Vanderbilt and Auburn Continue Stellar Recruiting With 2025 Commits

11/16/23 CollegeGolfCommits staff

Two men's teams are off to a fast, hot start in recruiting of the class of 2025 boys. Auburn and Vanderbilt both landed in our top-10 rankings for the class of 2024, and it looks as if both will repeat that feat in the next class, possibly ending at #1 and #2. Vanderbilt, who will replace Gordon Sargent and Jackson Van Paris with this class, wasted no time in notching the top recruits. North Carolina's Will Hartman has established himself as the #1 2025 player across all three junior rankings metrics, and committed to Vanderbilt in md-September after a stellar summer of tournaments. He notched a 4th place finish at the 2023 AJGA Team Taylormade Invitational in May, cooled down for a few tournaments, then began a run of top-5 finishes, starting with his semi-final appearance at the US Junior Amateur. Hartman got right back to work the following week with a 5th place at the Junior PGA Championship, then traveled across the Atlantic to represent the US in the Junior Ryder Cup. He had a solid 3rd place finish at the AJGA Junior Players Championship, and capped off his fall season with a repeat win at the Bobby Chapman Junior Invitational. Vanderbilt's earliest commitment came in August, as Michael Riebe of California said yes to the Commodores. Riebe is currently ranked 2nd on JGS, 5th in Rolex, & 7th in the Golfweek ranking for this class. His resume includes 5th place finishes at the 2023 AJGA Ping Invitational and the 2022 AJGA Ping An Bank Junior All-Star Invitational, and 6th place at the Western Junior. Add top-15 finishes at the 2022 Junior Jones Cup and the 2023 AJGA Jack Burke Junior Invitational to that list, and you have a consistently solid golfer. Rounding out Vanderbilt 2025 recruits is Alabama native Jon Ed Steed, whose class rank is 18th on JGS and 21st in Rolex. Steed won both the 2022 & 2023 Bubba Conlee Tournament, finished 3rd at the AJGA Junior at Canebrake, and 2nd at the 2023 Patriot Open. He is ever-present at AJGA Invitationals, and reached match play of the 2023 US Junior Amateur.

Auburn may be team on the biggest rise in the last few years, and they don't seem to be stepping off the gas with this class. They have landed three top-20 recruits to form a formidable class of future Tigers. They landed their first commit in Virginia's Jake Albert, fresh off his win at the 2023 AJGA Jack Burke Junior Invitational. Albert currently sits in the 10th spot of 2025s on JGS, and 3rd in the Rolex rankings. From November 2022 through April 2023, he carded four wins in local tournaments, and followed that up with a 3rd place at the AJGA Will Lowery Junior Championship. Albert recently finished 4th at the Elite Invitational, competed at the 2023 US Junior Amateur, and was a solid 7th at the AJGA Wyndham Invitational. He was also a finalist at the 2023 Virginia Amateur. The second Virginian on Auburn's commit list is Logan Reilly, who is consistently ranked in the top-20 of his class across all junior rankings metrics. Reilly, who had a commanding AJGA Junior All-star win in 2022, found the winner's circle in 2023 at the Fox Puss Invitational (amateur event) and the AJGA Junior at Penn State. Other 2023 highlights include a 4th place finish at the VSGA Stroke Play Championship, 9th at the AJGA Polo Junior Classic, and an appearance at the 2023 US Junior Amateur. Last, but definitely not least in the Auburn trio is Georgia's Jack Roberts. Roberts made a splash on the junior scene with a win at the 2021 Southern Junior, and followed that up with a successful spring in 2022 with a 2nd place at the AJGA Team Taylormade Invitational and 6th at the Dye Junior Invitational. He represented the East team at the Wyndham Cup in 2022. Roberts has produced some solid finishes in 2023, making the round of 32 at the US Junior Amateur, finishing 7th at the AJGA Wyndham Invitational, and 10th at the Western Junior. He has been a mainstay in the top 10-20 of his class rankings for the past three years. The questions is, is Auburn done with these three, or will there be more? And can another team catch these two juggernauts in the rankings before signing day next November?