The 2025 college football season is officially on the clock.

Ohio State’s win in the national championship game marked the end of the 2024 campaign, a year of football that Auburn fans will try to forget.

The Tigers finished 5-7 in 2024, not making a bowl game for the second time in three years and completing the program’s fourth losing season in a row.

Despite an overwhelmingly long stretch of negativity, there is some optimism going into 2025. Auburn has signed 15 transfers so far, and its 2025 recruiting class ranked sixth in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Roster construction for the upcoming season is far from over, as spring practice and another transfer portal window still precede Auburn’s 2025 season opener against Baylor in late August.

With that said, here are five way-too-early bold predictions for Auburn in 2025.

Auburn will have a 1,000-yard receiver

Believe it or not, Auburn has not had a 1,000-yard receiver this century.

The last one was Ronney Daniels, who caught 56 passes for 1,068 yards in 1999, setting a program single-season record. Since then, talented pass catchers such as Darvin Adams, Sammie Coates and KeAndre Lambert-Smith have come close, but none have hit the 1,000-yard mark.

This upcoming season seems like the perfect time to break that drought, as the Tigers have multiple talented wide receivers who seem capable of reaching 1,000 yards.

The two most likely candidates are rising sophomore Cam Coleman and Georgia Tech transfer Eric Singleton Jr. Coleman caught 37 passes for 598 yards during his freshman season, and 306 of those yards came in the final three games.

If he can stay close to that pace during the 2025 campaign, he should have no problem getting to 1,000 yards and potentially breaking Daniels’ single-season record.

Singleton caught 48 passes for 714 yards in 2024 and 56 passes for 754 yards in 2023 at Georgia Tech. He too will have plenty of opportunities to reach 1,000 yards in 2025, in an offense that can utilize him in a variety of ways.

Auburn will have a top five defense in the SEC

Most of the attention during the offseason will be surrounding Auburn’s reshaped quarterback room and whether or not the offense can take the next step.

While that’s definitely worth the discussion, it makes it easy to ignore that Auburn’s defense goes into 2025 with potential to be elite. The Tigers return the majority of their starters on defense, and much of the production late in the season came from true freshmen.

A full offseason and another year in the system creates the potential for multiple breakout seasons from the young players, combined with a few returning veterans and solid transfer additions.

Auburn’s defense was already good in 2024, ranking 31st in the country in total defense and 28th in scoring defense. The Tigers also ranked in the top 30 in rushing defense, placing 27th.

Returning players and a returning defensive coordinator creates room for improvement to an already solid unit in 2024.

At least one unexpected win and one unexpected loss

College football is hardly ever normal. Auburn fans will tell you that’s even more true with their team.

There’s too many examples of unexpected Auburn wins and losses to count in recent years, so it may not even be that bold to predict the same in 2025. Where those sneaky results might pop up is a little harder to predict, but there are a few strong candidates.

Auburn will play both Alabama and Georgia at home this upcoming season and the Tigers were a few plays away from pulling upsets against both rivals the last season they had them both at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

As far as unexpected losses go, Auburn’s trip to Nashville on Nov. 8 seems to be the obvious answer. Hugh Freeze’s struggles against Diego Pavia have been well documented, and with the former New Mexico State quarterback getting another year of eligibility, it gives Auburn a third chance to finally get the better of him.

Jackson Arnold will throw for 3,000+ yards

Auburn has not had a 3,000-yard passer since 2017, and it’s only happened twice in the program’s history.

Payton Thorne’s 2,714 yards in 2024 were the most by an Auburn quarterback since 2018, highlighting the program’s lack of production at the sport’s most important position in recent years. There’s optimism that 2025 will be different and it starts with who Arnold will have to throw to.

As mentioned earlier, Coleman and Singleton both have potential to be elite in 2025, but other receivers such as Horatio Fields, Malcolm Simmons and Perry Thompson will likely play a role too.

On paper, that’s a stronger core than what Auburn has had in quite a while, making Arnold’s job much easier than it was during his redshirt freshman season at Oklahoma.

Arnold had an up-and-down year in 2024, getting benched at one point, but also leading an upset win over Alabama. He was hampered mostly by a receiving core that was decimated by injuries and an offensive coordinator that was fired during the season.

At Auburn he’ll have better weapons — provided everyone stays healthy — and a more stable offensive staff than what he dealt with in Norman.

That doesn’t mean the numbers will automatically come, but it’s a much more ideal situation for a player with enough talent to be rated as a five-star recruit coming out of high school.

Auburn will win at least eight games

Enough with the stats and individual success, here’s the prediction that really matters.

Auburn hasn’t won eight or more games since the 2019 season. That was two head coaches ago and a team that was led by a freshman quarterback named Bo Nix.

Since then, the program hasn’t produced much to get excited about, but the pieces seem to be in place to finally take a step forward in 2025. A third-year head coach, two returning coordinators and a large number of returning starters mixed with impact transfers should be the formula for improvement.

The schedule also seems somewhat manageable, playing the toughest games at home.

Auburn is not without questions in 2025, hence why this prediction is just for eight or more wins, not any postseason hardware. But the opportunity is there, and Freeze’s future at Auburn may count on him seizing that opportunity.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m