The countdown to the kickoff of the 2026 college football season for the Auburn Tigers and first-year head coach Alex Golesh is getting ever smaller. By the time everyone goes to bed in 20 days, the Tigers will have a number in either the win or the loss column.
With all the energy and excitement beginning to pick up, it seems like the perfect time for Auburn Undercover to count down Auburn’s top 20 impact players watch list for the upcoming campaign.
As a disclaimer, the poll was tabulated by rankings sent in from four people on the Auburn Undercover staff—Tyler Raley, Ryan Bartow, Caleb Jones and Jay Douglas. The rankings each person sent in were averaged, with the lowest score going at the top of the list.
To kick off our countdown is a highlight of someone touted to bring versatility to the defense in Sylvester Smith-Reed, who has been wearing an orange non-contact uniform throughout preseason camp. However, he is inching back to going into full contact as the days roll on.
General information:
Year: Senior
Position: Safety
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 195 pounds
Hometown: Munford, Alabama
Performance in 2025:
Smith-Reed got on the stat sheet in 11 of the 12 games for the Tigers in 2025, being absent from the road contest against Texas A&M.
In that time, he recorded 28 total tackles, with 23 of those being solo. He also recovered one fumble in the process—that coming in a 33-24 win on the road against Arkansas. Smith-Reed’s total tackles mark placed him 10th on the team in that statistic and third among safeties.
His most productive game last season came in a thrashing of Ball State, where he recorded six total tackles on the day, all of them being solo.
Preseason camp intel:
Smith-Reed has been kept in an orange non-contact jersey for the duration of preseason camp after coming back from a shoulder injury he suffered in the offseason.
However, the senior safety is close to being back at full go.
Following Friday’s team scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium, Golesh indicated that they decided to let Smith-Reed participate in the actions, but told him he was not allowed to hit anyone.
Smith-Reed may have gotten a little eager early on though.
“He’s not supposed to tackle anybody,” Golesh said. “He tackled the first play, and I had to remind him to stop tackling people. Sly has been awesome playing a bunch of spots back there.”
The safety will be allowed to tackle in the next scrimmage, which is set for Wednesday.
Smith-Reed sits in the middle of a jam-packed secondary that includes the likes of Champ Anthony, Newboy Fegans, Eric Winters, Kaleb Harris, Fred Gaskin III, Jacoby Matthews and more just in the safety room alone.
He, Anthony and Matthews are the three seniors in the room.
What do you say? Leave your thoughts on our board below.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
