A.D. Diamond no longer on Auburn’s roster; half of 2021 signing class now gone

A.D. Diamond no longer on Auburn’s roster; half of 2021 signing class now gone

Another Auburn player has departed the program as the team comes out of its bye week.

Reserve cornerback A.D. Diamond was recently removed from the team’s official roster, and head coach Bryan Harsin confirmed Wednesday that the Mobile native is no longer part of the team.

A 6-foot, 161-pound redshirt freshman, Diamond did not see the field during his time at Auburn. He was a standout at Blount, where he was a two-way star playing defensive back and wide receiver. As a senior he caught 38 passes for 756 yards and added 25 tackles, 21 pass breakups and seven interceptions on the defensive side.

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Diamond was originally committed to Louisiana Tech throughout his senior season, but former Auburn defensive coordinator/interim coach Kevin Steele flipped the three-star prospect during the early signing period in December 2020. Diamond had been on the Tigers’ radar for some time, and he was viewed as potentially the next diamond in the rough — no pun intended — to develop into a contributor in Auburn’s secondary.

That never came to pass after Harsin and his staff took over, as Diamond redshirted during the 2021 season and then failed to crack the rotation this year after working with the second-team defense for much of the spring.

Diamond joins defensive lineman Zykeivous Walker and wide receiver Landen King as players to leave the program since the start of the season. Walker left the team following the Georgia game and announced Monday his intent to transfer, while King announced Tuesday night his plans to enter the transfer portal in December after opting to sit out the rest of the season earlier this month.

Diamond is the ninth member of Auburn’s 18-player 2021 signing class — the first after Harsin took over on the Plains — to leave the program. He joins King, former four-star defensive tackle Lee Hunter (UCF), former four-star safety Ahmari Harvey (Georgia Tech), former four-star quarterback Dematrius Davis (Alabama State), three-star wide receiver Hal Presley (Baylor), defensive lineman Ian Mathews (Missouri) and former junior college cornerbacks Ro Torrence (Arizona State) and Kamal Hadden (Tennessee) as 2021 signees to transfer out of Auburn since Harsin’s arrival.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.