to turn to an inexperienced player in the slot. Safety Sylvester Smith should see an increased role there with Scott gone, but behind the redshirt sophomore, Durkin could be forced to lean on true freshman safety Anquon Fegans.