Over the past month, Auburn announced itself on the recruiting trail, landing numerous commitments and shooting up the No. 5 ranked 2025 recruiting class in the country.

Friday night, the world got to see the level of talent Auburn is attracting, when two of its biggest commits of the recent recruiting surge starred for Thompson High School on national television.

Despite their team losing in overtime, both Anquon Fegans and Jared Smith lived up to their star rating in front of a national audience on ESPN2 Friday night.

Smith, an edge rusher, was arguably the most dominant player on the field, making 15 tackles and three sacks. Fegans, a safety, scored Thompson’s only touchdown in regulation on a scoop and score near the goal line.

“They’re just great individuals,” Thompson head coach Mark Freeman said after the game.

Fegans and Smith both committed to Auburn within a week of each other not long after Auburn’s Big Cat recruiting weekend.

They became the second and third commitments of Auburn’s 2025 class, as punter John Alan McGuire started the Thompson to Auburn surge a day before Fegans announced his commitment.

The run of Thompson players committing to Auburn was a symbol of a bigger theme in Auburn’s recent recruiting success: attracting in-state talent.

Of 247Sports’ top-10 ranked players in Alabama for the 2025 class, eight are currently committed to Auburn.

What’s even more noticeable about the top 10 players in the state? None are currently committed to Alabama.

“We’ve made it a priority to start here in state. Right now we’re in a good position with that plan we’ve put in place,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said during an Aug. 16 press conference.

Half of Auburn’s current 2025 class comes from inside the state and 57% of its 2024 recruiting class was made up of in-state recruits.

By contrast, only 27% of its 2023 class was made up of in-state players and 28% in 2022.

When prioritizing in-state recruiting, it’s hard to ignore Thompson High School.

Thompson won four Alabama 7A state championships in a row from 2019-2022 and was the runner up in 2023.

During its dominant run, the school has produced high-level college football players such as Taulia Tagovailoa, Peter Woods and others.

Auburn didn’t sign any players from Thompson between 2019 and 2022, but already has three commitments from Thompson in the 2025 class and signed safety Kaleb Harris out of Thompson in its 2024 class.

“They’re relentless on the recruiting trail,” Freeman said of Auburn’s staff. ” I think that they made our guys feel like they needed them.”

The relationships and atmosphere at Auburn were things that both Smith and Fegans mentioned when explaining why they chose the Tigers.

“Just the culture they’re bringing down there. The atmosphere, the players and the class alone,” Smith said after announcing his commitment.

“Auburn is special. What Coach Freeze is going to bring to The Plains is going to be very, very special and it’s my job to take it and make it as special as it can be,” Fegans said after committing.

One person in particular that Freeman highlighted in Auburn’s recruiting shift was safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly.

Kelly, a former Auburn player, returned to his alma mater this offseason, after spending 2023 as the defensive coordinator at Colorado. Prior to that, he spent four seasons as the safeties coach at Alabama.

“I think Charles Kelly has a lot to do with that,” Freeman said of the recent Thompson to Auburn pipeline. “He does a tremendous job recruiting, and he’s been around the state long time.”

During Kelly’s time at Alabama, the Crimson Tide signed two players out of Thompson, one of them being Tre’quon Fegans, Anquon Fegans’ older brother.

The last Alabama signee out of Thompson was Tony Mitchell in the class of 2023, and there are currently no Thompson players committed to Alabama in the 2025 class.

While Auburn hasn’t surpassed its biggest rival in recruiting yet, Alabama still has the second-highest ranked class in the country, a shift in who controls recruiting within the state may be underway.

Not only does Auburn have the in-state edge in 2025, Auburn’s 2026 class is currently ranked No. 1 in the country with three of its six commits coming from in state.

Auburn hasn’t finished a recruiting cycle with a top five ranked class since 2011 and during much of Nick Saban’s time at Alabama, the Crimson Tide often signed most of the state’s top prospects.

That’s a trend that Freeze and the Auburn staff want to reverse, and with Saban retired, there may not be a better time to do so than now.