Jalyn Crawford, an Auburn signee, is “coming in to be a starter.”
Jalyn Crawford will be a first-year student at Auburn.
ORLANDO, Fla. — For the 2024 season, Auburn’s secondary is being nearly completely rebuilt. Starting cornerbacks D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett, as well as starting safeties Zion Puckett and Jaylin Simpson, will enter the NFL Draft. Keionte Scott will return and move from nickel to outside cornerback, although the position will be filled by younger players such as JD Rhym, Kayin Lee, Colton Hood, and JC Hart.
It’s an opportunity that Auburn cornerback signee Jalyn Crawford doesn’t take lightly as he prepares to enroll at Auburn.
Charles Kelly, the new Auburn defensive assistant, is being evaluated as a recruiter.
Auburn added Charles Kelly to its defensive staff on Saturday, with Auburn Undercover reporting that he was departing his job as the Colorado defensive coordinator to return to his alma mater and be back on the Plains.
Kelly is expected to fill the void that was created when Wesley McGriff moved into an off-the-field role in the middle of the season. Special teams coordinator Tanner Burns was temporarily elevated to an on-field role. Now, Kelly will fill that spot and join Zac Etheridge in the secondary.
From Ozark, Alabama, Kelly started his coaching career back at Central-Phenix City (Ala.) as an assistant coach in 1990 once his playing career at Auburn wrapped up. He got his first college coaching job as a graduate assistant at Auburn in 1993, before getting his first collegiate on-field role at Jacksonville State in 1994. Kelly has had a collection of different stops since then, including at Georgia Tech, Florida State, Alabama and most recently at Colorado.
Along the way, he’s becoming touted as one of the best recruiters in college football. His efforts in 2023 at Alabama and the late push once he arrived at Colorado ended up earning him the 247Sports National Recruiter of the Year award.
“An honest, stand-up, good guy,” Madhouse Fitness founder Tracy Varner told 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong after Kelly was named the Recruiter of the Year. “If anybody deserves Recruiter of the Year it’s CK. Kids love him. He’s a country guy from Alabama and doesn’t pretend to be something else. Does his job, literally did his job to the day he left Alabama. All the talk had come out he was going to Colorado and he recruited for Alabama and did his job till the day he left. He never once tried to convince a kid to come out there. He did his job for Alabama.
“CK tells you what program is, how you fit in it, tells you to work hard and you’ll be fine. He told our guys you’re going to get coaches hard. Doesn’t promise anything. Doesn’t sugarcoat anything.”
Taking a look at some of Kelly’s biggest recruiting wins over the years. NOTE: All rankings are based off the industry-generated 247Sports Composite rankings:
