Mike Farrell Sports' Ty Scheiner believes the best receiver conversation starts with Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith, the 2024 class's No. 1 overall recruit, and Hugh Freeze's potential WR savior, Cam Coleman.
"While Jeremiah Smith garners much of the hype at receiver, let’s not overlook Cam Coleman at Auburn," Scheiner prefaced before saying, "Stepping into an offense in desperate need of a playmaker, Coleman can be that guy from Day one. He’s already made an impact, earning MVP honors at the ‘A’ Day spring game.
Coleman has the highest pedigree of the Freeze Four receiving corps, but Perry Thompson, Bryce Cain, and Malcolm Simmons all have the chance to make big plays in 2024. Coleman is, at quietest on any given play, a decoy who opens things up for the rest with the attention he'll force defenses to pay to him, and at maximum, a force who'll become Freeze's Auburn equivalent to DK Metcalf.
Smith is also in a stacked WR room at Ohio State, sharing the spotlight with fellow 5-stars Emeka Egbuka, and Brandon Inniss. That share of targets could keep anyone's stat line from shining. The Buckeyes' running backs will also shoulder some responsibility between TreVeyeon Henderson and former Pike Road star Quinshon Judkins.
Cam Coleman could become program-changer for Auburn football
Coleman could be the future example Freeze points to when trying to convince blue-chip receivers to sign on the dotted line with the Tigers. It can also be the turning point when the top receivers in the state stopped going to Alabama and began a pipeline to the Plains.
Landing a Central (Phenix City) recruit was impossible before. Freeze got one of the most talented Red Devils to ever lace up a pair of cleats in the first class he can really put a stamp on.
The program may about to be changed on the Plains. Watch out Kalen DeBoer and Roll Tide Willie: the results may mean bad things for the Crimson Tide's in-state recruiting future.