Entering the third year under Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze, the Tigers are pursuing its first winning season since 2020.

Phil Steele predicted how the SEC football standings will look come the end of the 2025 season in his preseason magazine.

Even with another top 10 recruiting class and the top transfer portal haul, Auburn tied with South Carolina to finish 10th in the Southeastern Conference.

In 10th place in the SEC, Missouri, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State are the only teams predicted to finish below the Tigers. Auburn finished last season 2-6 in SEC play and ended the season in 14th.

The schools ahead of Auburn were Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas A&M, LSU, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

The Tigers are scheduled to host Georgia and Alabama this fall. The key road game will be at Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.

When looking at individual players, eight Tigers were selected on Steele’s preseason All Southeastern Conference list.

Sophomore receiver Cam Coleman headlined the list getting a nod on the first team.

Eric Singleton Jr., Xavier Chaplin and Rayshawn Pleasant were placed on the second team. Connor Lew and Keldric Faulk were named to the third team. Kayin Lee and Jeremiah Wright made the fourth team.

Auburn will start preseason camp in August, with its regular season kicking off Aug. 29 at Baylor.

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].