Auburn football returns to top-5 recruiting class after landing 4-star S Anquon Fegans
AUBURN — Auburn football recruiting is officially on a run.
After landing five commitments at Big Cat Weekend on Saturday — two in the Class of 2025 and three in the Class of 2026 — and flipping four-star receiver Derick Smith from Alabama two days later, the Tigers added a pledge Monday evening from four-star safety Anquon Fegans.
Fegans, who attends Thompson High School in Alabaster, is rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 44 overall player and the No. 3 safety in 2025. Fegans totaled 59 tackles, 11 pass deflections and seven interceptions as a junior last season, helping the Warriors to an appearance in the Class 7A state championship. He had two interceptions in the title game.
Antwon Fegans Jr., who is an older brother of Anquon Fegans, is currently on Auburn's roster. He transferred to the Tigers after stops at Arkansas State (2020-21) and Northwestern State (2022-23).
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Auburn is now back to having a 2025 class that ranks in the top five nationally. The Tigers once held the country's No. 4 class, but a lull saw them fall outside the top 10. Coach Hugh Freeze said July 18 he expected recruiting to pick back up at Big Cat.
The Tigers also currently hold the No. 1 class in 2026.
With Fegans on board, Auburn has three of the top five players in Alabama committed, according to the 247Sports Composite. The Tigers also have five of the top 10 and eight of the top 15. They could very soon be getting another one, too, as four-star edge defender Jared Smith, who is considering Auburn and is tabbed as the state's No. 4 player, is set to announce his commitment Saturday.
A couple of other notable in-state recruits — five-star cornerback Na'eem Offord (No. 1) and four-star edge defender Zion Grady (No. 6), both committed to Ohio State — were on campus for Big Cat.
Fegans was once a USC commit, pledging to the school in May 2023. He backed off his commitment nearly three months later, though, and he's now part of an Auburn class that is No. 5 in the nation behind, in order, Ohio State, Alabama, Georgia and LSU.
The Tigers have finished with a top-five class just once in the modern recruiting era. Former coach Gene Chizik pulled it off in 2011 with a unit that was headlined by six top-100 prospects. The 2025 class currently has four players ranked in the top 100 between Fegans (44), Smith (51), four-star safety Eric Winters (67) and four-star cornerback Blake Woodby (100).
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: Anquon Fegans commits to Auburn football shortly after Big Cat