Former No. 1 Tennessee Commit Gives Pledge To New SEC Program

One new SEC staff’s loss is another’s gain. Dylan Brooks, a four-star, Top 1oo defensive end/outside linebacker recruit out of Alabama, was released from his letter of intent to Tennessee football on Friday, after the team fired Jeremy Pruitt and hired Josh Heupel a few weeks ago. Now, he’s joining one of the SEC’s other new coaching staffs, and will play for Bryan Harsin at Auburn.

Ranked No. 76 overall in the country, Brooks was the top-rated player in Tennessee football’s 2021 recruiting class. Pruitt landed him over Auburn, one of the two SEC powers from his home state, but after he was let go, Brooks request to be let out of his NLI. That wish was reportedly granted on Friday.

It didn’t take long for him to figure out his next step. Today, Brooks joins Harsin’s first class at Auburn. The former Boise State head coach has the No. 20-ranked class in the country. Brooks is now Auburn’s top recruit in the cycle as well.

He confirmed the new commitment this afternoon, tweeting out a graphic of him in an Auburn uniform announcing the commitment. Above the image reads “committed.”

pic.twitter.com/bgWkCHnGG3

— Dylan Brooks (@_dylanbrooks) February 20, 2021

Harsin is also pretty pumped. This is a nice late-recruiting cycle win for him.

WAR EAGLE! #WDE 🦅 | #AuburnMade 🐅 pic.twitter.com/JsS5ojqvoT

— Bryan Harsin (@CoachHarsin) February 20, 2021

Brooks is ranked No. 6 among weak-side defensive ends in the class. He’s the fourth-best player out of Alabama in 2021. The top two are Alabama-bound, while the third is heading to Florida.

The Dylan Brooks commitment is a huge boon for this Auburn class, which was ranked No. 28 before his commitment. These first cycles can be difficult for new coaches, especially if they’re hired relatively late in the process, as Harsin was at Auburn. Gaining a new top recruit and high four-star talent at this point in the year in a big win.