With Auburn sitting at 2-4 this season, much of the talk around the team is about the future.

There’s no more important piece of Auburn’s future than its recruiting, and its 2025 class currently ranks No. 3 in the country, according to 247Sports.

It comes after Auburn landed the No. 8 overall class in 2024 and many of the key players from the class are contributing already as freshmen.

When asked about maintaining those commitments despite poor on-field results, Hugh Freeze remained confident in his pitch.

“That’s why they want to come here,” Freeze said during his Monday press conference. “Yeah, you can go to the places that are currently doing it, or you can help restore one that’s proven it can also do it.”

A big focus of both the 2024 and 2025 classes has been recruiting in-state players. Eleven of Auburn’s 27 commitments for 2025 are from Alabama and 10 of its 20 2024 signees were from in-state.

More importantly, eight of the top 10 players in Alabama are committed to Auburn and the two that aren’t are committed to Ohio State rather than another Southeastern Conference team.

Auburn might not be done either and the staff will still have to work to keep many of the top players committed.

“Obviously the battles for the guys we want are never over and we’ve got to continue to fight for that, but I feel like we’re in a pretty good position hopefully to finish strong with another top-five-ish class,” Freeze said.

The biggest addition to the class came recently when four-star quarterback Deuce Knight flipped from Notre Dame to Auburn. Knight, a top 100 player from Lucedale, Mississippi, is the third-highest ranked player in Auburn’s 2025 class and the only quarterback it has committed.

With Payton Thorne out of eligibility following this season, and the general unpredictability of the transfer portal, signing at least one quarterback every class is important. It doesn’t hurt to sign one ranked as highly as Knight either.

The biggest potential target left for Auburn is five-star corner Na’eem Offord. Currently committed to Ohio State, Offord is the No. 6 overall recruit in the country and the No. 1 player in Alabama, according to 247Sports.

If Offord were to flip to Auburn, it would be the second year in a row Freeze and the staff flipped the top player in Alabama.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m