Knight opted to transfer at the end of the season, roughly one month after Auburn fired head coach Hugh Freeze. The Tigers have already hired Alex Golesh from USF as Freeze's replacement, but still lost all three starting quarterbacks to the transfer portal. Knight, however, has not ruled out a potential return.

A starting defensive back is heading to Tennessee via the transfer portal after spending the past 3 seasons at Auburn.

Derrick Nix joins the Alabama coaching staff after two seasons at Auburn and about two decades as an SEC assistant coach.

Before the 2026 class, Auburn had been on a good streak with recruiting. Head coach Hugh Freeze had assembled back-to-back top-10 classes in the country in 2024 and 2025. However, after a lackluster 2026 season, recruits started to balk at committing to heading to the Plains.

On Wednesday, Alabama officially announced that former Auburn assistant Derrick Nix has joined Kalen DeBoer's staff.

Former South Florida quarterback Byrum Brown is transferring to Auburn, following former Bulls coach Alex Golesh to the Tigers.

Auburn head football coach Alex Golesh is adding another former Tiger to the coaching staff. Former Auburn wide receiver Jeris McIntyre will be joining the staff as director of football and alumni relations.