Men's Basketball Signs Solid Class

Auburn Men's Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl (Photo: Auburn Athletics)

Many sports began their official signing period on Wednesday, including basketball. Headlined by two four stars and a five-star, Auburn ended the afternoon with a top-5 signing class. Bruce Pearl announced the signing of three players on Wednesday, each of them being ranked in the top-50 nationally according to several publications, which is good enough to earn them the 2nd-best class in the nation. Each of the signees are local products, beginning with Hoover native Austin Wiley. Wiley’s signature means that a 5-star recruit has signed a letter of intent to play for Auburn for only the second time in program history. The first came last season when Mustapha Heron joined Bruce Pearl’s club. Wiley is a 6’11” center and comes from a talented family with ties to the University. His dad Aubrey Wiley led the SEC in rebounding during the 1993-94 season while he was at Auburn. His mother is former All-American and Auburn legend, Vickie Orr. Wiley is the 13th-rated player in the nation according to scout and averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds per game during his junior season at Spain Park High School in 2015-16. The next two signees are from the state of Georgia, a state where many athletic programs at Auburn University have had success. The first comes from Liberty County High School, a 4-star guard in Davion Mitchell. Mitchell is the 33rd rated player in the nation according to 247sports and is another scoring threat. Last season, he averaged 24.2 points per game and was 41% from beyond the three-point line on a team that won a state championship. A product of the Atlanta Metro area rounds out the 2017 signing class. Chuma Okeke, a 6’8” forward from College Park’s Westlake High School is rated as a 4-star and is 44th nationally according to Scout. Like Mitchell, Okeke was a member of a state championship team last season. Okeke signed with Auburn over Florida, George Mason, LSU, Iowa State, and a host of others. “I’m just grateful to those guys that they saw what we saw.” Head Coach Bruce Pearl said of the latest signing class. “They believed in what we believed. Together, we have a chance to make history at Auburn. We can make Auburn basketball relevant once again. This is a very exciting day for Auburn basketball.” As for this season, Auburn hosts North Florida to open the season on Friday evening at 8:30 P.M.