AUBURN — Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze ran out of the Woltosz Football Performance Center as fast as he could because he knew what was coming.

He made it to his destination in time — a pool on AU's campus crawling with elite talent visiting for Big Cat Weekend. Shortly after Freeze's dash, he was picked up and tossed into the water by commitments in the Class of 2024.

What happened in the interim was historic. The Tigers, who don't exactly have a history of elite pass-catchers, flipped five-star receiver Perry Thompson away from Alabama and to the Plains. Auburn has signed one five-star receiver in its history, and that came more than two decades ago with Ben Obomanu in the Class of 2002.

Thompson's flip on Saturday gave the Tigers their second five-star pledge in less than a week, too, as linebacker Demarcus Riddick had committed to Auburn three days prior. The Tigers also added four-star receiver Malcolm Simmons a few hours before Thompson's pool-side announcement.

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When the dust settled, Auburn was up to 14 pledges in next year's class and its average ranking per recruit in the 247Sports Composite was 91.85, currently the fifth-best mark in the country behind Ohio State (93.54), Georgia (93.44), Alabama (93.04) and USC (91.93).

Early Signing Day remains months out and it's been demonstrated over and over again that verbal commitments are often flimsy, but it's not an exaggeration to say the run that the Tigers went on with Riddick, Thompson and Simmons was one of the best weeks in recent Auburn recruiting history.

So, how'd the Tigers get there? What's changed so dramatically in the last eight months since Freeze was hired?

“Family," four-star OL target DeAndre Carter said Saturday when asked what sticks out about Auburn. "I love everything, but probably the thing that stands out more than the others is just the family atmosphere. A lot of colleges say they have it, but I definitely feel it a lot here."

Class of 2025 edge defender Jakaleb Faulk, the younger brother of AU freshman Keldric Faulk, echoed similar sentiments: "(The visit) was way better than I expected. We had some bonding time with a couple of people out here. Like they said, they’re all about family. I got to meet a lot of people. It was just a good experience overall.”

"Family" was a popular term used by recruits leaving Big Cat. Thompson mentioned it, adding that he feels like he's known the staff for years and calling wide receivers coach Marcus Davis and director of recruiting relations Trovon Reed uncle-like figures.

And while four-star safety Zaquan Patterson didn't explicitly say the word, he praised the staff for how they treated his mother, who accompanied him on the visit: "They did a great job communicating with my mom. It was her first time on a visit, so they did a great job explaining to her what they can offer and just showing her a good time, letting her have fun and letting her enjoy herself.”

"I think one of the best things (Freeze) does is he can sell a momma," standout Ole Miss quarterback and former Freeze recruit Bo Wallace said in an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser in June. "He’s undefeated when it comes to those mommas. I think that definitely helps him with the relationship with the kid because if at the dinner table mom can’t stop talking about Hugh, that kind of weighs on you. I think he’s done a great job with that, when I kind of saw it first hand.”

The big-time commitments Freeze and his staff landed don't just make waves among talking heads and media personalities. It also creates momentum for other coveted recruits to follow. It's a factor for five-star safety KJ Bolden, who is announcing his commitment Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT.

"Demarcus and Perry, they’re recruiting me every day," Bolden said leaving Big Cat. "Perry told me a while back he was going to flip. Having all the Auburn commits being there (on the visit) and all of them boys talk to me about how special this place is and how we can just change everything in the SEC, it doesn’t sound bad. It sounds like a great plan.

"Next week, I just hope I make the right decision. I might be a Tiger. I don’t know."

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football recruiting: How Tigers found success at Big Cat