When he got to Auburn, one of the first things head coach Hugh Freeze did was start recruiting. He had to. He was already behind before he began.

College football remains in an arms race, with life-changing NIL deals, TV money and conference realignment so drastically changing the sport. It all hinges on recruiting, and the spectacle to land the most talented high school players in the nation.

Auburn’s recruiting had dipped during former head coach Bryan Harsin’s tenure. Multiple high school coaches within the state of Alabama said they just hadn’t heard from Auburn, one of the two preeminent programs in the state, in two years before Freeze was hired.

So, Freeze inherited a talent gap. A big one. It’s fitting his first game in SEC play in his return to the league would come against one of the best recruiting programs in the nation.

When 5-star linebacker Demarcus Riddick flipped from Georgia to Auburn, he became Auburn’s first five-star recruit since Owen Pappoe in 2019.

In that same time, Texas A&M landed 14 five-stars. That’s Auburn’s opponent this week at 11 a.m. central time Saturday.

That’s followed by games against No. 1 Georgia and defending SEC West champion LSU — which have both recruited at a level much closer to Texas A&M than that of Auburn.

Freeze knows it.

“I’m probably too candid and honest sometimes for some people, let’s just be really clear,” Freeze said during his Monday press conference. “You’re playing the best recruits in the nation. We’re going to be there soon, and that doesn’t mean you can’t compete and win the game, there’s a reason they are third in the nation on third down defense. They’ve got a bunch of 5-stars in the defensive line and at linebacker and at safety and at corner. They are really, really talented.”

The SEC West is maybe college football’s most difficult division. In a short time as Auburn’s head coach, Freeze has already done much to catch up. Auburn’s two biggest rivals have been the two best programs in college football over the last decade. But Freeze has already flipped a 5-star recruit away from Georgia in Riddick and another 5-star away from Alabama in Perry Thompson.

Auburn’s 2024 recruiting class is currently ranked 14th in the nation, per 247Sports. But Auburn’s class is sixth overall based on the average recruiting ranking of the players in its class. All three of Georgia, Alabama and Texas A&M are in those five spots above Auburn.

It’s just the beginning of the process to catch up.

Freeze has been insightful in this process. He seems aware this isn’t the team that’s going to vault Auburn to where it wants to be in the SEC. Asked back in August about how to end Auburn’s drought of 1,000-yard wide receivers, Freeze said the solution isn’t on the roster right now.

“And I hope every recruit that I’m recruiting for receiver is listening to me, we’ve got to change that here, and you’ve gotta change that through recruiting,” Freeze said on Aug. 17. “Those receivers are a priority for us, the ones that are coming into the ‘24 and ‘25 class.”

But those guys aren’t here yet.

To get a roster he believes could compete early in his tenure, Freeze hit the transfer portal. He brought in a top-five-ranked transfer portal class, including 11 four-star-rated transfers. Led by Avery Jones, the top-rated interior offensive lineman in the transfer portal.

“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 Monday. “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.”

From a pure talent perspective, Auburn’s roster doesn’t match Texas A&M’s. Freeze sees that on film.

For this year, Auburn is relying on players that had routes like Jones of earning his way up from playing well at a smaller school. Jack linebacker Jalen McLeod won at Texas A&M last year playing with Appalachian State. But with Auburn, where an upset wouldn’t be as dramatic, McLeod said these games are about earning respect.

McLeod is excited to play the five-stars. So are his teammates.

A&M currently has eight five-stars on its roster. Auburn has none. So, the chip on Auburn’s shoulder lasts for now but Freeze still plans to close the gap.

“It’s a tall, tall challenge for us in year one to stand toe-to-toe with A&M and Georgia next week and LSU the following week,” Freeze said. “It’s our goal to get there, but that’s what reality is. We’ve had about eight months to recruit a half a class. These others have been stacking it.”

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