Check out Who Auburn pursued this summer.

A look at some names that Auburn is moving up with exiting the summer.

It was a busy month on the Plains with 38 official visitors, some loaded camps and a strong collection of unofficial visitors. It’s already led to some positive results with the Tigers now up to 16 commitments and ranking No. 5 now in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings. Auburn is in a strong spot to add to its 2025 and 2026 classes soon, which we detailed in our Who could commit next story on Saturday.

Today, something a little bit different. A look at the names that Auburn has moved up the board and is trending up with. Not necessarily names that Auburn is in the lead with right now or could join the class soon, but some names that Auburn maybe was behind with during the spring and going into the summer, but is now moving up the list.

So, who trending for the Tigers?

We’re still in the heart of the college football offseason: more than two months removed from spring practice, a month from media days, and several weeks until the start of the 2024 season, Auburn’s second under Hugh Freeze.

So what better time to crank up the rankings? As we do annually this time of year, Auburn Undercover is counting down the top 25 most valuable players for the Tigers’ 2024 season.

A few notes to set the table: These rankings are based on a player’s previous contributions to the team, as well as his assumed impact in 2024 — how important he is expected to be to Auburn’s success in both production and the win-loss column.

It is not simply Auburn’s best players in descending order. If a freshman is included on the list, his positioning is obviously a projection of his talent and significance to his respective position group.

Next up is No. 21: Isaiah Raikes, a big-bodied defensive tackle transfer who has familiarity with D.J. Durkin’s system and could end up with a major role if he becomes the Tigers’ go-to option at nose.

A monstrous individual from New Jersey, Raikes was one of the more under-recruited prospects on Texas A&M’s talented defensive fronts of the past few seasons, but he was still able to find a role with the Aggies as his college career progressed.

A rising fifth-year senior from New Jersey, Raikes has appeared in 38 games over the last four seasons, with four starts. He’s tallied 43 career tackles, with three tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. The 2023 season was Raikes’ best in college so far, with three tackles for loss and a forced fumble .

The 6-foot-2, 320-pound Raikes spent only three months at USC before re-entering the portal. He transferred out from Texas A&M back in December amid the Aggies’ coaching change.

And speaking of Texas A&M coaches, Raikes has a clear connection with Auburn’s staff, as new defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin held the same role in College Station last season, when Raikes played in every game for the Aggies. When Raikes hit the portal again, he didn’t take any visits, and he quickly landed on Auburn, which was No. 2 in his previous transfer recruitment and needed more playmakers on the interior D-line.

At nose tackle in particular, there’s now a bevy of experienced options for position coach Vontrell King-Williams and Durkin to sort through. That should make for a fierce competition in fall camp. There’s not enough playing time to go around for three experienced players at nose.

Luckily for Auburn — and those players — the likes of Raikes and Texas transfer Trill Carter were able to kick inside to a 3-tech defensive tackle spot at their previous schools. As already mentioned, Raikes split his snaps about 50-50 last season at Texas A&M between defensive tackle and a true nose spot. Carter spent most of his time at nose for Auburn in the spring but can also move around. The same can be said for former JUCO addition Quientrail Jamison-Travis. Jayson Jones will also have something to say about Auburn’s rotation in the middle after being a starting-adjacent player in each of the past two seasons.

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Raikes’ strongest quality at Texas A&M was stuffing the run. His run-defense grade by PFF was the fourth-best — and the best among Texas A&M’s defensive tackles — on an Aggies team filled with talent along the defensive front seven. Only five SEC defensive linemen who defended at least 100 rushing plays had a better run-defense grade than Raikes.

The No. 1 player on that list? Marcus Harris, whose first team All-SEC production is what is most pressing for Auburn’s defensive front to replace this offseason. With Raikes on board, Auburn has more than enough names to choose from in terms of aligning on the defensive line. Figuring out the proper personnel and groupings this preseason will be key in synthesizing a unit that can disrupt over the course of a season against big and physical SEC offensive lines.

Raikes has the SEC experience and familiarity with Durkin to be a high-impact player this season, perhaps the biggest for Auburn at nose tackle. He could end up as one of the Tigers’ most valuable pieces on defense by season’s end.