The situation Pamela Blocton found herself in on Monday morning was one most football moms can only dream of.

She sat at a table in Pike Road High School’s library and watched her son, Malik Blocton, sign his name on the dotted line, making his commitment to Auburn football official. Blocton, a 4-star defensive line prospect, was going to be an Auburn Tiger.

Farther down the table sat her older son, Marcus Harris, who already plays at Auburn and is a staple along the Tigers’ defensive line.

“Listen, I would have never imagined in a million years that any of this would be going on how it is,” Pamela Blocton said. “But I am blessed. I thank God.”

In true mother fashion, Pamela Blocton found a great sense of relief on Monday morning. Not just because she was watching a second son of hers live out his dreams, but because he — like his older brother — would be living out those dreams close to home.

“It’s relieving,” Pamela Blocton said. “He’s right up the road from home.”

After all, Pamela Blocton had been the “mom of a college football player a few states away” before.

After graduating from Park Crossing High School in 2019, Harris went on to play football at Kansas, where he played with the Jayhawks until transferring to Auburn in 2021.

Having Harris just 50 miles away instead of 700 miles away was a nice change of pace for Pamela Blocton, who could only hope the same opportunity would exist for her younger son, who entertained the Texas Longhorns throughout much of his recruitment.

All along, however, there was a familiar feeling about Auburn. And that feeling didn’t just come as a result of her older son playing there.

“It was just like coming home. It was just love,” Pamela Blocton said. “You know, when you’re at home, you can just lay back and relax. You just feel loved and I just feel love, camaraderie, a family. And that’s what I’m all about.”

Fortunately for his mother and Auburn, alike, Malik Blocton felt that way too.

But those feelings weren’t always present, Pamela Blocton says.

Instead, they arrived when first-year head coach Hugh Freeze arrived.

“When ‘Freeze Warning’, as they say, he brought a whole different atmosphere,” Pamela Blocton said of the arrival of Freeze. “He brought a family-oriented (culture).”

Freeze wants to get to know his recruits and their families as people, not just products on the football field, says Pamela Blocton.

And it’s evident anytime Freeze pays her and her sons a visit in their home.

“He came to the house and he was laid back. He was just like he was at home,” Pamela Blocton said of Freeze. “He was just in the living room, having a family conversation. It was just nice. It was family oriented. Nothing but love.”

As a mother who is soon to have two sons playing for Freeze, Pamela Blocton also appreciates how accessible Auburn’s head coach is to both her as a parent and her sons as players.

“He’s not one of those coaches where, ‘I’m untouchable.’,” she says. “He interacts with them… Like, we went to the Big Cat (Weekend) and he was interacting in the pool with the kids. You know, having fun. And that’s what they like to see. They want someone they can relate to.”

Admittedly, Freeze was thrown into the pool that Saturday afternoon in July after 5-star wide receiver Perry Thompson flipped his commitment from Alabama to Auburn in what was one of the first dominoes to fall in what has been a wildly successful recruiting cycle for the Tigers.

The commitment — well, now signing — of Malik Blocton is included in that success.

And while Auburn fans should be thrilled with the prospect of having both Malik Blocton and Marcus Harris suiting up for the Tigers next fall, you’d be hard pressed to find someone more excited than the tandem’s mother.

“I love it,” Pamela Blocton said. “And you know, his brother has already been talking to him before this as they were recruiting. He was just telling them how it feels to be at Auburn. And so it’s relieving because he’s going in there just like… he’s transitioning very well because his brother has told him everything he needs to know.”