Auburn Tigers football coach Hugh Freeze and Colorado Buffaloes football coach Deion Sanders are not having the best recruiting runs this summer.
While AU was able to bring on ex-Oklahoma hotrod Jackson Arnold and the No. 8 portal haul, and Coach Prime was able to come in at No. 19, with Liberty QB transfer Kaidon Salter -- a player who elevated the Flames in the post-Freeze era -- leading the way, their 2026 classes have fallen apart due to flips.
CBS Sports' Will Backus put the panic meter at 4 out of 5 for Freeze, shutting down any goodwill for a program that's seen the head coach suffer health issues and that's been buying time amidst losing based on the strength of the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles.
"It isn't just the fact that Auburn's recruiting class currently ranks behind the likes of Oregon State and Houston -- both programs that have a comparable amount of recruits. It's the fact that the Tigers have had two four-star prospects decommit in June. Linebacker Shadarius Toodle flipped to Georgia, while wide receiver Devin Carter, who ranks as the No. 15 WR in 2026, jumped ship for a Florida State team that went 2-10 last season. Granted, Carter is a Florida State legacy, so the Seminoles were able to play that distinct advantage in their favor. The top prospect in Auburn's class, four-star edge rusher Hezekiah Harris, took official visits to Florida and Tennessee as he's actively looking around at other schools," Backus wrote.
"The Tigers did do well to flip Top247 quarterback Peyton Falzone from Penn State, but that's the only great news they've received over the past month. Auburn isn't even favored, as things stand, to land another top-10 prospect from the state of Alabama. Though the Tigers have some great freshman and sophomore talent already on their roster, their 2026 recruiting desperately needs a spark soon."
Meanwhile, the claims that Coach Prime can't recruit and is letting the program fall apart during an offseason where he's experiencing his own health issues was downplayed with a "1" reading on Backus's panic meter.
"Colorado's recruiting ranking and the level at which fans should panic may seem incongruous. True, it's not great that a Power Four program only has four commits at this stage of the recruiting cycle, but Colorado coach Deion Sanders has never placed a ton of emphasis on high school recruiting. The Buffaloes haven't signed more than 20 prospects in a class since 2023 -- Sanders' first full year with the program -- and they've welcomed a combined 25 true freshman to Boulder over the past couple of years. For reference, most schools sign around 25 high school prospects each year," Backus wrote.
"Sanders has lived by the portal thus far, and it does not seem like that approach is going to change. That hasn't stopped Colorado from making big-time additions like five-star offensive lineman Jordan Seaton in 2024 and four-star quarterback Julian Lewis in 2025. We'll see if they can get a third straight headliner in 2026."
Sanders will stay at CU for as long as he pleases.
Freeze probably needs to win at least seven games to keep his job, unless 2026 recruiting drastically turns around.
The two post-2022 season Group of Five-to-Power 4 hires are trending in different directions as the 2025 season approaches.