Auburn used to have Cam Coleman, and it felt like the start of something special. He arrived as a 5-star, the No. 5 overall recruit in the 2024 class, and immediately looked like a problem for SEC secondaries. Going on to catch 37 passes for 598 yards and eight touchdowns as a true freshman en route to SEC All-Freshman honors. Then Hugh Freeze started stinking up the place, and the offense fell apart around him. Then by the time his sophomore season ended, Coleman was gone. He left as the No. 1 overall player in the transfer portal, and he landed at Texas.
Today he reminded everyone exactly why that loss still stings, and is only about to get worse during the 2026 season.
A video of Coleman making a highlight-reel catch at Texas practice went viral on Saturday. Painfully, it's exactly the kind of play Auburn fans spent two years hoping he'd make for them. The 15-second clip shows Coleman sprinting across the field, leaping, and snagging a wobbly, off-target pass with his left hand. Longhorn fans hope that wasn't Arch Manning, but I digress. He then shook off a Texas defensive back and took it to the house for a touchdown. Within four hours, the video racked up millions of views and even drew viral reactions from former NFL quarterback Russell Wilson and ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid.
The catch radius is insane
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) August 8, 2026
Cam Coleman 🤯 pic.twitter.com/yyKGbWetBP
What makes this one hurt even more is how easily Coleman made the decision to leave town. Back in April, he told reporters it "wasn't really that hard" to walk away from Auburn.
"Just a lot of prayer, a lot of thought, a lot of talk with my family... Texas has been doing in the past, what they've got rolling, going on here. Really, it was just a good fit for me," Coleman said.
There were no shots fired and no bitterness in that answer. Coleman just looked at the situation on the Plains and decided it wasn't where his talent was going to get maximized.
Cam Coleman probably found what he was looking for
Now he's catching passes from Manning, inarguably the most talented quarterback he's ever played with, in an offense Coleman says lets him show his full skill set. He and Manning have been building that chemistry daily in practice, and Coleman has said Manning even tells him exactly where he wants him positioned on certain routes.
It's one thing to lose a 5-star talent to a bigger, better-resourced program. It's another thing entirely to watch that talent go make viral, Russell Wilson-approved catches within his first two weeks of fall camp, wearing a uniform that isn't yours anymore.
Auburn fans, I get it. I hope Coleman balls out in Austin. I just wish we'd gotten to see this version of him in orange and blue instead.
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