Auburn’s recruiting run continues with DB Fegans

Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff WriterJul 29, 2024, 08:49 PM ET
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Auburn landed its fourth 2025 ESPN 300 pledge in the span of three days Monday night with a commitment from four-star defensive back Anquon Fegans, the No. 2 safety in the class.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pound defender from Alabaster, Alabama is the No. 36 prospect in 2025, per ESPN rankings. Fegans picked the in-state Tigers over finalists LSU, Georgia, Alabama and Clemson, and followed four-star cornerback Blake Woodby and Alabama flips Derick Smith and Antonio Coleman among the top-300 prospects to join the program’s upcoming class since Saturday afternoon as Auburn gains steam in the 2025 cycle.

In Fegans, the Tigers now have their second-highest-rated commit in the class, behind only Woodby, the No. 22 prospect in the ESPN 300. At the end of a recruitment that included late visits to several SEC campuses, Fegans pointed to the relationships formed through daily contact with Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly as pulls that helped land his pledge with the home state Tigers.

“Those guys are very real and you’re able to relate to them a lot,” Fegans told ESPN. “It’s just the place and the people — there’s going to be no better time there than right now.”

Fegans is the younger brother of Antwon Fegans Jr., who played at Arkansas State and Northwestern State before transferring to Auburn this spring. Another brother, Tre’Quon Fegans, committed to UCF out of the transfer portal this offseason following stops at Alabama and USC.

Fegans held a handful of Power 4 offers prior to his sophomore season and his recruitment took off after he racked up 67 total tackles and nine interceptions for Alabama’s Thompson High School in the fall of 2022. Fegans initially committed to USC on May 7, 2023, before pulling his pledge from the Trojans and reopening his recruitment last August.

A productive junior season saw Fegans total 59 tackles and seven interceptions, and he followed that campaign with trips this spring to Auburn, Clemson, Miami, Georgia, LSU and Washington. Fegans scheduled another slate of visits prior to announcing his decision, taking trips to LSU, Alabama and Auburn this past weekend before formally giving his pledge to the Tigers.

“It was really me just being able to see myself being at Auburn,” Fegans said. “It’s special there. And we’re going to bring a lot of guys there with me.”

For Auburn, Fegans’ commitment marks the seventh pledge out of the program’s “Big Cat Weekend,” which saw the Tigers host a collection of top prospects in the 2025 and 2026 classes.

Woodby, the nation’s No. 3 cornerback, became the program’s top 2025 commit with his pledge Saturday. Coleman, the 16th-ranked defensive tackle and a previous Auburn commit, flipped back to the Tigers later in the day. On Monday, Auburn added another former Alabama pledge when Smith, the fourth-ranked athlete in 2025, completed his flip to the Tigers.

Auburn is now up to 12 ESPN 300 pledges in a recruiting class that came in at No. 14 in ESPN’s latest team rankings.

The Tigers also left their biggest recruiting weekend of the year having bolstered their 2026 class. Auburn added its three highest-rated commits in 2026 on Saturday with pledges from four-star defensive end Hezekiah Harris (No. 51 in the ESPN Junior 300), outside linebacker JaMichael Garrett (No. 123) and inside linebacker Shadarius Toodle (No. 150).