Auburn football’s Week 13 matchup against Texas A&M could prove disastrous to Hugh Freeze’s recruiting

Saturday is a must-win matchup for Coach Freeze's Tigers, both for the bowl eligibility of his team and the security of his recruiting.
Saturday is a must-win matchup for Coach Freeze's Tigers, both for the bowl eligibility of his team and the security of his recruiting. / Brett Patzke-Imagn Images
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Auburn football’s matchup against Texas A&M in Week 13 is crucial for a variety of reasons. For one, the Tigers are trying to keep their bowl hopes alive; but arguably more importantly, with tens of potential recruits making their way to the Plains to watch this game, a bad loss could spell the end of Coach Hugh Freeze’s recruiting classes from 2025 and beyond as we know them.

Though Auburn’s official visitors for this game are headlined by four-star 2025 Georgia runningback commit Ousmane Kromah, as On3’s Jeffrey Lee reports, the list of prospects visiting Jordan-Hare Saturday is longer than a CVS receipt.

22 Class of 2026 prospects will be in attendance for this game, headlined by Alabama commit Vodney Cleveland and DE Anthony “Tank” Jones.

Additionally, 19 Auburn commits will also grace Jordan-Hare with their presence, including Deuce Knight, who made headlines earlier this week with the news that Ole Miss was officially putting a significant amount of resources in play to attempt to flip the five-star QB.

Other Auburn commits in attendance include four-star RB Alvin Henderson, who’s also been the subject of several headlines, most notably smashing several Alabama high school records in his senior season.

Additionally, new Auburn commit Shamar Arnoux will make his first trip to the Plains as a commit after the Tigers flipped him from USC just last week.

Finally, eight 2027 prospects and three 2028 prospects will join this elite class of players on the field Saturday, representing the potential future of Coach Freeze’s Tigers.

As it stands, many of these athletes have shown significant interest in Auburn (if they’re not committed already), but it is very much possible that a subpar performance against Texas A&M could spell the end for a lot of these players’ interest in Auburn. 

Coach Freeze has been incredible with his recruiting thus far, earning the No. 5-ranked 2025 class in the country despite an abysmal 4-6 record; though, one eventually begins to wonder how far this recruiting dominance can really go.