Auburn football coach Alex Golesh's pitch to 2027 class? 'Get us back'

AUBURN — Alex Golesh has been off and running since becoming Auburn football‘s head coach in December, especially so on the recruiting trail.

After piecing together the Tigers’ 2026 class in his first couple days on the job, Golesh said he and his staff have been getting a jump start on the 2027 cycle, though Auburn‘s having to play catch-up with its latest signing class. Auburn has just one commit in the 2027 class, tied with three other SEC squads for the fewest in the league.

“We were able to get out and see a ton of ’27s in this region, some nationally,” Golesh said, “and get into some fights that I didn’t know we could get into, but we have.”

While Auburn’s positioning with some of the nation’s best prospects may have surprised Golesh, he’s selling something clear-cut, and it’s a pitch akin to what his predecessor, Hugh Freeze, worked with in signing back-to-back top-10 recruiting classes.

“The message has been really, really simple,” Golesh said. “This is one of the most historic, blueblood programs in the history of college football. You can be the reason to get us back.”

Golesh has said his staff’s priority on the recruiting trail will be the 250-mile radius surrounding Auburn. That includes seven states, with virtually all of Georgia, about half of Mississippi, the Florida panhandle, slivers of both Carolinas and Tennessee, as well as Alabama. In their entirety, those states account for nearly 150 blue-chip prospects based on 247Sports’ composite ratings. Nearly 100 of those, 95, are top-250 players nationally, and there’s a dozen five-star prospects within those state lines.

It’s a region Golesh’s staff is already largely familiar with, he said, which has helped make swift inroads.

“Very few, it’s the first time you’re having conversations with those kids,” Golesh said.

To Golesh, what is vital moving forward is actually getting recruits on campus. The program’s already hosted a pair of Junior Day events since Golesh arrived, which he believes has helped as much as his staff’s familiarity with the region.

“Young men still crave a relationship, still crave a level of accountability, still crave development,” Golesh said. “And there’s something about playing in front of 88,000 every week and being in a place like Auburn where football is really important. … We’ve tried to fast-track a lot of it, but a huge part of it is getting these kids on campus here before the dead period so they can get around us and get around our staff. “

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football coach Alex Golesh gives recruiting pitch for 2027 class