Auburn Portal Addition to Play Cornerback Positin in 2026

The Auburn Tigers signed former Notre Dame commit Scrap Richardson, a three-Star transfer athlete, in the offseason’s transfer portal window. Despite having experience at both running back and quarterback, Richardson was expected to play defense for the Tigers, which has now been confirmed on his player page on Auburn Football’s website.

Richardson redshirted his freshman season at Notre Dame, seeing no game action for the entirety of 2025. However, he has a lot of upside and traits to like. What stands out immediately about Richardson is his elite speed, which he used to win Georgia State Championships in the 100 and 200-meter dashes as a junior in high school.

His versatility is unquestionable, letting teams utilize him on whichever side of the ball they believe fits him best. With Notre Dame’s slim receiving room, Richardson found himself becoming a wideout. Now at Auburn, he can help combat the Tigers’ shaky situation at corner.

With Jay Crawford, Kayin Lee, Donovan Starr, and Raion Strader all leaving Auburn in the transfer portal, the Tigers only have two corners on their roster that are any older than a sophomore. One is senior Rayshawn Pleasant, a former Tulane transfer who played significant time for Auburn last year, both on defense and as a return man. The other is senior Andre Jordan Jr, a UCLA transfer and reliable boundary player who I would expect to be the Tigers’ top corner in 2026.

The most experienced corner outside of Jordan and Pleasant in Auburn’s room is Chattanooga transfer Kamari Todd, who played in multiple defensive back roles for the Mocs last season. Florida State transfer Shamar Arnoux started four games for the Seminoles in 2025 and is the only other Auburn corner with meaningful starting experience.

Blake Woodby and USF transfer Gavin Jenkins have both played in a fairly significant number of games, 11 for Woodby as a freshman and four for Jenkins before taking his redshirt last season. However, it should be a fight for the third spot and lower on Auburn’s cornerback depth chart to start the season.

Even though Richardson does not bring in experience either, having a highly athletic and talented player to help shore up depth is never a bad thing. He also has excellent size to play boundary corner at 6-foot and 190 pounds, nearly prototypical. If he can spend a season developing and truly dial into a single position for the first time, his ceiling on defense is incredibly high for the future.