Auburn landed a significant late-summer recruiting boost Thursday with a commitment from four-star safety Bralan Womack, the top remaining uncommitted recruit in the 2026 ESPN 300.
Womack, a 6-foot, 200-pound defender from Flowood, Mississippi, is ESPN's No. 32 overall prospect in the 2026 recruiting class. He chose the Tigers over Florida, Ohio State and Texas A&M following official visits with each program this spring and joins as the top-ranked of six ESPN 300 recruits committed to Auburn in the 2026 cycle.
Womack's commitment continues a needed recruiting surge for the Tigers at the end of an initially bumpy run on the summer trail for head coach Hugh Freeze and the Auburn staff.
The program stumbled in June with consecutive decommitments from wide receiver Devin Carter and longtime linebacker pledges JaMichael Garrett and Shadarius Toodle from June 12-23. The Tigers followed in July with misses on a string of high-profile targets, including five-stars Immanuel Iheanacho (Oregon) and Kaiden Prothro (Georgia) and top-50 wide receiver Cederian Morgan (Alabama).
However, Auburn has recovered on the recruiting trail in the back half of the summer ahead of a critical fall for Freeze, who owns an 11-14 record across two seasons in charge of the program.
Womack represents the Tigers' seventh pledge since July 1. He leads a renovated defensive class that also includes recent top 300 pledges in linebacker Jaquez Wilkes (No. 125 overall) and Adam Balogoun-Ali, ESPN's No. 136 overall recruit and top-ranked inside linebacker in 2026. The Tigers landed another key recruiting win earlier this month when they beat SEC rivals LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M to the commitment of wide receiver Jase Matthews (No. 235).
Womack, the reigning Mississippi Gatorade Football Player of the Year, was credited with 39 tackles and eight interceptions in his junior season at Mississippi's Hartfield Academy last fall. If he signs with the Tigers later this year, he'll arrive in the wake of the talent-rich 2025 secondary class set to debut for Auburn this fall, which includes five-star cornerback Blake Woody (No. 15 in the 2025 ESPN 300) and top 10 safeties Anquon Fegans (No. 50) and Eric Winters (No. 105).
Ohio State and Texas A&M were both prominently involved throughout Womack's process, and Womack told ESPN that Florida gained a foothold in his recruitment after the program hired safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Vinnie Suneri from Washington in January.
Familiarity, ultimately, helped the Tigers win out in a tight recruitment for ESPN's third-ranked safety.
Womack has taken more than a dozen trips to the Auburn campus, where his sister Ma'Nia will be a junior on the school's softball team in 2026. Sources told ESPN that the Tigers' momentum in Womack's recruitment swung during his June official visit with the program, anchored by his relationships with Freeze and Auburn safeties coach TJ Rushing.
"Me and coach Freeze have built a relationship really fast," Womack told ESPN this spring. "He has connections with people at my high school and he's really close with the people I'm close with. So we've bonded off of that."
Womack's commitment leaves only two of the top 100 prospects in the 2026 ESPN still uncommitted as the 2025 regular season gets underway this weekend.
Four-star offensive lineman Darius Gray, No. 73 overall, is expected to commit to either LSU or South Carolina on Friday night. D.Q. Forkpa, ESPN's No. 41 overall prospect and fifth-ranked outside linebacker, appears set to take his recruitment into the fall following a transfer from Florida IMG Academy to St. Frances Academy in Baltimore earlier this month.