At the end of Saturday’s Iron Bowl, down in the front row behind the south endzone was the core of Auburn’s future on offense. There was four-star quarterback commit Walker White and five-star wide receiver commit Perry Thompson.

But there was a piece missing.

Five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman was there too. He hung out with Thompson and Walker during the game. Coleman, still a Texas A&M commit at the time, had been pursued by Auburn for months. Auburn had been considered the favorite for the Phenix City native for much of his recruitment process before he surprisingly picked Texas A&M in July. Auburn continued to fight for him.

So there was Coleman in the swell of the noise in the biggest moment of Auburn’s season. He stood next to what Auburn plans to be in its future seasons and saw the atmosphere of Jordan-Hare Stadium at its best.

“We do have a lot of good recruits here, and hopefully they see even in Year 1 we’re not— you know, we can close the gap pretty fast on the upper echelon of this conference,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said Saturday night after Iron Bowl.

This was the show Auburn wanted to and had to put in its final home game of the season. It was its final chance this season to show recruits like Coleman what it might look like if they were to put on an Auburn helmet and have those 88,043 cheering for them.

And in the final gutting 43 seconds for Auburn in Saturday’s loss, Coleman saw where Auburn still has to go.

So when Coleman announced he had flipped his commitment from Texas A&M to Auburn on Friday afternoon, it proved not only validating of the flashes Auburn provided the dozens of recruits in attendance — hard work on the recruiting trail paid off — but it served as the biggest recruiting win of Freeze’s first year here.

Coleman is listed at 6-foot-3, 180 pounds on 247Sports. He is rated as the seventh overall player in America by 247Sports composite rankings and is the highest-rated offensive player to ever commit to Auburn. With his commitment, Auburn’s 2024 class rose six spots from No. 17 to No. 11.

It now gives Auburn pledges for three of the top five players in Alabama — all three flipped away from other top SEC programs including Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M. It gives Auburn momentum in its continuing push for five-star class of 2025 receiver Ryan Williams from Saraland who is still an Alabama commit.

And it fully cements Auburn’s status once again as a legitimate option for top recruits both in Alabama and nationally.

Freeze has been transparent on the big picture throughout his first season at Auburn. His tenure was never going to be judged by his first season, which is already an improvement over 2022 as Auburn will play in a bowl game later this month.

But the focus of this season was on recruiting. Freeze knew that when he hired Philip Montgomery originally to call plays so he could focus on recruiting. That plan didn’t work out as Freeze took on a larger role with the offense this year, but he continued to put recruiting at the center of his plans.

When Freeze was asked about a struggling passing offense this season — which finished the regular season ranked 122nd out of 130 teams — his answers frequently were first about recruiting, and then about the players already on this roster. Thompson and Walker alone weren’t going to be enough to fix things.

Before playing Texas A&M, Freeze described Auburn as having a talent gap toward the rest of the SEC after years of a downturn in recruiting at the end of Gus Malzahn’s tenure and during Brian Harsin’s.

“Hopefully, we can solidify all the ones who are currently committed,” Freeze said before the Iron Bowl. “And maybe swing a few others to say ‘Man, I want to go help them build something. I know they can. They have the resources. They have the support.’ We just need some players to come and join us.”

What Coleman saw in Alabama’s 31-yard 4th-and-goal conversion to win the game was an Auburn program just a few pieces away from competing with the nation’s best. Freeze has said throughout the year that Auburn’s margin of winning and losing was so small with a roster he knew was inferior.

So that was exactly the pitch to Coleman: Come here. Help us.

It worked.

Auburn pulled Coleman away from Texas A&M after it fired former head coach Jimbo Fisher. Even after Coleman announced his commitment to Texas A&M in July in a somewhat surprising decision with Auburn considered the favorite, Auburn continued to push for him. Freeze attended one of Coleman’s games at Central in Phenix City. Coleman also attended Auburn’s game against Georgia and Alabama.

Auburn High School head coach Keith Etheredge played against Coleman twice this season. In those two games, Coleman had a mind-boggling 18 catches for 501 yards and five touchdowns.

In a phone interview Friday night, Etheredge told AL.com that he saw Coleman’s already highly-talented skill set improve significantly between his junior and senior years. He said Coleman has great ball skills and a wide range to make catches.

Etheredge said planning for Coleman is difficult because if a smaller, speedy cornerback is covering him, Coleman will go right over him. But put a bigger, more physical corner against him and Coleman will run right past.

“You better have a special kid to match up with that,” Etheredge said.

It takes a big and fast cornerback to cover him, Etheredge said, and there aren’t many people who fit that description. He compared Coleman to former NFL wide receiver Jordan Matthews, but said Coleman is both bigger and faster.

“Cam’s a freak,” Etheredge said. “He’s just got it all.”

Coleman isn’t the typical Auburn player. This program is known historically for its running backs like Bo Jackson, quarterbacks who can run like Cam Newton — and, well, Newton was a great passer, too — and offenses that leaned on the run like the 2013 Nick Marshall-led team.

The passing offense that Freeze plans to bring to Auburn isn’t this team’s stereotype. Auburn has only signed one five-star rated wide receiver ever: Ben Obomanu in 2002. It has two five-star receivers in this class: Coleman and Perry Thompson.

Freeze hit the recruiting trail a few days after the Iron Bowl. There’s work yet to do. The winter signing day is 19 days away. If Auburn signs Coleman, it could be the crucial piece of the 2024 cycle. Between Coleman, Thompson and Walker, it is the class that could define Freeze’s tenure at Auburn.

“We are Auburn and we should take a backseat to no one in recruiting,” Freeze said in October. “The time is coming when people will sense what Auburn truly is like our fans already do. And I’m just thankful for them.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]