Cam Coleman's commitment is a signal: Welcome to a new era of Auburn football | Silva

AUBURN — No, the headline isn't being hyperbolic.

Auburn football pulled off one of its biggest recruiting wins of the modern era Friday by flipping 2024 five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman away from Texas A&M and pairing him with fellow five-star WR Perry Thompson, who's been pledged to the Tigers and coach Hugh Freeze since he flipped from Alabama in July.

Assuming they both remain committed and each put pen to paper on a National Letter of Intent, Coleman and Thompson will become the third- and 19th-highest rated players to ever sign with Auburn, according to the 247Sports Composite. Coleman's composite ranking of .9962 is behind only Byron Cowart (.9987) in the Class of 2015 and Derrick Brown (.9964) in the Class of 2016.

The Tigers have only ever signed one five-star receiver: Ben Obomanu in the Class of 2002. They've now got two pledged and ready to join the team next season, as well as a couple of four-star pass-catchers in Malcolm Simmons and Bryce Cain.

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Landing Thompson was impressive, but Coleman's commitment confirmed it: It's a new era for Auburn, one that'll feature a more prominent aerial attack.

Don't believe it? Check the stats.

The Tigers don't traditionally throw the ball around the yard; it's just not what they've done. Auburn's best teams over the years have been built to run the ball, and a number of the program's legendary players — Bo Jackson, Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown, among a plethora of others — are running backs.

For as much success as the Tigers have had on the ground, they've often struggled through the air. Auburn only has two 1,000-yard receivers in 121 seasons: Ronney Daniels had 1,068 yards in 1999 and Terry Beasley had 1,051 in 1970. Darvin Adams came three yards short in 2009 and was 37 yards away with Cam Newton throwing him the ball in 2010.

Meanwhile, that 1,000-yard milestone has been surpassed 13 times by nine different receivers at Alabama, including a historic season from Devonta Smith in 2020 that saw him go for 1,856 yards and 23 touchdowns in 13 games.

Expecting Coleman, Thompson or any other future Auburn receiver to do what Smith did is ridiculous. But if all goes to plan, flirting with 1,000 receiving yards should at the very least become the norm on the Plains for the next few seasons. And surpassing that 1,000-yard marker should become more commonplace.

The 54-year-old Freeze has been a Division I coach for 10 seasons prior to 2023, and his leading receivers each year combined to average about 946 yards a season. Freeze has been the head coach of a team that featured a 1,000-yard receiver three times, and there's only been three occasions in which the leading pass-catcher on a Freeze-led team had less than 900 yards, and two of those instances came at Liberty.

Freeze has often spoken about the talent gap that Auburn faced in 2023. For that reason, he's been spending most of his time in his first year on the Plains focused on recruiting rather than involving himself in week-to-week game prep.

That seems to have paid off, as the Tigers have the No. 11 haul in the Class of 2024 — Coleman's pledge vaulted Auburn up the rankings six spots by itself — and they aren't yet done. Prospects like Alabama commit Ryan Williams, a receiver whose father played at Auburn, are still out there. Williams took notice of Coleman's decision Friday, and shortly thereafter announced a date for his own "announcement"

Flipping a five-star receiver committed to the Crimson Tide was often considered to be a pipe dream with coach Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa, but Thompson broke that trend over the summer. The Tigers are hoping to make it two in a row by snatching Williams away.

Maybe it'll happen. Maybe it won't. But at the very least there's a chance.

That's because it's a new era of Auburn football.

Richard Silva is he 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 Cam Coleman committing to Auburn football marks new era for Tigers