Auburn football recruiting continues to put an emphasis on in-state prospects.
The Tigers landed a commitment Saturday from four-star edge defender Jared Smith, who is rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 4 player in the state of Alabama for 2025. Auburn now has four of the top five in-state recruits pledged, as Smith joins four-star safety Anquon Fegans (No. 2), four-star receiver Derick Smith (No. 3) and four-star safety Eric Winters (No. 5).
Jared Smith and Fegans are teammates at Thompson High School near Birmingham.
The 6-foot-6.5, 235-pound Smith is also tabbed as the No. 57 overall player in the Class of 2025. His composite rating of .9705 makes him the third-highest-rated 2025 recruit currently committed to the Tigers behind Fegans (.9751) and Derick Smith (.9721).
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Auburn’s top seven pledges in the class − Fegans, Derick Smith, Jared Smith, Winters (.9658), four-star cornerback Blake Woodby (.9518), four-star edge defender Jakaleb Faulk (.9482) and four-star defensive lineman Malik Autry (.9472) − are all on the defensive side of the ball.
With the exception of Woodby, who is from Maryland, those top players in Auburn’s class are all from Alabama. Four-star running back Alvin Henderson (.9437) and defensive linemen Antonio Coleman (.9380) and Jourdin Crawford (.9307) currently round out the top 10 for the Tigers, and each of them are also from the state.
The No. 1 player in Alabama for 2025 is five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord, who has been committed to Ohio State since February. The Tigers are still in play for the country’s No. 7 overall recruit, though, as he took a visit to the Plains for Big Cat Weekend on July 27.
Auburn, now with 279.55 total points, remains at No. 5 in the 247Sports national recruiting rankings behind Ohio State (310.89), Alabama (299.02), Georgia (289.00) and LSU (286.72).
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Jared Smith: 4-star recruit commits to Auburn football
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