Auburn ranked 74th nationally in scoring offense this year, putting up just 26.3 points per game. But with a recruiting class that added players like five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman, there’s reason to think that Hugh Freeze’s bunch will be changing scoreboards at a higher level in the future.
Coleman moved up in the final 247Sports rankings for the 2024 class, moving from No. 8 to No. 5 overall and the No. 2 wide receiver. And Cooper Petagna, national recruiting analyst, said on the College Football Recruiting Show that Auburn was getting a special talent.
“He doesn’t turn 18 until August. He’s a puppy, but he’s actually a grown man,” Petagna said. “This is a guy that has doubled his production in every major statistical category. You see his ability to attack the football down the field. He is a walking mismatch. You think about Auburn, what they’ve been able to do with that receiving corps, Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, this is a Day One game-changer for Hugh Freeze on The Plains. Watch out for Cam Coleman.”
In Coleman’s scouting report, Petagna compared Coleman to another immediate-impact SEC wideout. George Pickens arrived at Georgia and caught 49 passes for 727 yards and eight touchdowns as a freshman. And with Coleman’s
“Verified at 6-foot-3 and 180-pounds plus, possesses an athletic frame with growth potential to add an additional fifteen to twenty pounds to his frame on Saturdays,” Petagna wrote. “Possesses outstanding verified athletic ability at the receiver position, showing the ability to operate out of the slot and on the perimeter.
“Explosive straight line receiver that exhibits good initial quickness off the line of scrimmage and in and out of breaks at the top of the route,” Petagna wrote. “Possesses excellent play and verified speed, in addition to showing the ability to change gears and accelerate to top end speed quickly. Regarded as more of a vertical threat as a junior, shown ability to expand his route tree and develop into a much more polished version of a route runner as as a senior.”
Petagna also noted that Coleman was among the most dangerous jump ball threats in the country, a trait he shows off by playing above the rim in basketball. Coleman caught 61 passes for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns as a senior after 542 yards and six touchdowns as a junior.
Get the latest football and basketball transfer portal news from 247Sports.
“Projects as an immediate contributor at the next level and a potential Day-1 NFL Draft choice with a rare combination of size, speed, and athleticism that differentiates him from the rest of his peers,” Petagna wrote.
“Will turn eighteen years of age in August of 2024,” Petagna wrote, “indicating he’s in the infancy stages of his physical growth and on field development.”
