It was an eventful signing day for Gus Malzahn and his staff.
At 6:15 Wednesday morning, the first letter of intent rolled in. That was from three-star punter Ian Shannon.
Two hours later, the centerpiece of the 2015 class, the top rated player in the country defensive end Byron Cowart made his commitment to the Tigers official.
Or so they thought.
Cowart's official letter of intent didn't arrive on the Plains until approximately 3 p.m. After that, the class was officially complete.
"(I'm) very excited about this class," said head coach Gus Malzahn. "I'm very proud of our staff. Our staff really worked great together, and we ended up having an excellent class."
That class consists of several extremely talented players, some of which Malzahn believes can come in and make their presence felt immediately.
"I really feel like we addressed our needs," Malzahn said. "We needed some guys who could rush the passer, and we really feel like we did that. We also needed some guys who could cover, and we addressed that. We also needed a few wide receivers and we needed some O-line depth, so I feel very good about that."
As far as pass rushing goes, Cowart will be looked at to fill that role. Over the last two years of his high school career, Cowart racked up 24 sacks.
"We feel very good about him being able to come in immediately and help us obviously rushing the passer," Malzahn said. "Our defensive staff did an excellent job recruiting that young man."
Malzahn and company also picked up three defensive backs, including four-star Carlton Davis, who Rivals.com lists at the 17th best DB in the country.
"Coach T-Rob (Travaris Robinson) said we really need to try and go after this guy," Malzahn said. "He was committed to another school, and that relationship really helped. When he came on a visit, he really felt at home. This guy has a chance to help us right off the bat."
The wide receiver that sticks out in this class is late Georgia flip Darius Slayton, who decommitted from Georgia and committed to Auburn, both the night before signing day. Slayton, a four-star recruit, stand at 6'1 and runs a 4.4 forty-yard dash.
"He has a lot of family associated with Auburn," Malzahn said. "He's a big guy that can run. We feel like he'll have a chance to help us next year and we're very excited about him."
In the backfield, Auburn adds two prolific running backs. One, Kerryon Johnson, is Auburn's third straight signee to have been named Alabama's Mr. Football.
"He's one of the more versatile players in the entire country," Malzahn said. "With our offense, we can get very creative with him. We really think this young man has a chance to be an elite special type player."
The other, Jovon Robinson, enrolled early on the Plains and was the number one overall junior college player in the country last year.
"He's a big physical guy that can run," Malzahn said. "He really has chance to be an elite player."
Back on the defensive side of the ball, Auburn also got a big boost in the midfield, picking up four-star linebacker Jeffery Holland.
While Malzahn is excited about the talent of his new players, he said he's even more proud of the character they possess.
"We got some excellent players," Malzahn said. "You turn the highlights on, and it's a wow factor, but I feel very good about this class from a character standpoint. You see these guys are committed to us, and they stay committed to us. They didn't do all this around the world stuff like you see a lot of other places doing. From a head coaching standpoint, that means a lot to me. That way you win is, you win with talent and you win with character. That's what we believe here at Auburn."
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