The regular season is over and Auburn fans patiently await their teams location for bowl season. The next month or two will once again be the slowest time of the year outside of offseason. Why you may ask? Well, it’s portal season. The transfer portal will officially open December 4th, and early signing day for high school recruits will be December 20th. During this time Auburn will win and lose recruiting battles all the way up till Christmas. What might Auburn Santa have in his bag?
1. Let’s get basketball out of the way first. Auburn improved to 5-1 after a 17-point victory over Virginia Tech. This was a great victory to get underneath the belt for a multitude of reasons. Getting a defensive win while the offense struggled proved they would not live or die by the offense. Pearl has been very pleased with the defensive performance that has been on display. This was the part of the team that worried Pearl the most.
This defense displayed a lot of hustle and effort, and it will win some games down the stretch. The staff really feels as if they’ve been poorly assessed when it comes to ranking. Fortunately, if they keep winning and improving it will not matter. They will be ranked eventually.
2. Future ‘What’s KrAUken’s will contain more nuggets as the portal becomes more crazy. But for now let’s discuss some names floating around. Ja’Mori Maclin is a WR from North Texas who initially posted that he had received an Auburn offer, then deleted the tweet.
Rumors were floating around that the negative comments he was receiving caused him to delete the tweet. Instead, it was because he never had an offer. That doesn’t mean he won’t get one. He just doesn’t have one at this moment in time.
3. Arkansas LB Chris “Pooh” Paul Jr is a name to mark down for the future. I believe he is someone we will try to get on campus.
4. As for everyone’s favorite subject, what will Auburn do with the transfer portal? Here is what I was told about the mindset. First and foremost, Hugh is very confident that Auburn could win a lot of games next season with Payton Thorne and an improved roster around him. So, when it comes to big names like Cam Ward and Riley Leonard, they won’t be breaking the bank if that is what they are asking (more on Riley in a bit).
They will take a transfer QB regardless and they will shoot their shot with the two mentioned above, but if it looks better to spend the money on improving slots around Thorne they will do that instead. I haven’t given up on landing Riley just yet, but Notre Dame is looking like the destination for him.
Hugh wanted Riley, and I have people who say he seemed ours until very recently. Notre Dame entering the picture definitely upset Hugh and who knows if we will play games with him if he wants money over his girlfriend and his childhood team. Let’s see if we get a visit from him. If he ends up on campus, we will have a shot.
Cam Ward is definitely someone Auburn will shoot its shot with, along with Oregon and many others. He wants a ton for one year. Will we win out?
