For Alabama Football, recruiting is booming. Kalen DeBoer and his staff are destroying widespread, past claims that the Crimson Tide's recruiting success would plummet after Nick Saban. Hugh Freeze playing too much golf has been offered as an excuse. To the extent that Freeze is not working hard enough, it is not Auburn's main problem.
Auburn's main problem is that it has almost nothing to sell. Any college football recruit with a solid potential of playing in the NFL is a fool to play for the Auburn Tigers. And this is the case even with Auburn being located in a historically strong recruiting area.
Auburn does a poor job of developing players for the NFL. Going back to the 2020 NFL Draft, 53 Alabama football players have been drafted. In comparison, Auburn has had 25 players drafted. The average draft round for Alabama's 53 players was 2.6. Auburn's average draft round was 4.4. Twenty of Alabama's 53 players were drafted in the First Round. Only two Auburn players have been first-round picks, and those came in 2020. Since Cam Newton was drafted in 2011, Auburn has had one quarterback drafted; it was Jarett Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 Draft. At best, the Auburn football program should earn a 'C-' in preparing players for the NFL.
Sensible Aubies (yes, there are a few) understand the deficiency. Fly War Eagles' Mary Kate Hughes recently wrote, "The Tigers have struggled with sending talent to the NFL over the last few years, and linebacker Eugene Asante surprisingly went undrafted this year after a strong showing in the combine. Though the talent level has increased on the Plains and Auburn football is hoping to produce at least one first-round draft pick this season, the record from the last few years supports Toodle's case." Hughes was writing about Mobile, AL, 4-star recruit Shadarius Toodle, who flipped from Auburn to Georgia. Toodle said, " Georgia develops linebackers. I felt like it was the best decision for me... I just felt like that wasn’t going to get me to the NFL in the long run. I felt like the development at Georgia was better."
Toodle wisely did not leave potential NFL money on the table by choosing Auburn for his college career.
The gap between Auburn and Alabama Football is huge
Two words aptly describe the Auburn football program: flailing and failing. Over the past seven seasons, Auburn has averaged 6.4 wins. The Tigers have not won a bowl game since the 2018 season. Auburn has had one credible season in the entire CFB Playoff Era. The Tigers in 2025 hope to avoid a fifth straight losing season.
Note: Team records and NFL Draft history provided by Sports Reference