Auburn football: Encouraging sign the end is nigh for Alabama's recruiting dominance
Auburn football fans, the end appears nigh for Alabama's recruiting dominance.
As national recruiting analyst Tom Loy shared on the Football Recruiting Podcast, recruits at Nike's 'The Next Ones' event in Las Vegas during Super Bowl week were unusually quiet about visiting Tuscaloosa this cycle after Kalen DeBoer replaced Nick Saban as head coach following the latter's sudden retirement this offseason.
"Not a lot of these guys were talking about visiting," Loy said of recruits visiting Alabama (h/t 247Sports). "It was few and far between, which is very weird not to hear Alabama come out of these kids' mouths."
Loy didn't allow the legion of Bammers to get too worked up and come after him, though, offering them a glimmer of hope.
"But I also think they're being patient," Loy prefaced before saying, "This staff is probably fine hearing that. I don't think they would have high expectations for that, either. They're going to be patient and see how things go. I expect March will be a big month. The guys who don't commit before the start of their senior seasons will let it play out this fall and see how this Alabama team plays. I expect them to do well this year, but, right now, it's real quiet regarding the Crimson Tide."
Alabama still ahead of Auburn football recruiting, but not for long
Alabama had the No. 2 recruiting class in 2024 despite a slew of de-commitments and transfers following Saban's announcement. Auburn, meanwhile, sat at No. 8 just two cycles removed from Bryan Harsin being the head coach.
The momentum is moving in different directions for both of these programs, and in the modern era of NIL and mass portal entries, that could bear pretty immediate results.
The Tide still run the state of Alabama, but that may not be the case for long. AU has an unusually underwhelming 2024 schedule, while UAT has the exact opposite.