AUBURN — Auburn basketball signee Tahaad Pettiford is rated by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 1 point guard in the Class of 2024.

But don't tell that to Tigers coach Bruce Pearl.

Pearl, who is looking to reload his roster after suffering an upset loss to Yale in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 22, has plans to use the incoming five-star freshman as an off-ball scorer. Pettiford's listed measurements of 5-foot-10, 175 pounds have him in the mold of a point guard, but that's not how Pearl sees him fitting in.

"Everyone assumed Tahaad was going to come in and be our point guard," Pearl said in a news conference March 28. "He's not. Tahaad is a scorer. He is an incredible athlete. He can make plays on both ends of the floor. He's going to be one of the fastest, quickest, most explosive little guards I've ever had."

HOOPS: Auburn's Bruce Pearl explains why KD Johnson will enter the transfer portal

'HUNGRY TO LEARN': An updated look at where Auburn football's QBs sit in spring practice

Pettiford's composite ranking of .9908 makes him the fifth-highest-rated recruit to sign with Auburn in the modern recruiting era. Those above him include Yohan Traore in 2022 (.9916), Sharife Cooper in 2020 (.9920), Aden Holloway in 2023 (.9928) and Jabari Smith in 2021 (.9980).

A product of Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, New Jersey, Pettiford is the fourth McDonald's All-American to sign with the Tigers in the last five recruiting cycles. Assistant coach Ira Bowman, a native of New Jersey, was pivotal in Pettiford's recruitment.

Pettiford, who will be one of 12 players partipcating in the McDonald's All-American Boys Game on Tuesday (8 p.m. CT, ESPN), averaged 19.1 points, 4.1 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game as a senior at Hudson Catholic, per stats kept by NJ.com. He also shot 33.5% from 3-point range as a member of the New Heights Lightning on the EYBL circuit.

"He's not a true point guard," Pearl said of Pettiford. "Can he play some? He might."

Pearl deployed some non-traditional PG minutes last season with Denver Jones, who played shooting guard the majority of the time he was on the floor. Jones' lateral movement on the defensive end and his pure stroke from beyond the arc made him a perfect fit at SG, but his solid ball-handling and playmaking abilities made Pearl confident in letting him play some at the lead guard spot.

Jones played 22:40 at PG last season, according to College Basketball Analytics, and the team was +6 during that time. Perhaps some similar minutes could be in line for Pettiford if he proves he can shoulder some extra load as a freshman.

Pettiford will be added to a back court that already features three other players in Jones and point guards Aden Holloway and Tre Donaldson. He replaces KD Johnson, who announced March 29 that he had officially entered the transfer portal after spending the last three years with the program.

Johnson averaged 17.7 minutes per game behind Jones. There's still plenty to sort out — more portal departures could hit this offseason, and the Tigers are reportedly active in the transfer market — but taking all of Johnson's minutes seems likely for Pettiford in Year 1.

He'll have to earn everything after that, and it sounds like he'll have the opportunity to do it.

"I think I'm going to try to play him off the ball and let him do what he do," Pearl said of Pettiford. "Get buckets."

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: Auburn basketball: How 5-star Tahaad Pettiford fits in with Tigers