Auburn Adds Fourth Big Man of the Offseason, 2026 Conference Leader

The Auburn Tigers have landed the third commitment of this transfer portal cycle in Thomas Dowd, who announced his pledge to the Plains on Monday. Dowd, who played for Troy for three years, will head to the Plains for his final season of eligibility.

NEWS: Troy transfer forward Thomas Dowd has committed to Auburn, he told @On3.

The 6-8 junior and Dothan, AL native averaged 14.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game this season. Was the Sun Belt Tournament MVP and First Team All-League, leading Troy to back-to-back NCAA… pic.twitter.com/cikpRWXy6P
— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) April 20, 2026

As a prospect out of Dothan, Ala., in 2023, Dowd did not have a single star to his name, but standout production has quickly turned him into a four-star transfer, and it is not hard to see why. After all, Dowd led the Sun Belt Conference in rebounds last year with an average of 10.1 per game, and tacked on 14.4 points per game to complete a double-double average, something that no Tiger could boast in 2026.

In fact, no Tiger averaged more than 7.1 rebounds per game in 2026, so Dowd’s presence in the rebounding game could be a massive upswing for the Tigers’ future.

Dowd is now the fourth big man that the Tigers have gotten a hold of in this offseason, as they initially made headlines for signing Narcisse Ngoy, a French seven-footer who will technically be a freshman in 2026 despite his age.

Then, the Tigers snagged 7-foot-1 center Bukky Oboye from Santa Clara on Saturday before a double-commitment day on Monday, in which the Tigers managed to acquire both Dowd and 6-foot-10 Creighton forward Owen Freeman just hours apart.

The Tigers, who struggled to find depth down low in 2026, have quite a few cooks in the kitchen headed into 2027, though Sebastian Williams-Adams, a former four-star prospect who played for the Tigers in 2026, evidently does not want to compete with three veterans and a Frenchman, as he announced minutes after Dowd’s commitment that he would, in fact, be entering the Transfer Portal.

This leaves just the four new acquisitions and Emeka Oporum, who missed most of the Tigers’ 2026 season with an injury, to find their place in what is shaping up to be another highly unique Auburn roster. However, with the return of NIT MOP Kevin Overton and standout sophomore Tahaad Pettiford, the Tigers could finally be poised to make another deep tournament run in 2027.

That will require at least four newcomers to find chemistry on the court, though, so Auburn head coach Steven Pearl has his work cut out for him if he wants to follow in his father’s footsteps and potentially take Auburn to another Final Four, or even beyond.

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