Jalen McLeod called this a “money game.” Play well here, and a paycheck on Sundays — in the NFL — might come next.

Its games like this — on the road, in front of nearly 100,000 people, in the SEC, on national television — that are why McLeod and Auburn’s nearly two dozen transfers chose to come here. They came to get more exposure. To increase their hopes of getting paid.

So when Auburn opens SEC play against Texas A&M at 11 a.m. Saturday at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, it will be the matchup of two different routes to the SEC: the Tigers’ collection of smaller school standouts facing the years of highly touted Aggie recruiting classes.

Start with Avery Jones. His path to Auburn started with playing on both the offensive and defensive lines in high school. Then it went to North Carolina and spent two seasons there before transferring and emerging as a star center at East Carolina. The road curved into entering the transfer portal again after the 2022 season and originally committing to Illinois in December before changing his pledge to Auburn in January.

He came here to play in the SEC, and said this path puts a chip on his shoulder.

“For me, I always think I’m an underdog just because of my background,” Jones said during a Monday media roundtable. “I think it’s a great feeling to have, trying to be an underdog. You have nothing to lose. You want to play your tail off. You want to knock somebody off that people think you can’t stand with.”

He’ll be part of an Auburn offensive line still figuring out its own health status amid injuries to two players — guard Kam Stutts and tackle Izavion Miller — who started last week against Samford.

If Miller is healthy and starts, Auburn could potentially be starting four transfers on the offensive line against Texas A&M in Miller, Jones, left tackle Dillon Wade and offensive line utilityman Gunner Britton. Even if Miller can’t play, it could be a different transfer — Jaden Muskrat — starting in his place. None of them came to Auburn from a Power 5 school.

Of the transfers, only Miller and Jones were rated as higher than two-star recruits out of high school.

They’ll face a Texas A&M defensive line that started one five-star and three four-star recruits against Louisiana-Monroe last week.

But hey, that’s why Jones wanted to come to Auburn in the first place.

“We know people are going to be watching this game just based off of the D-line and us wanting to play good against them,” Jones said. “We all have a chip on our shoulder. We all came here for a reason, to play in these types of games and be on this stage and compete against the best.”

Auburn could potentially start nearly 10 players participating in their first SEC conference game Saturday. Jones said head coach Hugh Freeze blasted music at practice all week to purposely mess with the offense in an effort to mimic crowd noise. The noise is especially challenging for Jones snapping the ball to quarterback Payton Thorne — one of that group playing in their first SEC game. The snap takes constant communication between quarterbacks and center. Not being prepared for the environment waiting in College Station could lead to false start penalties, delay of game penalties or turnovers.

McLeod found success against Texas A&M last year playing with Appalachian State and helping to lead the biggest upset of the 2022 season.

So that’s why he called this game a money game. He already found success last year with his two forced fumbles on one play. That helped him get to Auburn, and playing well in the same game at Auburn gets him to the next level.

“It’s a boost of confidence,” McLeod said. “It gets you like, ‘OK, now make it two times.’ Can’t have it be a one-trick pony. It was one game. Gotta make it two times.”

Saturday’s game is the start of a three-game stretch against some of the best rosters in the SEC, with the Texas A&M game followed by Georgia and LSU. McLeod said it will test to see if Auburn’s transfers and returners alike truly “have that dawg in them.”

It’s why they all came here.

“If we keep playing good against Georgia and LSU, first of all we’re going to be ranked and have a good defense,” McLeod said. “And then second, the next thing come is you. This is what I’m putting on tape against these type of teams. That’s what you look for when you play these type teams. Get paid on Sundays.”

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