One by one, the faxes rolled in, and after the ink dried on 20 National Letters of Intent, Auburn had apparently wrapped up its recruiting class. But coach Gene Chizik wasn't done.
"Our recruiting class is hopefully not complete," Chizik said during an afternoon press conference on National Signing Day. "We're still recruiting a few guys out there that we hope to be able to convince them to be Auburn Tigers as well."
Two days later, the 6-foot-6-inch, 289-pound Jordan Diamond committed to Auburn. Diamond, a five-star offensive tackle according to Scout.com, pushed Auburn into the top-10 for the third consecutive year, finishing ninth overall in 2012.
Chizik and his staff made the offensive line a priority, signing Diamond, fellow five-star Avery Young, four-stars Patrick Miller and Shane Callahan and three-stars Robert Leff and Will Adams and providing immediate depth to a previously thin depth chart.
"Offensive line was obviously something that we feel like we need to, numbers-wise, shore up," Chizik said. "That was one obvious need for us. I don't think there's any question that we're headed in the right direction."
Auburn was in the final selection group for many high-profile recruits across the nation, but many selected other schools over Auburn.
"In recruiting the best-of-the-best, some you're going to get, and some you're not going to get," Chizik said. "That becomes a little Russian roulette in there to some degree. You just have to use your best judgment. It's all about relationships, and how deep in it are you? How good is your shot? There's some risk-reward things that you have to contend with. It becomes a little challenging, there's no question about it."
Even though Auburn had many offers on the table, Chizik had 15 players commit before NSD and hold firm on their commitments, some for months.
"I don't want to lose sight of the fact that we had a lot of young men that stuck with Auburn from the beginning," Chizik said. "They committed to us early. These are national top recruits, great football players that never wavered. They never switched. They've been Auburn men since the beginning and since they made their commitment to us, which some of them date all the way back to the summertime."
This season was the first that a conference-wide cap of 25 signees was implemented. Auburn only signed 20 players, but Chizik was cautious of the rule throughout the recruiting process.
"You have to be very judicious about making sure that you don't over-sign, because there's no forgiveness there," Chizik said.
Auburn is currently ranked No. 9 on Scout.com, No. 11 on Rivals.com and No. 13 on 247sports.com.
The Tigers could receive a further boost in the rankings from five-star wide receiver Stephon Diggs and three-star offensive lineman Alex Kozan, who have yet to sign.
Auburn's three consecutive top-10 classes will give the Tigers the depth they lacked in 2011.
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