When a young Malik Blocton signed with Auburn last December, he was hoping for more than a 2-5 start to his college career.

But the losses didn’t phase him.

In his senior season at Pike Road High School, Blocton‘s team started the season 0-2, before turning things around and finishing 11-3. It’s an experience that Blocton said helped him deal with adversity.

At Auburn, the season is past the point of making the playoffs, but Blocton and Auburn‘s other talented freshmen hope to be the ones to turn the program’s fortunes around.

“None of us are soft-hearted. We knew what we was coming into. We knew it might take a couple years,” Blocton told reporters Tuesday. “We’re just going to have to stick through the storm. But storm’s ain’t going to last that long, I can tell y’all that right now.”

Auburn brought a consensus top 10 recruiting class into the 2024 season, and many of those players are already making an impact on the field.

Blocton, corner Jay Crawford, safety Kaleb Harris and linebacker Demarcus Riddick are among those impact freshmen on defense and wide receivers Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons on offense.

Like Blocton said, though, one recruiting class isn‘t going to take Auburn from a program that hasn’t won more than six games since 2019 to a perennial championship contender.

Auburn’s 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 5 by 247Sports, but the challenge that faces the staff now is keeping those players committed despite poor results on the field. When asked what their message to current Auburn commits was, both Crawford and Blocton gave optimistic answers.

“Just hang on. We’re going to flip the switch,” Crawford said Tuesday.

“Stay here,” Blocton said. “It’s so much better to have something that wasn’t that good and make it good compared to jumping on the bandwagon.

“This is a program, historically, that has been good and we’re going to get back to that. If y’all are really with us, you’re going to stay with us. If not, then y’all are not. That’s just what it is.”

Crawford has been particularly impressive since earning a starting role in Auburn‘s secondary. He has the fourth-highest coverage grade on the team this season, according to Pro Football Focus, and the highest among Auburn’s corners, excluding the injured Champ Anthony.

Crawford was named to PFF‘s SEC team of the week following Auburn’s loss to Missouri, earning a coverage grade of 71.6 and overall grade of 72.1

Having been forced into the starting corner role following Anthony‘s injury, Crawford’s play has gone beyond what his lack of SEC experience would suggest.

“As a little kid you always want to play in the SEC. It’s like a surreal feeling to me, to be honest,” Crawford said, reflecting on his freshman season so far.

Auburn‘s next opportunity to break it’s long streak will come Saturday when it faces off against Kentucky in Lexington. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. CT.