Auburn picked up its 14th player from the transfer portal Monday morning with a commitment from Eric Singleton, Jr., from Georgia Tech. Singleton is highly ranked (top receiver and No. 3 overall player in the portal), but he’s just one of several plug-and-play guys who have signed with Auburn in the past two weeks.

When the gate opened, I knew Auburn wanted to make it rain. Mission accomplished. Change the Auburn creed. They will always value hard work in Lee County, but they also “believe in cold, hard cash.”

First, Auburn put together a Top 5 recruiting class in December. It turns out Freeze and his war chest were just getting started.

Auburn wins the offseason and makes a statement. The Tigers are ready to start the new year with a roar.

Freeze deserved to be criticized for Auburn’s big miss on the field in 2024, but it’s time to shower him with some love for what’s to come in 2025. The plays and the schedule are coming together in place for a run at the SEC championship. Now it’s time to get wins on the field against Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt as well.

Turn on the fad train and turn up the dial on the pressure cooker. With the amount of money Auburn is spending on its roster, anything less than a berth in the upcoming College Football Playoff will be a failure.

Singleton, the latest transfer to choose Auburn, chose Freeze and the Tigers over teams like Ole Miss, LSU, Texas and Alabama. A score like that doesn’t come cheap. Will Singleton be the iconic gem atop a future champion’s crown? There are plenty of diamonds to share the sparkle and spotlight.

Rival Alabama is vulnerable following a mediocre season and the retirement of Nick Saban. For Auburn, the time has come to change the course of SEC history. Auburn knows it, Auburn feels it and Auburn plays.

According to industry rankings, Auburn’s recruiting class was the fourth best in the country behind Texas, Georgia and Alabama. This does not include portal acquisitions. Add it all together and Auburn will have a team in 2025 that should be ranked in the preseason Top 10.

From there, it’ll be up to Freeze, new quarterback Jackson Arnold and Auburn’s other team leaders to find chemistry that can win tough games on the road and then take down rivals in the Alabama and Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

When was the last time Auburn had a team this talented and deep? We have to go back a long way.

And if Auburn gave Cam Newton a cupcake on the side, then that wasn’t a big enough slice for what he was worth.

Newton’s great scandal is laughable today. In the modern era of college football, everyone gets paid. In Auburn, the bag is so heavy it weighs down Santa’s sleigh.

BE HEARD

Do you have a question for Joe? Want to get something off your chest? Send Joe an email about what you think. Make your voice heard. Ask him anything.

Joseph Goodman is the leading sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group and author of the book “We want Bama: A season of hope and the creation of Nick Saban’s ultimate team.”