The potential future filed out one by one from the doors of the Harbert Family Recruiting Center and lined the inside of the plastic orange fencing. The high schoolers and their families seemed to just keep coming, filling the sidewalk from the doors all the way down to the intersection of South Donahue Drive and Heisman Drive.

It was just after noon, about 20 minutes before the Auburn football team would walk back in those doors and into Jordan-Hare Stadium as part of the weekly Tiger Walk.

Some of the recruits had already announced commitments to Auburn. Five-star rated wide receiver Perry Thompson was already a celebrity, hearing his name called and fans pleading for photos almost a year before he’ll play a down for Auburn.

The recruits weren’t taking part in the walk themselves, but were surrounded by thousands of Auburn fans covered in orange outfits. This wasn’t the recruits’ Tiger Walk yet, but instead an experience of a tradition that could very well become theirs.

Waiting at the end of the walk, the recruits heard the cheers descend down the road and toward them like a wave. Auburn’s mascot Aubie came first before the cheer team and then head coach Hugh Freeze, the man asking them all to play for him.

Freeze often wears an Auburn pullover or sweats for these walks into the stadium. This Saturday held so much more gravity against the No. 1 team because of a much bigger-picture focus on recruiting, Freeze dressed up. He high-fived recruits and hugged mothers in a plaid sports coat, white collared shirt and gray pants. Other players like tight end Tyler Fromm and running back Damari Alston joined in.

“I feel like in order for us to get to where we want to be which is winning SEC championships, winning national championships, we have to get the top recruits in the nation,” Alston said during fall camp. “Like we have to get them. I think we’re on a good start right now, we just have to keep it going.”

But on a day this important, Freeze’s work had already begun hours earlier.

Freeze said there would be around 70 recruits on campus. In reality, that number was a little below 60. That group included nine five-star rated players between the Class of 2024 and 2025 recruits on campus. Dozens of four-star rated recruits were on campus, too.

Freeze met with the six recruits there on official visits at their hotel at 8 a.m. Saturday. After that, he shifted his focus to the dozens on unofficial visits as they arrived to the in-stadium recruiting facility hours before kickoff.

This weekend was about trying to beat the No. 1 team in the nation — which Auburn almost did in a 27-20 loss.

But more importantly, it was about Auburn’s long-term plan. It isn’t about winning now, albeit that wouldn’t hurt. It’s about competing seriously with a comparable roster three to four years down the road. The building for that starts on weekends like this.

Auburn competed with the best team in America with a roster that wasn’t entirely put together by the current coaching staff. So the message is clear.

“Come help us build it, we can do it,” Freeze said after the loss to Georgia. “It doesn’t take long. We just need people that buy into coming and being a part of the Auburn culture, the Auburn family. Our fans were incredible today. I think it’s exciting to play here, and I think it’s attractive to a lot of recruits. There were a ton here today who could help us feel like we have the same rosters as some of the others in our league are playing.”

For the last two weeks, Freeze has discussed Auburn’s talent gap with regard to the rest of the SEC. And he’s right. When Auburn played Texas A&M, it was facing a roster that landed 14 five-star recruits in the time between Auburn’s previous most recent five-star commitment from Owen Pappoe in 2019 and then five-star linebacker Demarcus Riddick announcing his decision to come to Auburn in July. Thompson came just days after.

The way to catch up is in recruiting, and this was Auburn’s most important recruiting weekend to date under Freeze.

“You’re playing the best recruits in the nation,” Freeze two weeks ago before playing Texas A&M about Auburn’s talent gap. “We’re going to be there soon, and that doesn’t mean you can’t compete and win the game.”

What those recruits heard inside the facility was a pitch to Freeze’s resume and development. One flier handed out showed the progressively improving stats for a handful of quarterbacks he’d coach. There were also papers passed around on Freeze’s ability to consistently bring in highly-ranked recruiting classes each year.

The high schoolers played Madden on televisions near cases containing the Heisman trophies from Auburn’s three winners of the award.

Freeze and other coaches stopped by for their role as recruiters throughout the afternoon before shifting to focus on the players Auburn has already.

Then the recruits took the field. They stood on the same sidelines as Auburn legends like gymnast Suni Lee, former NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, MLB Hall of Famer Frank Thomas and NFL quarterback Cam Newton.

They watched a game that wound up being far more exciting and competitive than most expected.

It’s not a coincidence Auburn picked this weekend to show off the school. It was a chance for a larger group of potential Auburn players to meet in one place, to see a sold-out, amped-up Jordan-Hare Stadium. Getting a game as thrilling as the near Auburn upset that occurred was just icing.

Knowing Auburn was largely expected to lose the game, Auburn coaches could point to what went wrong and tell the highly rated players how they could fix those shortcomings. If Auburn pulled off the upset, then the recruits would have seen a celebration and showcase of Auburn fans more than they already saw.

In a way, it was a win-win regardless of the game’s result.

“Our place is incredible to watch a game at, the atmosphere,” Freeze said on Monday before the Georgia game. “Now we’ve got to make sure they see what Auburn is really about while they’re here for a game of this magnitude.”

And reviews on the weekend from recruiting experts appear positive.

By 8:30 p.m. the recruiting facility was empty. The tables from a day that could prove pivotal to Auburn’s future still sat out.

The Madden game was still paused on the TV.

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