AUBURN — Auburn football 's 2025 season is weeks away, and it'll follow an offseason in which recent off-the-field successes became a struggle.

After landing back-to-back top-10 signing classes, coach Hugh Freeze 's 2026 recruiting class plummeted in June. Once the highest-rated group in the cycle, Auburn 's 2026 class saw four decommitments and sat no higher than 74th in the national rankings.

On July 2, one day after the House vs. NCAA settlement's approval, Freeze addressed the slump by circling back to the previous day's news. He noted managing college sports' newly established salary cap and avoiding penalties for exceeding it as the reason.

Auburn has gotten six commitments since, its 2026 class has jumped some in the rankings, between 54th and 56th nationally. It has illust

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