Behemoth Georgia OT Tate Johnson Commits to Auburn Over Florida State

Chalk up a recruiting W for Gus Malzahn and the Auburn Tigers on the Plains.

Tate Johnson, a 3-star offensive tackle out of Hogansville, GA, announced his commitment to the Tigers on Monday morning. Florida State and Georgia Tech were the two other Power-5 schools in the running. Standing at 6-4, 310 pounds, Johnson has a chance to overwhelm opposing defensive linemen the minute he steps foot on Auburn's campus in 2020.

It was Johnson's most recent visit to Auburn, however, which put the Tigers over the top. Malzahn and Co. thought outside the box to land Johnson, and it paid dividends.

“First of all, the visit was the most unique I’ve ever had,” Johnson said after his most recent Auburn visit, per 247sports. "It wasn’t a football visit. It was just fun. A bunch of top football players in the country coming together for a day full of competition, a day full of getting to know everyone, a day full of fun. It was refreshing to get away from the whole football part of recruiting.”

This will surely help Auburn's relatively mediocre class ranking for 2020, which sits as eighth-best in the SEC as of this writing, and 24th nationally. Tigers fans must expect better than this if they are to contend with Alabama in the SEC West in a year's time.