Five-star safety Jireh Edwards sets commitment date, Auburn named a finalist
Four players on Auburn's 2025 roster, including UConn transfer running back Durell Robinson and true freshman cornerback Blake Woodby are proud alumni of St. Frances, and three-star safety Wayne Henry has already pledged to Auburn's 2026 class. Despite landing many former players of the Maryland football power, Auburn still wants more.
Advertisement
St. Frances safety Jireh Edwards revealed this week that he will announce his commitment on July 5, and Auburn is in the mix. The five-star safety will choose between Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Florida, and Texas A&M after his rounds of official visits that will conclude at Oregon on June 19.
Edwards visited Auburn during Big Cat Weekend in April and came away pleased with the environment of campus and the style of play defensive coordinator DJ Durkin produces. He also cited the impact that his former high school teammates have on his decision.
'It's really important for my decision,' Edwards said in an interview with On3. 'I would never think the guys like Blake Woodby, Bryce Deas, Durell Robinson, Darrion Smith would ever lead me wrong. They're good guys and I definitely look up to them.'
Edwards is a five-star safety by On3, 247Sports, and Rivals, and ranks as high as the No. 2 safety in the country for the 2026 cycle. His teammate, Wayne Henry, is Auburn's lone defensive back commit at this point of the recruiting cycle.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__
This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn football a finalist to land five-star safety Jireh Edwards

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
Steelers welcome legendary band Linkin Park to practice
The Pittsburgh Steelers had some special guests at practice on Tuesday — none other than the legendary band Linkin Park. One of the greatest rock bands of their generation, Linkin Park had a front-row seat to intense action at practice — with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Brian Batko reporting that Aaron Rodgers played a role in their attendance. Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Joe Hahn, David Farrell, Colin Brittain, Alex Feder, and Emily Armstrong — the new co-vocalist following the late-great Chester Bennington's passing in 2017 — had a show later that night at the Pittsburgh Penguins' PPG Paints Arena, part of their From Zero World Tour. Their next stop is Nashville, Tennessee, at the Bridgestone Arena on August 21, but the Steelers won't forget the surprise appearance of the iconic Linkin Park. The Pittsburgh Steelers will need to shake off the starstruck nerves in a hurry, as they travel to take on the Carolina Panthers in their preseason finale on Thursday, August 21, at 7:00 PM EST — which you can learn more about here. For up-to-date Steelers coverage, follow us on X @TheSteelersWire and give our Facebook page a like.


USA Today
40 minutes ago
- USA Today
Big Ten pitches College Football Playoff ideas that torch its credibility
The conference that once held itself aloft as a beacon of all things good and honorable about college athletics is now considering making a mockery of the College Football Playoff. The Big Ten, led commissioner Tony Petitti, has jumped the shark. Instead of capitalizing on the momentum of back-to-back national championships, the Big Ten spent the offseason concocting absurd College Football Playoff plans, with its latest idea even zanier than the last. Petitti just will not rest until he gets every 8-4 Big Ten team into the playoff. His latest playoff idea, according to multiple reports, would expand the playoff to as many as 28 teams and include as many as seven automatic bids apiece for the Big Ten and SEC, with additional automatic bids for other leagues. We've now zoomed past 8-4 Iowa toward an even lower rung on the totem pole for playoff mediocrity. Welcome to the playoff hunt, 7-5 Rutgers! This idea doesn't count as radical. It's ridiculous. Big Ten damages credibility in offseason of bad ideas They say you are the company you keep. Well, Petitti spent the past few months keeping company with – and breathing life into – stupid ideas. He previously failed to gain support for his attempt to rig the playoff with a 16-team format that would have reserved four automatic bids for his conference and four more for the SEC. When that plan failed to gain traction, the Big Ten upped the ante by socializing this idea to shoehorn unranked teams into the playoff. Petitti's expanded playoff plans would increase television inventory, but at what cost? Growing the playoff to 28 teams would cheapen the regular season. That cannot be the end game. A 28-team playoff does nothing for the Big Ten's upper crust, either. Ohio State doesn't need this. Neither does Michigan, not when it can cheat its way to glory. Oregon couldn't win one playoff game, so now the solution is to shove the Big Ten's champion into a 28-team maze? When Petitti arrived on the college sports scene in 2023, he brought with him a Harvard law degree and a background as a television executive. He began his tenure overseeing the additions of Oregon and Washington to solidify the Big Ten's western flank. A fine start. Since then, he's moved to the back of the class and tarnished his credibility while raising his hand with goofy playoff suggestions, while his SEC counterpart, Greg Sankey, retains his grip on the king's scepter. Can Big Ten and SEC find a compromise to expand playoff? Let's assume there's something behind this latest plan for playoff gluttony other than a desire to make the Big Ten a magnet for criticism. What other motivation might the Big Ten have? Well, by floating a plan more ludicrous the last, the Big Ten might hope to reignite conversations toward a compromise. Oh, so you don't like a 28-team playoff that invites 7-5 Big Ten teams? OK, let's make a deal! Just one problem with that. Petitti remains intent on reducing the playoff selection committee's role, in favor of a preassigning a bundle of automatic bids, but the SEC doesn't seem too interested in making a deal toward playoff plans bloated with multiple automatic bids for conferences it believes are inferior. The SEC backpedaled from Petitti's past plan to rig a 16-team playoff with a stacked deck of automatic bids. The SEC's coaches turned their eye toward a 5+11 playoff model that would add four additional at-large bids to the 12-team current playoff format. The Big 12 and ACC support the 5+11 plan. The Big Ten stands in objection to the 5+11 model, in part because the ACC and SEC play one fewer conference game than the Big Ten. The Big Ten's pushback on conference scheduling is not without merit, but it lacks the power to bring the SEC and ACC to heel on its scheduling. Expanding the playoff would require the SEC and Big Ten to align behind a model. If they cannot agree on a new format, that would prolong the runway for the current model. 'The Big Ten has a different view (of what's good for playoff expansion)," Sankey said in July. "That's fine. We have a 12-team playoff. … That could stay if we can't agree." If you think Sankey's bluffing about persisting with the current model, consider he was one of the architects of the 12-team playoff. He dubbed the first year of the expanded playoff 'a success,' even though the SEC did not advance a team to the national championship game. The offseason tweak to introduce straight seeding benefits the SEC. There's no reason for the SEC to rush to abandon this format. The selection committee historically values the SEC. The more at-large bids, the better, for the SEC. Maybe, Petitti believes flooding the zone with zany ideas will spur the SEC toward a suitable compromise. There's another possibility, though. With each half-baked playoff idea, the Big Ten and its leader further diminish their credibility, and the opportunity for playoff expansion absorbs a gut punch. Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@ and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.


USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
Steelers in 'consideration' for standout free agent visit, per report
Steelers fans rejoice, one of the best free agent offensive linemen may be on his way to Pittsburgh. On Tuesday, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that G Dalton Risner, who just finished a workout for the Bengals, is considering the Steelers for a potential visit as he decides on his future landing spot. "Free agent guard Dalton Risner, who worked out for the Bengals today, will also visit the Seahawks, per source. Visiting the Steelers also a consideration," Fowler wrote on X. "Wants to take multiple visits before making a decision." Selected by the Broncos with the 41st overall pick in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Risner wasted little time making an impact and was named to the PFWA NFL All-Rookie Team in his debut season — which featured a talented ensemble of players such as DE Nick Bosa, DT Dexter Lawrence, RB Josh Jacobs, and more. Risner has 81 games of starting experience from his time with the Broncos and Vikings. At best, he would challenge the Steelers' guards for a starting spot — and at worst, he'd serve as arguably one of the league's best backups. For up-to-date Steelers coverage, follow us on X @TheSteelersWire and give our Facebook page a like.