Auburn Undercover begins new era with new team
A new era of Auburn Undercover has officially kicked off, just in time to keep members informed on a relatively new era of athletics at Auburn University.
As the company transitions to independence, a new team is joining Auburn Undercover to keep the Auburn Family informed on a number of different areas, including the first season of Auburn football under Alex Golesh, Year 2 of Steven Pearl leading the men's basketball program and a baseball program coming off another successful run under Butch Thompson.
With this being the next evolution of Auburn Undercover, the people on this team are determined to continue bringing the Auburn Family together. From all of us, welcome home.
Founder and Publisher Ronnie Sanders is an alumnus of Auburn University and has built a diverse career that has included time in sports media, coach representation, football operations and politics. He founded Auburn Undercover in 2008, helping it become one of the leading news sources for Auburn fans nationwide.
Lead Team Reporter Tyler Raley graduated from Auburn University in 2024 and joins the team after more than a year and a half with the Shelby County Reporter in Columbiana, Alabama. An award-winning journalist, Raley was a sports writer for The Auburn Plainsman throughout his time at Auburn and also was heavily involved in the Auburn University Marching Band as a tuba player.
During his time at the Reporter, Raley covered a multitude of news and sports subjects, including extensive coverage of high school athletics. He also headed up "The Red Zone with Tyler Raley," a video series in which he spent time getting to know local football players before they took the field on Friday nights. He is originally from Birmingham and graduated from Oak Mountain High School.
Lead Recruiting Reporter Ryan Bartow graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and comes to Auburn Undercover after a stint as senior director of player personnel at Sacramento State University. Bartow has built a decorated career that has included stops at Oregon, Syracuse and Florida State as director of high school relations, at 247Sports as a national college football recruiting reporter and at Rivals covering Clemson.
Bartow has worked alongside figures including Tee Martin, Mario Cristobal and Patrick Surtain Sr., and helped recruit notable players such as Trey Benson, Jared Verse, Edwin Joseph, Umari Hatcher and Juwan Johnson. He is originally from Waupun, Wisconsin.
Swing Reporter and Content Creator Jay Douglas is also an Auburn alumnus with a background in media. Douglas has been a sports talk show host at Tiger Communications, a news producer at WALB News 10 in Albany, Georgia, and has freelanced in play-by-play commentary.
Douglas lived in Auburn from 1996-2020 before moving to Albany, where he spent six years before returning to the Plains. His wife is a teacher at W.O. Lance Elementary School in Lanett, Alabama, and they have an 8-month-old son. Douglas is an Auburn native and graduated from Auburn High School.
Together, this team will continue the company's standard of delivering outstanding coverage of Auburn athletics. We can't wait to take you on this ride with us.
