Auburn football recruiting: Tigers in lead for Georgia CB who starred at Central

There is significant smoke around former Central-Phenix City star and now-ex Georgia cornerback A.J. Harris committing to Auburn football, with several analysts linking Harris to the Tigers following his December 15 entry into the transfer portal.

"Sounds like Auburn is among the early schools worth keeping an eye on with A.J. Harris," 247Sports' Matt Zenitz prefaced before saying, "247 ranked Harris as the second-best cornerback and 27th-best overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class."

"I can confirm that A.J. Harris to Auburn looks like a real possibility," 247Sports' Phillip Dukes prefaced before saying, "And soon."

Cincinnati defensive back Jiquan Sanks, a fellow former Red Devil, tweeted at Harris to join him with the Bearcats in the Big 12.

"Cincinnati fans tell (A.J. Harris)," Sanks prefaced before saying, "Let’s reunite (No. 1 and No. 4)."

Addition of A.J. Harris would be a 'great one' for Auburn football secondary

AL.com's Ainslie Lee believes that where there's smoke, there's fire, and that there are signs that there could be a blaze awaiting the Plains on the Harris front; referencing Cam Coleman's open Instagram recruitment -- a message that simply read "Come home" -- to his ex-Central teammate.

"It didn’t come as a surprise that Auburn was quickly tied to Harris as a possible transfer destination," Lee prefaced before saying, "And more times than not, where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

"The addition of Harris would be a great one for Auburn’s room of defensive backs, which will be looking to replace the production of veterans DJ James, Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson — three guys who are set to go pro in 2024."

Several DBs are NFL-bound this offseason, so any reinforcements in the secondary will be helpful for the Tigers to shore up one of their main roster weaknesses via the transfer portal