Auburn picked up what could be another big piece of a completely re-tooled wide receiver group with the commitment of Penn State transfer KeAndre Lambert Smith, according to a post on his Instagram account.

Lambert-Smith’s recruitment largely came down to Auburn and Texas A&M. Auburn was Lambert-Smith’s first campus visit after entering the portal before quickly visiting Texas A&M shortly after.

Leading up to his commitment, reports trickled that Auburn could be the eventual destination.

Before Lambert-Smith’s commitment was announced, the cryptic posts began to flow.

He was the leading receiver for a Penn State team that played in the Peach Bowl last season with 53 catches for 673 yards and four touchdowns. It was the best season of his college career — albeit with a significant tail-off at the end of the year.

The 6-foot-1, 188-pound receiver will have one remaining year of eligibility and gives something to a newly infused with talent receiver room that it didn’t have: experience.

Auburn has fully overhauled its pass catchers from a group that struggled mightily last season. And after head coach Hugh Freeze said often that getting more talent around quarterback Payton Thorne should elevate his play, it appears a revamped offense may not have many excuses for poor quarterback play.

Auburn’s leading receiver last year was tight end Rivaldo Fairweather on an offense that had the fewest passing yards per game in the SEC.

Fairweather only had 394 receiving yards.

Jay Fair and Ja’Varrius Johnson were Auburn’s two leading wide receivers, and both have entered the transfer portal.

That all comes juxtaposed against Freeze bringing in the best wide receiver class in Auburn history, led by five-star recruit and top 10 overall player in the class of 2024, Cam Coleman.

Coleman enrolled at Auburn starting in January and took part in spring practice, where he quickly emerged as a rising star and maybe already Auburn’s best receiver. He scored the lone touchdown in Auburn’s spring game.

Around Coleman is fellow early enrolled and former four-star recruit Bryce Cain. Cain was immediately heralded by his teammates for his speed.

Former five-star recruit Perry Thompson and former four-star recruit Malcolm Simmons will join Coleman and Cain this fall.

The “Freeze Four” — as the four freshmen have been anointed — have a significant weight on their shoulders essentially tasked with the responsibility of uplifting last year’s disastrous offense that led to then offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery’s firing after just one season.

But of course, they are all freshman. None have a snap of a college football experience. So Auburn added transfer Robert Lewis in the winter from Georgia State. It brought in former Cal quarterback Sam Jackson V and converted him to a wide receiver — a move that has generated excitement.

Yet that wasn’t enough. Freeze made it clear this spring he wasn’t done adding receivers.

Lambert-Smith has four years of college football experience and doing so in one of the two biggest conferences in this sport. None of Auburn’s other newcomers can boast that.

Lambert-Smith has played in both a Peach Bowl and a Rose Bowl. But while he has a significant amount of playing time and a significant amount of big-game experience, he has remained a bit perplexing to maintain.

“There are a lot of things fundamentally we continue to work on,” Penn State wide receiver coach Marques Hagans said of Lambert-Smith in October according to All Penn State. “The thing that motivates him day in and day out is to be consistent.”

And Lambert-Smith’s production significantly tailed off as the season went on. Over Penn State’s final three games, Lambert-Smith had two total catches for 28 yards. He was targeted only once in the Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss.

He will not be asked to be Auburn’s top receiver this season. But he will need to find more consistency.

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