Auburn Loses Its 3rd Commit in the Last Month: Is It Time to Panic?

For the third time in the last month, a member of Auburn's small 2016 recruiting class has backed off his commitment.

According to 247Sports, 3-star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams of Birmingham, Alabama, is no longer committed to Auburn. Williams, a 6'4" recruit from Wenonah High School, committed to Auburn in January.

Credit: 247Sports

"You can take me off the Auburn commit list," Williams reportedly told AuburnUndercover in a Twitter direct message. "Thank you so much. I'll be keeping in touch."

Williams is the second defensive lineman to decommit from Auburn in this week alone, joining 3-star Georgia end David Marshall. He went to camp at Alabama earlier this week and did not attend Auburn's "Big Cat Weekend" event last week.

Almost one month ago, back on May 7, 5-star wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers decommitted from Auburn after pledging to the Tigers last July.

Williams' decision moves Auburn down to just six commitments for the Class of 2016 and No. 28 on the recruiting rankings:

Name	Position	Hometown (School)	Rating
Eli Stove	WR	Niceville, Fla. (Niceville)	4-star
John Broussard	CB	Phenix City, Ala. (Central)	4-star
Woody Barrett	QB-DT	Winter Garden, Fla. (West Orange)	4-star
Stephen Davis Jr.	ATH	Irmo, S.C. (Dutch Fork)	4-star
Landon Rice	TE	Calhoun, Ga. (Calhoun)	3-star
Tre Threat	OLB	Spanish Fort, Ala. (Spanish Fort)	3-star

With a trio of players—including two in one week—deciding to back off from their commitments to Auburn, is it time for panic on the Plains?

Not yet.

While the Tigers have seen two 3-star players at a position of need—Auburn is said to want to sign as many as eight defensive linemen in this 2016 class—back off their commitments this week, the staff has picked up two 4-star commitments in almost that same time span.

Florida wide receiver Eli Stove, the No. 8 prospect at his position, committed to Auburn last weekend to become the second offensive pledge of the 2016.

Credit: 247Sports

On Wednesday, Auburn got a commitment from Florida dual-threat quarterback Woody Barrett, who looks to be a key piece for the Tigers' future on the offensive side of the ball.

"When it's his time to take over the Auburn offense, Barrett is expected to be a leader," Bleacher Report's Damon Sayles wrote. "And Malzahn is anticipating him to be among the best quarterbacks in the SEC. He has the tools to be that player and then some."

So, in the past week, Auburn has kept the same number of commitments. Instead of five on defense and one on offense, the Tigers now have an even split of three and three.

It's a slow start to the cycle, sure, but there is still plenty of time for Auburn to make moves and fill out another strong class.

Credit: 247Sports

In fact, the position coach who recruited both of Auburn's most recent decommitments told the Montgomery Advertiser's James Crepea that he was not worried about the recent developments to the 2016 class:

"

I told everybody today, this is a marathon, this ain't a sprint. I'm not going to panic. I still feel like we're in good shape, and we're going to get the ones that we're supposed to get. I think our track record speaks for itself, and I think at the end of the day, we're going to be fine.

"

Auburn has a lot of time and blue-chip talent left in this recruiting cycle.

Five defensive linemen are currently listed as "top targets" for the Tigers, with several others listed as "high choice." One of those top targets is 5-star defensive end Marlon Davidson, an Auburn legacy who is widely expected to become a Tiger.

And there is still hope Auburn can land these recent decommitments.

Craig-Myers visited campus during "Big Cat Weekend" and told AL.com's Wesley Sinor he will "always" have interest in Auburn. Marshall tweeted earlier in the week that despite his decision to open his recruitment again, he still has Auburn on top:

In a perfect world, Auburn would have loved to pick up its pair of 4-star offensive commitments and keep its 3-star defensive linemen this week.

But even though only the former happened, Auburn's coaches aren't hitting the panic button yet.

National signing day is still eight months away, and a lot more can change between now and then—even for a slow-starting program.

Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.