(Photo via Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire)
Spring football has come and gone and with it a new transfer portal window for teams to add to their rosters and plug holes.
For Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers, both the winter and spring portal windows were very active. Let’s take a look at the five biggest pickups for Freeze as he heads into his second season as Auburn’s head coach.
Keyron Crawford, EDGE (Arkansas State)
Crawford was one of three portal adds that Auburn made on the defensive line within a 24 hour period towards the end of April along with Philip Blidi and Isaiah Raikes, but Crawford is the best of the three. Crawford, who was dominant in the Sun Belt for Arkansas State, will have the chance to step in right away and make an impact.
KeAndre Lambert-Smith, WR (Penn State)
Lambert-Smith was the latest of attempts to overhaul the wide receiver room after last year’s group was a disappointment. On top of that, Koy Moore, Ja’Varrius Johnson, and Jay Fair all entered the portal for Auburn.
Like defensive line, Lambert-Smith was the third receiver the team added in the portal along with Robert Lewis and Sam Jackson V, but Lambert-Smith is the most highly touted of them all.
The team will rely heavily on freshman sensation Cam Coleman in the receiver room, but adding some veteran talent is huge as well.
Antonio Kite, DB (Alabama)
Exactly how much Kite will play is uncertain, but it’s never a bad idea to take a player from your most hated rival even if he was just a depth piece there. Not to mention, Auburn lost a ton of talent in the secondary in the draft.
Kite was a highly touted recruit out of high school and is still a very young player. If things work out, he could have a very bright future at Auburn. He committed to the Tigers shortly after the retirement of Nick Saban.
Percy Lewis, OT (Mississippi State)
To say Lewis is a huge addition is an understatement given the fact that he is absolutely mammoth-sized, standing at 6’8″ and weighing almost 350 pounds.
A seasoned player with SEC experience who is headed to Auburn for his fifth year of eligibility, Lewis slots in for the Tigers as the projected starting left tackle. He has appeared in 25 career games with eight starts and was named to as an All-SEC honorable mention in 2023.
For a team that struggled to protect Payton Thorne last year, Lewis will be critical. He committed to Auburn in January.
Trill Carter, DL (Texas)
Carter was a two-year starter at Minnesota before transferring to Texas where he struggled to get on the field much in a defensive line rotation that was as deep as any in the country in 2023.
He had just nine tackles and a sack in 2023, but he was a very productive player at Minnesota and there was simply too much talent in Austin for him to make a real impact.
He can start immediately for Auburn and begin to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks.
