Auburn Football: Top 5 recruiting targets for National Signing Day

1. George Pickens (WR/Hoover, AL)

Five-star wide receiver George Pickens has been an Auburn commitment for over a year and a half. He hasn’t wavered on that commitment, but he is still doing his due diligence on the recruiting trail and plans to still take a couple more visits ahead of signing day.

Pickens likes that Auburn feels like home, but working against the Tigers has been their track-record of developing NFL wide receivers – or lack thereof. Auburn has had only two wide receivers drafted since 2008, both of which were selected in the third round or later. You’d have to go all the way back to 1984 to find the last Auburn receiver selected in the first round of the draft.

That’s certainly something that other coaches are using against Auburn to try and flip Pickens. Alabama was involved with Pickens for a while, but they seem to have moved on. Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee have remained connected with Pickens, and Miami and Ohio State have made some late pushes to try and flip the blue-chip prospect.

Pickens took an official visit to Georgia this past weekend, and while he doesn’t have any others scheduled at the moment, the expectation is that he will take his final two official visits over the next couple of weekends to keep all of his options open.

Working in Auburn’s favor is Pickens has a good relationship with Auburn QB commit Bo Nix. Nix and Pickens have established a strong connection over the All-Star games they have played in together, and could become one of the SEC’s most feared QB-WR duos for the next three to four years.

Look for Pickens to ultimately take those last two visits, but I fully expect him to sign with Auburn on National Signing Day to help solidify a likely Top 10 class.