How Auburn football's haul of WRs in the Class of 2024 is some of Hugh Freeze's best work
AUBURN — Auburn football recruiting has been on the uptick since coach Hugh Freeze was hired over a year ago.
The Tigers salvaged the No. 18 class in 2023, pulling off a few notable flips — Keldric Faulk (Florida State), Kayin Lee (Ohio State) and Connor Lew (Miami), among others — in the process. Freeze was named Auburn's coach on Nov. 28, 2022, and Early Signing Day arrived 23 days later.
And with more than a year to work on the Class of 2024, the Tigers are doing even better in Freeze's second cycle. Auburn currently has 19 commits, a collection of talent that's tabbed by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 11 group in the nation.
The highlights of the class are a couple of five-star receivers in Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson. Thompson flipped his pledge from Alabama at Big Cat Weekend in July, and Coleman, who had been committed to Texas A&M, changed to Auburn on Dec. 1.
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Assuming he remains committed, Coleman will become the highest-rated offensive recruit to sign a National Letter of Intent with the Tigers in the modern recruiting era. His composite ranking of .9981 slots him as the No. 4 senior recruit in the country.
But it's not just Coleman that makes Auburn's haul of receivers notable. The Tigers currently have four WRs in the class, coupling Coleman and Thompson with four-star prospects Bryce Cain and Malcolm Simmons. It's some of Freeze's best work over his career in terms of recruiting receivers, as that quartet has an average composite ranking of .9485.
Freeze has only outdone that once in his career: At Ole Miss in 2016 (.9667), when the Rebels landed four-star recruits Damarkus Lodge and Van Jefferson. But that was only with two commits. The real comparison is what Ole Miss inked in 2015.
The Rebels signed four four-stars that cycle — AJ Brown, DK Metcalf, Octavious Cooley and Tre Nixon. That grouping had an average ranking of .9458, and three of the four went on to play in the NFL. Brown and Metcalf are still starring professionally, and Tre Nixon remains a depth piece on the New England Patriots.
Auburn's knack for getting receivers to commit to the Class of 2024 is at the top of the SEC, too. Including Oklahoma and Texas, two programs that'll join the conference next season, the Tigers have the No. 3 receiver class in terms of average composite ranking.
The two teams in front of Auburn — Tennessee (.9623) and Georgia (.9598) — don't have the quantity that the Tigers have, though. The Vols have two pledges coming out of high school, and the Bulldogs have one.
Alabama is really the only team that can compare to Auburn. The Crimson Tide and Tigers are currently synced at four commits each. Coach Nick Saban's haul has an average composite ranking of .9393, which is .0092 behind Freeze's crew.
The gap between the schools is narrow in recruiting receivers this cycle, but there remains a way for Auburn to pull away further.
His name is Ryan Williams, a five-star recruit who just reclassified from 2025 to the Class of 2024. If the Tigers flip him, they'd head into uncharted territory for both the program and Freeze.
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Why Auburn football's WR commits are some of Hugh Freeze's best work
