Former Auburn staffer arrested and charged with leaking football program recruiting information to opponents

A former Auburn football staffer is in prison this week for stealing the program’s trade secrets and sending confidential recruiting information to competing schools — a development that took place four days before the Tigers’ visit to Tennessee.⁠

David Rudolph Jenrath, 24, of Franklin, Tennessee, turned himself in to the Auburn Police Department on Monday, September 28, and was booked into the Lee County Jail on $15,000 bond. He is charged with theft of trade secrets and computer tampering, both misdemeanors.

Police said the case stemmed from a report in the 300 block of South Donahue Drive, the address of the Auburn athletic department, that sensitive information had been taken and distributed to competitors. One of those competitors received the equipment and returned it to Auburn. Investigators identified Jenrath as the suspect and obtained warrants.⁠

Charging documents allege that while employed by Auburn, Jenrath retained confidential athletics information and passed on those trade secrets without consent. The computer tampering charge accuses him of disclosing, using, controlling or taking computer programs and data “with the intent to harass Auburn University Athletics by disclosing trade secrets of Auburn University Athletics to their adversaries.”

Auburn declined to comment through an athletic department spokesperson.

Jenrath’s LinkedIn profile lists him as a player personnel recruiting assistant at Auburn from January 2026 to June 2026, with an emphasis on running backs and special teams. His listed duties included evaluating high school and transfer portal prospects, preparing scouting reports and recruiting summaries, assisting in scouting opponents, and maintaining recruiting databases.⁠

The same profile now identifies him as a sports analytics student (also described as applied artificial intelligence/sports analytics) at the University of Tennessee. He also describes himself as a software developer and product tester for HOKA.

It’s hard to miss the timing. No. 17 Tennessee hosts Auburn on Saturday, October 3 at Neyland Stadium. Auburn head coach Alex Golesh is a former offensive coordinator at Tennessee; several current Tigers staff members also have ties to the Vols. Jenrath’s arrest became public the same week as game week began.⁠

So far, the reports have not named the specific schools that received the materials, the exact contents of the files, or whether any program used the information. The police only said that the competitors received it and returned it.

College football programs treat internal recruiting committees, prospect evaluations, portal rankings and scouting databases as competitive assets. In the age of NIL and the portal, these files are more valuable and more portable than ever. Staff members have access to this information daily. When someone leaves a program, the legal and practical question is always the same: what did they take with them?

Jenrath only worked on the Plains for six months, arriving after Golesh was hired and leaving in June. Three months later, he faces felony charges in the city where he worked, the week Auburn plays the school where he currently attends.

FootballScoop will update this story as additional information becomes available.

In late July, an anonymous email was sent to football staff at about 11 other schools. The email came from an address using the name “Don Julio” and included 12 documents as attachments.

Sources said 10 of those documents contained recruiting evaluations involving prospects in Auburn’s 2027, 2028 and 2029 recruiting classes. The material included evaluations and notes from coaches and staff on the recruits.

The subject line of the email was also reportedly Golesh’s home address. Several schools that received the email reportedly sent the materials back to Auburn.