Tuesday of game week has arrived, meaning there are just four days left before the Auburn Tigers take the field in Atlanta to open up their season against the Baylor Bears.
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With that game will come the emergence of some potential stars for the Tigers in the 2026 season, ones they hope will help lead them to a winning record for the first time since 2020.
As has been the case for a couple of weeks, Auburn Undercover continues to reveal its top 20 impact players for the coming year, discussing who will make a difference come Saturdays.
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.
At the No. 5 slot comes a young player on the defensive line that has been highly touted since high school in Jared Smith, who has brought along some urgency in the latter part of the preseason that stands to elevate his game.
General information:
Year: Sophomore
Position: EDGE
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 260 pounds
Hometown: Birmingham, Alabama
Performance in 2025:
The freshman campaign for Smith was one that did not see him get on the stat sheet a whole lot, but he did grab a load of experience in getting on the field for Auburn.
The Birmingham native played in 11 of the team’s 12 games in 2025, purely as a backup rotational option. However, he took advantage of his opportunities when he could.
Smith tallied five total tackles with four tackles for loss, two sacks and one forced fumble. His most productive outing of his first season was against South Alabama, when he put up multiple tackles for the only time in a game, as well as one of the sacks and the forced fumble.
Smith’s other sack came in a thrashing of Ball State in the team’s home opener, making it a somewhat solid start to the year for the edge rusher.
While the then freshman may not have been blowing anyone away in terms of his statistics, the potential was still there as to what he could become with his flashes of athleticism.
Smith seeks to transition into more of a prominent role, trying to build off his 2025 performance with authority.
Preseason camp intel:
For Smith, the biggest thing that he has been working on over the course of the offseason, and recently at that, is his urgency.
It is a term that Head Coach Alex Golesh said in a scrimmage press conference was not truly one that could be associated with Smith until a few days prior, and the way the staff found that he got more urgent is by hearing the coaches yell at him about that.
Since then, his willingness to become more urgent as a player in all facets has increased, and it has made him a better player.
Position coach Coleman Hutzler has watched his development, having already been impressed by the physical gift carries at 6-foot-6, 260 pounds with his length and twitchiness.
“He's been blessed with a ton,” Hutzler said. “He's continuing to work to refine those things, right, and maximize all those tools that he was blessed with. So that's been the fun part, to see his growth.”
By the second scrimmage of preseason camp, Smith was beginning to see more praise for his development by Golesh and seems to be taking a step up overall.
The sophomore has even gotten praise from fellow position players like Chris Murray, who said that Smith has continued to work each day and ensure he is getting better.
Currently, Smith is listed as a potential starter at the BUCK position for Saturday’s season opener against Baylor in Atlanta.
The combination of him and Ole Miss transfer Da’Shawn Womack will be the ones who get the primary downs at that position, wanting to make an impact early.
Impacting Auburn ranking
No. 5 - Jared Smith
No. 6 - Keshaun Singleton
No. 7 - Cody Sigler
No. 8 - Champ Anthony
No. 9 - Dallas Walker IV
No. 10 - Stanton Ramil
No. 11 - Jeremiah Koger
No. 12 - Da’Shawn Womack
No. 13 - Rayshawn Pleasant
No. 14 - Alex McPherson
No. 15 - Cole Best
No. 16 - Eric Winters
No. 17 - AnQuon Fegans
No. 18 - Omar Mabson II
No. 19 - Jake Johnson
No. 20 - Sylvester Smith-Reed
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.
