Columnist Joseph Goodman to discuss NIL, Auburn’s sudden recruiting success
Auburn is ripping off one commitment after another from the transfer portal, and it’s making at least one well-known coach irritated to the point of releasing some frustrations on Twitter.
The latest transfer pick up for the Tigers is a senior center who played for East Carolina last season. Avery Jones was originally headed to Illinois, but he changed his plans suddenly, and now he’s the latest addition for coach Hugh Freeze at Auburn. Jones is one of three incoming transfers for Auburn who are projected to start along the offensive line next season.
The Tigers have added 11 transfers to its 2023 recruiting class. According to recruiting website 24/7, the addition of Jones now gives Auburn the third-best transfer class nationally of this recruiting cycle behind only Florida State and Colorado.
How are the Tigers doing so well on the recruiting trail? Illinois coach Bret Bielema has a theory. When Jones posted his commitment to Twitter on Tuesday, Bielema grabbed onto the opportunity to explain how he lost the commitment.
“College football is changing everyday #NIL,” wrote Bielema, using Jones’ celebratory message on social media for context in a quote tweet.
There are many reasons why a commitment to Illinois might change his mind and instead choose a prominent team in the SEC, but Bielema’s tweet suggests that Jones was also offered more money via Auburn’s NIL collective.
The way I read it, Bielema implies this is a bad thing, but it’s just the new world of college football. Good for Auburn, great for Jones, apparently, and tough luck for Illinois. Maybe just don’t be so poor.
I’ll be discussing Auburn’s successful run of transfer commitments and other things related to NIL at 3 p.m. CT on Thursday during a live Reddit Talk on the popular subReddit for college football, r/CFB. The chat is part of Headline Studio’s NIL Now podcast. The podcast, which can be found here, is hosted by Lauren Sisler of ESPN and Bobak Ha’Eri of r/CFB. SubReddit r/CFB features 1.8 million members and is pretty much a must-read every day for college football fans. The discussion will be centered around the NIL era and how the ability for players to make money off of their name, image and likeness is changing the college game.
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It’s no secret for people on the inside of college football that Auburn is using its robust NIL Collective “On To Victory” to quickly reshape the football team’s roster for coach Hugh Freeze’s first season on The Plains. Jones represented the fifth transfer commitment for Auburn during a six-day stretch, and I don’t think Auburn is done making headlines either.
Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.