Auburn football hasn’t made much noise in recent years at the NFL Draft, and it remained that way this April as the Tigers saw just three players taken in the draft: Jarquez Hunter, KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Jalen McLeod.
Hunter was taken as the 117th overall pick for the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round as the first Tiger off the board, Lambert-Smith was taken as the 158th pick in the fifth round for the Los Angeles Chargers and McLeod was taken as the 194th overall pick in the sixth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
After backing up now-Jacksonville Jaguars running back Tank Bigsby in his first two years in orange and blue, Hunter led the Tigers in rushing his junior and senior years on the Plains and leaves as the school’s fourth all-time leading rusher with 3,371 yards on the ground after rushing for 1,201 yards last season. As a senior, Hunter posted a career-high performance against Kentucky with 278 yards rushing – it was also the fourth-best rushing overall performance in a single game in Auburn history.
At the NFL combine, Hunter posted 21 reps on the bench press – second-most among running backs – and a 4.44 40-yard dash. NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein had this to say about the former Tiger:
Run-after-contact machine who can extend the play well beyond what you might expect. Hunter is a compact back renowned for his lower-body power and battering-ram mentality. He frequently tears through arm tackles and drags tacklers for extra yardage. He could use less “fight” and more “flight” when there are still moves to make on the second level. While the burst is average, he’s decisive and sees run-lane development as a zone-scheme runner. Hunter is a little limited, but his role is easily definable as a two-down pile-mover for teams looking to impose their will on the ground.
The second Tiger to come off the board, Lambert-Smith exploded onto the scene after making his way to the Plains from Penn State. In his one year in orange and blue, Lambert-Smith earned second-team all-SEC honors after posting 981 yards receiving on 50 receptions while ranking eighth in the nation with 19.62 yards per catch.
Lambert-Smith was Auburn’s second athlete to make the trek to Los Angeles. He became the most accomplished Tiger receiver since Darvin Adams hauled in 963 yards in 2010. Lambert-Smith was nearly the Tigers’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Ronney Daniels in 1999.
Lambert-Smith posted a 4.37 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. Zierlein had this to say about Lambert-Smith:
Slender wideout whose 2024 production at Auburn is unlikely to translate to the league. He lacks suddenness and play strength to breeze into routes. He’s also unable to get in and out of breaks quickly enough to keep defenders from staying connected to his routes. Lambert-Smith is good at tracking and adjusting to make plays downfield, but he might not have enough pure speed to major in vertical routes.
Rounding out the final pick for the Tigers in the 2025 NFL Draft, McLeod transferred to Auburn after three season at Appalachian State and produced 107 tackles in his two seasons in orange and blue while tallying 24 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks as a pass-rusher off the edge and has the ability to play a standup outside linebacker role – where he will most likely transition to in the NFL.
McLeod produced a production score of 62 among linebackers at the combine with an athleticism score of 72, which ranked 13th among all linebackers. Zeirlein had this to say about McLeod:
Hungry, productive prospect who might need to prove he can fit into a role as an edge defender despite his lack of size and length. McLeod plays with the might of a player in a much bigger weight class. He’s technically sound at the point with fast hands and a quick discard of the block. He has aligned off-ball and diagnoses fairly quickly, but it will be hard to get around his athletic limitations in coverage, pursuit and as a tackler. It’s easy to discount McLeod based purely upon his traits, but he simply makes too many plays to ignore. He could make a team as a smaller 3-4 outside ‘backer.
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