Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers staff have made monumental improvements on the defensive front in the last year and a half, efforts of which will be seen over the next several years to come.
The Auburn staff has had to rely on the transfer portal to shore up the defensive line ahead of last year’s season and the upcoming 2024 season. The portal has supplied experience and depth for immediate help, but the real talent, at least according to the recruiting services, is on its way.
Freeze was hired in late November 2022 — too late to do much of anything for the 2023 signing class — but the then-new staff was able to snag defensive end Keldric Faulk on signing day. Faulk was committed to Florida State at the time and was Auburn’s only top 100 prospect to sign that year. He grew into a starting role as a true freshman last season.
New to the 2024 roster are transfers up front Philip Blidi (Indiana), Isaiah Raikes (Texas A&M/USC), Trill Carter (Texas), Gage Keys (Kansas), and Keyron Crawford (Arkansas State). None of those five are high on NFL draft boards, but all five have experience and were brought in to play immediately. Out of the group they’re all inside guys while Crawford figures to play on the end in defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin’s “Buck” position.
Where the excitement lies for Auburn fans is what the future holds with the talent coming in from the high school level. Freeze and staff were late to the party and had their work cut out to put together an impressive 2024 signing class, as some of the top-rated recruits that eventually signed with Auburn were committed to Georgia, Alabama, Texas A&M, and Florida at other points. They fought their way back and ended up with a Top 10 class according to the recruiting services, headlined by a number of talented defensive lineman.
