What Auburn's Large Volume of USF Transfers Means for Next Season

About half of the Auburn Tigers' transfer additions have come from the same school, and perhaps that's not such a bad thing

Alex Golesh brought a lot of familiar faces to the Auburn Tigers | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers hired new head coach Alex Golesh following the end of the 2025 season to replace the fired Hugh Freeze, hoping to give the Tigers’ offense a spark moving forward. Golesh has quickly gotten to work in the transfer portal, securing 24 incoming players as of Jan. 14. 

However, 13 of those 24 players will be coming to The Plains from Golesh’s old USF squad, leading some of the Auburn faithful to worry that the Tigers are just importing a Group of 5 roster. Though a deeper dive into the players that Auburn’s new coach is bringing over should quell those fears quickly.

Firstly, the last five years of college football have shown that a team doesn’t need scores of four and five-star talent to be successful. Teams like 2021 Cincinnati, 2024 Arizona State, and most recently 2024 and 2025 Indiana have proven that starts are far from everything. It matters what culture the program has, whether the players you have can buy in, and if you can develop effectively.

Alex Golesh absolutely checks those three boxes, as demonstrated by his three seasons as the USF head coach. Golesh’s teams always played for a full 60 minutes, displayed impressive competitive character, and it was clear that the players respected him as a coach. Furthermore, players like quarterback Byrum Brown and receiver Keshaun Singleton, both of whom are joining Golesh on The Plains, developed extremely well in their time under his coaching.

The aforementioned Brown isn’t just the best player to follow Golesh from USF, but Auburn’s top portal addition overall. The quarterback led the FBS in total offense last season, and Singleton was his top wideout for the season. The four other USF receivers coming to Auburn also have shown flashes and should be considered reliable options moving forward.

However, the receivers aren’t the only additions in the passing game. Golesh also brought tight end Jonathan Echols to The Plains, a talented young pass catcher who can also hold up well as a blocker for someone at his position. Echols recorded 12.1 yards per reception in 2025, an outstanding mark for a tight end. He also added three touchdowns, one more than starting tight end Wyatt Sullivan had on the season.

Golesh has also shored up the quarterback room behind Brown, bringing in transfer quarterback Locklan Hewlett from his old program and flipping USF commit Rhys Brush to Auburn before early national signing day. Both players are athletic and backup options that offer a bit of dynamic ability should something happen to the Tigers’ presumed starter.

Auburn also added two proven starters on the interior offensive line from the Bulls, Cole Best and Cole Skinner. Best was ranked as the No. 26 center in the country via Pro Football Focus, and Skinner was a top-60-ranked guard by the same metric. Each player had a pass blocking grade in the 70s, higher than any mark set by an Auburn player at the position in 2025.

Both linemen are also solid in the run game, meaning they should be able to clear the way effectively for Jeremiah Cobb and Baylor transfer Bryson Washington. Though the backfield now has a third talented back in USF transfer Nykahi Davenport. Davenport led all Bulls running backs in yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry (minimum 10 carries). 

The Tigers also acquired some spark plugs in the secondary from the Bulls in safety Fred Gaskin and cornerback Gavin Jenkins. Gaskin is a highly talented box safety who can be a true difference maker on blitzes or anytime he’s asked to trigger downhill. Jenkins is a former 3-star prospect with good ball skills and impressive explosiveness who had multiple Power 4 offers as a recruit.

The most encouraging thing is that Golesh is supplementing his USF additions with other big splashes in the portal, like the aforementioned Washington and star Michigan State offensive tackle Stanton Ramil. Additionally, Golesh didn’t portal in much of a Bulls defense that struggled in 2025, recognizing the talent already on the Auburn roster on that side of the ball under the leadership of defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin.