Over the past month, Auburn's recruiting class has been shrinking seemingly by the day.
The most recent commit to bail on the Tigers was tree-star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams, who had originally given a verbal in January. "You can take me off the Auburn commit list," Williams told Auburn Undercover last week. The decision by Williams made him the third Auburn commit to jump ship over the past month, joining David Marshall and Nate Craig-Myers.
While losing talented players from a recruiting class obviously isn't a good thing, Justin Thompson of Bleacher Report says that the time for panic has not yet come for Auburn fans. In the same period of time, the Tigers have done about as much to strengthen themselves on the recruiting trail, landing commitments from four-star wide-receiver Eli Stove and dual-threat quarterback Woody Barrett, whose recruitment turned into an Auburn-Alabama battle.
The Tigers also are strongly in the mix for a number of blue-chip recruits; top targets include defensive tackle Derrick Brown from Georgia and linebacker Lyndell Wilson from Alabama. And with eight months left before Signing Day, coach Gus Malzahn and his staff have ample time to fill the newly vacant spots.
So there's still a chance that the 2016 recruiting class will end up a very good one, making the string of defections an afterthought.
(h/t Bleacher Report)
Image Credit: Scott Sewell, USA TODAY Sports
