This story has been updated to include quotes and new information.
AUBURN — Tahaad Pettiford and Keyshawn Hall, two of the best players on Auburn basketball’s roster, told their teammates Wednesday, Oct. 1, that they won’t entertain the transfer portal ahead of the 2025-26 season, head coach Steven Pearl said.
Pearl also added that the remainder of his roster’s scholarship players have “given us their pledges” to play for the program this season.
“Really good news for the program today is that we’re going to be able to keep this group together for the upcoming season,” Pearl said, “and all the guys that we had this summer are going to be putting on an Auburn jersey this year.”
In a way, Pettiford and Hall’s retention is Pearl’s first recruiting win as head coach. The news of his father, Bruce Pearl, retiring on Monday, Sept. 22, broke before the program was able to inform its players first. With the change, and the younger Pearl’s promotion to fill his father’s shoes, the program had a 30-day transfer portal window open, with its players free to enter and explore their options.
“Throughout this process, we’ve allowed our guys to kind of, you know, go through the process, through some conversations with families and with the team, and just trying to allow them to process this within their own time, but also understanding that we’ve got a scrimmage in two weeks,” Steven Pearl said. “We’ve got to get everybody, all hands on deck, that want to be here. And we want guys that want to be here, and guys that want to continue to keep this thing moving in the right direction.”
A freshman on Auburn’s Final Four squad, Pettiford entered the NBA Draft process this offseason and eventually withdrew his name May 28. Hall, who led the Big 12 in scoring a season ago at UCF, committed to the Tigers on April 2, as the program was in San Antonio and gearing up for its matchup with eventual national champion Florida.
Pettiford shined as Auburn’s third-leading scorer, averaging 11.6 points and 3 assists per game last season. During the Tigers’ run to the Final Four, he was vital, averaging 17.3 points between the round of 64 and Elite Eight. He scored 23 and 20 points, respectively, in Auburn’s NCAA Tournament wins over Creighton and Michigan.
Hall averaged a career-high 18.8 points for the Knights and did so while shooting 42.7% from the field and 35.4% from distance.
Why Auburn basketball’s roster was free to transfer post-Bruce Pearl retirement
NCAA rules permit players whose teams undergo a coaching change to enter the transfer portal as soon as the next day, opening a 30-day window.
The specifics wouldn’t have made it easy for anyone on Auburn’s roster to find a new home in short time, however. Should a player transfer after enrolling at one school, they could not transfer during that same calendar year and compete for a new program. Auburn began classes for its latest semester on Aug. 18. Technically, its players could still transfer, they’d likely have to redshirt or sit out a majority of the 2025-26 season.
Following its run to last year’s Final Four, Auburn’s roster saw a complete overhaul despite seeing just three players transfer. Eight of its scholarship players, including All-American Johni Broome, were out of eligibility.
Six players on Auburn’s latest roster arrived via the transfer portal, alongside Filip Jović, who played professionally in Europe last year, joining the Tigers’ three-man signing class of Kaden Magwood, Sebastian Williams-Adams and Simon Walker.
Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter. To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.
