‘I Feel Wanted There’: Latest Auburn Commit James Pace Talks Tigers

The Auburn Tigers have been unrelenting in their recruiting efforts over the past few months, and the fruits of their labor are continually coming to light.

Their latest harvest includes four-star edge rusher James Pace, who is one of the Tigers’ most highly-rated commitments in their 2027 class.

The No. 2 edge rusher in the state of Maryland, Pace joins an already-strong Tiger edge rushing class that previously consisted solely of Rion Jackson, the No. 3 edge rusher in Maryland. The Tigers have made an effort to recruit the DMV area this year, and it is certainly showing, as the Tigers now have three commitments from the state, the second-most of any state in their class.

After Pace committed to Auburn, Rivals’ Chad Simmons caught up with him to talk all things Auburn, including why he decided on the Plains over programs like Penn State and Tennessee.

“It’s a brotherhood,” he said. “I feel wanted there. It’s definitely a great school, when I went up there, everything fell into place. It was just like I imagined it to be.”

New Auburn head coach Alex Golesh was not expected to recruit at an exceptionally high level over his first year on the Plains, and yet he has overdelivered in an exceptional way. As it stands, the Tigers’ class is rated as the ninth-best in the country by 247Sports, a testament to the effort he is putting in and the culture he is creating.

“Everything [in Auburn] got Auburn on it,” Pace said. “Football everywhere, just a love for the game, everybody love it just like I do. There’s a lot of players there that are just like me, so I relate to a lot of the players.”

As for what the Tigers are getting with Pace, the four-star broke down exactly who he is and why he loves the game so much.

“I love the game so much because I can hit people without getting in trouble for it,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s definitely a real reason, like, all this school and stuff is cool, but we men, we like to get down and dirty, we like to play. It’s given me a way out from everything, takes my mind off a lot of things. When I get on the field, I don’t think about nothing else. I just ball.”

The Tigers have certainly found themselves with a top-level addition with Pace, who is looking to fill the shoes of Keldric Faulk and Keyron Crawford, both of whom were taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. As such, there is a lot of room for a new edge rusher to make waves, and Pace is certainly looking to be the difference-maker in the future.

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