Linebacker Xavier Atkins was dismissed from the Auburn football team late Monday night. Not long after his departure, Atkins wished farewell to the program and, interestingly, mentioned the transfer portal in his tweet.
"I have nothing but respect (for) Auburn University and will continue to support my teammates this season. My focus is on my health, my family, and on finishing up the academic semester strong, and I’ll be entering the transfer portal at the appropriate time," Atkins said.
Later that afternoon, On3's Pete Nakos shared a post on X saying that "Transfer portal tampering season has begun."
Meanwhile, on the same day, CBS Sports' Brad Crawford asked, "Who wants to lay odds on where he'll land in the transfer portal?"
"Given Atkins' talent level, he should be one of the top available defenders in the portal this cycle, as long as he addresses off-the-field issues and meets requirements at his next stop," Crawford wrote in a separate piece.
That's a lot of chatter on the subject.
Remember, we're just connecting dots here. It just seems there are a lot of dots to connect, given the relative lack of concrete information available to the public.
Why did Xavier Atkins get kicked off the Auburn football team?
We still don't know the full details of why Atkins was told to leave the team, at least besides On3's Justin Hokanson's reporting pointing to other players asking the coaching staff for discipline.
Atkins allegedly skipped or was late to meetings and didn't give his all during practice. That was a feature of star players from the Hugh Freeze era. Atkins played for Freeze's biggest disaster of a roster relative to expectations: the 2025 AU Tigers.
Even with the alleged attitude issues, he was still one of the most productive defenders this season. Was Atkins playing with one foot out the door, though?
These are the conversations that probably won't get leaked in this modern era of player-program negotiations. The NDAs in these contracts are likely too ironclad to give us much access just yet.
In due time, the Atkins tales will be known. For now, the focus on the Plains is on LSU and nabbing a 5-2 record and a subsequent top-25 ranking.
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