Auburn Tigers and Hugh Freeze flip another top four star in-state college football recruit from Alabama

Auburn recruiting is on fire here recently. They just wrapped a weekend that finished with Hugh Freeze and the Tigers landing commits from four top tier four star recruits, taking the 2026 team recruiting class lead . Not only that, but they flipped four star defensive lineman Antonio Coleman from Alabama just a few days ago. Now they're already whipping out the spatula again? Yep. They're stealing yet another top in-state player from the Crimson Tide.

Derick Smith, Four Star Athlete Flips

Late Monday morning it was announced that Hugh Freeze and Auburn had flipped four star athlete Derick Smith from Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama Crimson Tide. Smith plays both wide receiver and safety, ranking as a Top 50(ish) recruit in the entire nation as of this writing.

Derick Smith posted an unbelievable 2023 season racking up nearly 1500 receiving yards and over 1000 rushing yards with a total of 23 touchdowns. And on top of that he snagged over 70 tackles with double-digit sacks last year on defense too. Smith could star on either side of the ball when he gets to the next level, but many believe he'll stick with offense given his unreal dynamic qualities with the ball in his hands.

Now that Smith is committed to Auburn this easily moves the Tigers into the Top 10 overall team recruiting classes for 2025. In fact, it nearly gives them a top five group already, and there's apparently more still yet to come. This takes Kalen DeBoer and Alabama's recruiting momentum down a notch too, knocking them off the top perch for 2025. If Hugh Freeze keeps these wins up Auburn is going to be right back in the mix to make the College Football Playoff here soon.

Related: Auburn Tigers and Hugh Freeze take unique early lead in football recruiting after huge weekend

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And if you want to see just how good Derick Smith is just check out some of his highlights in the video below!