Year 1 on The Plains: Meet Auburn’s transfer offensive lineman Gunner Britton
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Year 1 on The Plains: Meet Auburn’s transfer offensive lineman Gunner Britton

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A new coach at Auburn meant significant roster turnover would surely follow. Before Hugh Freeze’s team lines up for fall practices in a few weeks, his roster has more than three dozen new faces, including more than 20 transfers. In his first offseason back in the SEC, Freeze took advantage of the new landscape the transfer portal has made for college football to reshape the Tigers. Auburn brought in the fifth-ranked transfer class, according to 247Sports, and led the nation with 11 four-star rated transfers.

Here’s a look at one of them…

No. 53 Gunner Britton, offensive lineman, senior

Hometown: Conway, S.C. (Conway HS)

Previous university: Western Kentucky (2018-22)

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 312 pounds

A look back at the past: Coming out of high school, Britton was largely overlooked as he was only rated a 2-star prospect by 247Sports. After a quiet recruiting process, Britton redshirted in his first year at Western Kentucky before appearing in all but one game the next season. In 2019, Britton was named a member of the CUSA All-Freshman team. By 2022, Britton started in all 14 of Western Kentucky’s games — six at right tackle and eight at left tackle. Britton and the Hilltoppers’ offensive line allowed just 14 sacks in 2022, a mark that ranked No. 10 in the country. When Britton entered the transfer portal, Pro Football Focus named him the best offensive tackle in the portal. Britton was rated a 4-star transfer prospect by 247Sports.

2023 season outlook: As a redshirt junior in 2022, Britton allowed pressure on just 1.7% of his snaps last fall, according to PFF, which went on to rank him as the eighth most valuable offensive tackle in the nation last year. At Auburn, Britton is likely to be a strong staple on Auburn’s offensive line, which will have to be pieced together over fall camp considering Hugh Freeze and Co. brought in four other offensive line transfers this offseason. For a team that gave up 30 sacks in 12 games last fall, Britton is a huge addition for the Tigers and is a likely starter at tackle.