I wrote a story for today's newspaper updating Auburn's recruiting efforts as the Feb. 3 National Signing Day approaches. Here's how it starts:

AUBURN, Ala. — It was last February, a little over a month after he had been hired as Auburn’s recruiting coordinator, that Curtis Luper outlined the goals he and head coach Gene Chizik had for making the Tigers relevant again to prospective recruits.

The subject of how seriously he took recruiting rankings came up. Luper didn’t duck the question.

“If they’re keeping the score, you want to win, right?” he asked rhetorically.

With only a few weeks remaining before national signing day on Feb. 3, Auburn is primed to have a top-five recruiting class.

Rivals.com ranks Auburn’s current class of 27 commits as the fourth-best nationally. The three teams higher on the list are Florida, Texas and Alabama, the last two national champions and this year’s title game runner-up.

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