Auburn adding to its defensive line wasn’t a one-and-done situation.
After earning the commitment of Indiana transfer defensive lineman Philip Blidi Sunday, the Tigers have landed another transfer defensive lineman, this time in USC transfer and former Texas A&M defensive lineman Isaiah Raikes.
Raikes, who entered the transfer portal on April 12, announced his commitment to Auburn in a post to social media Monday.
While Raikes is technically transferring in from USC, he never played a snap for the Trojans.
After playing four seasons at Texas A&M, Raikes entered the transfer portal in December and l anded at USC shortly after. However, Raikes’ stint in Los Angeles was short-lived and he eventually found himself back in the transfer portal.
In his four seasons at Texas A&M, Raikes appeared in 42 games, tallied 43 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss and one forced fumble.
A native of Woodbury, New Jersey, Raikes was rated a 3-star defensive tackle out of high school and the 61st-ranked defensive tackle in the 2020 by 247Sports.
Measuring 6-foot-1 and 313 pounds, Raikes is set to add size to the interior of Auburn’s defensive line, which has been an area of concern for Auburn since the start of spring camp.
And so far, the Tigers’ have gotten portal help with their additions of Raikes and Blidi.
Together, Raikes and Blidi join a defensive line room that already featured senior Jayson Jones, senior Kansas transfer Gage Keys, senior Texas transfer Trill Carter, junior Quientrail Jamison-Travis, redshirt freshman Darron Reed Jr., freshman TJ Lindsey and freshman Malik Blocton.