Auburn Tigers News: Where Auburn football ranks in SEC ahead of 2024, safety announces transfer destination

In today's edition of Auburn Tigers news we look at Auburn football's SEC ranking ahead of the 2024 season and a former Auburn safety announces his transfer destination

The SEC is getting a brand new look in 2024. The SEC is parting ways with CBS and games will now air on ESPN and ABC channels instead. The conference is also welcoming two new members, Texas and Oklahoma. Also, notably, it will be the first year in a long time that Nick Saban will not be an SEC coach.

Despite the changes, the conference will still be the most competitive in the league. Josh Pate, host of Late Kick, ranked all SEC programs heading into the 2024 season based on the program's strength over the last three years, on-field production, resource pools, and several other factors to determine the ranks:

16. Vanderbilt

15. Mississippi State

14. Arkansas

13. Florida

12. Kentucky

11. South Carolina

10. Missouri

9. Auburn

8. Texas A&M

7. Tennessee

6. Ole Miss

5. Oklahoma

4. LSU

3. Texas

2. Alabama

1. Georgia

Here's what Pate had to say about Auburn football, per Auburn Undercover:

“Huge wild card. Probably the biggest wild-card team in the conference this year.has proven as a program-builder and as a head coach. I don’t doubt him. It’s not like Jeff Lebby taking over where he’s never been a head coach before. But also, I will admit, there’s a lot of leaning towards the latter year here. So last year, on the field, they showed, I thought, reasons to be optimistic about the future. But also they signed the No. 8 recruiting class in the country. They’re going to be extremely aggressive in the portal, as well. I don’t think they’re done in this cycle, for example."

Former Auburn safety announces transfer destination

In mid-January, former Auburn football safety Donovan Kaufman became one of the later entries into the transfer portal from the Plains. Kaufman signed with Vanderbilt in their recruiting class of 2020 and spent a year with the Commodores before transferring to Auburn ahead of the 2021 season.

After three seasons with Auburn football, Kaufman racked up 109 total tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, six forced fumbles, six passes deflected, and one fumble recovery. He revealed earlier this week he will use his final year of eligibility at NC State.