Auburn police arrested former Auburn football staffer David Rudolph Jenrath on Monday on felony charges of theft of trade secrets and computer tampering after he allegedly shared Auburn’s recruiting plans with up to 11 other schools, CBS Sports has learned.
Police documents show Jenrath transmitted confidential athletics information to other programs without consent and is accused 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 opponents.'”
Jenrath, 24, was retained by first-year coach Alex Golesh’s staff in January, but was fired in the spring, sources told CBS Sports. Jenrath allegedly used a pseudonym email address named “Don Julio” to share 10 documents containing personnel information on high school recruits Auburn had targeted for the classes of 2027, 2028 and 2029, sources told CBS Sports. The email’s subject line also included Golesh’s home address, a source said.
The documents contained Auburn coaches’ evaluations of recruits, including information on whom Auburn’s new staff was targeting and not targeting. The emails did not include game plan information, the source said.
One source on the receiving end of the email questioned how proprietary the information really was. Jenrath was not a major member of the Auburn front office staff, and multiple sources told CBS Sports he was fired after he was spotted at an Auburn baseball game, even though he told staff he was sick.
“Your high school slash JUCO evaluation pipeline and how it gets from the intern to the head coach is not confidential information,” a source said.
CBS Sports has obtained part of what Jenrath emailed to dozens of front office staffers seemingly at random in July. The source on the receiving end of the documents said 85 different email addresses were listed, including theirs. The document is labeled as an “Auburn personnel manual” which lists the names, phone numbers and emails of recruiting staff and scouts. It also includes a section for scouting office rules/expectations, and an explainer of the different recruiting and scouting services used by the Auburn scouting department.
Another source who had viewed the email recipients flagged that some of the addresses were for staffers who had moved onto other jobs. “It’s almost as if he asked AI for a list of recruiting staff members.”
Auburn’s grading system is also included, detailing how the school slots players on its recruiting board. There are the “no-brainers,” labeled for coaches with “no hesitation in taking his commitment regardless of roster spots. All hands on deck recruiting. Little to no questions on traits/character. Will be one of the best players in college football.”
At the bottom were the “rejects,” described as a “player not good enough to help us win. Documented off the field issues/concerns. Lacks work ethic, coachability, and/or competitiveness. Multiple medical issues that cause durability concerns.”
An Auburn organizational chart, mapping the pipelines by which a player is surfaced all the way up to Golesh for evaluation, is also included.
A source described the individual player emails Jenrath sent to rivals as random and said one player was enrolled in college by the time the email was sent. A source described the situation as “unhinged.”
Jenrath currently identifies himself on social media as a student studying sports analytics at the University of Tennessee, the Tigers’ opponent this week. Jenrath, who played football as a high school kicker, worked as a player personnel scouting assistant at Auburn, helping with running backs, special teams and player recruitment, according to his LinkedIn profile, which has since been removed online.
Police investigated the anonymous emails for at least two months and identified Jenrath as the source of the messages, according to sources. One of Auburn’s competitors who received the information turned it over to Auburn, police said.
Jenrath turned himself in to the Auburn police on Monday and was transported to Lee County Jail, where he was being held on a $15,000 bond.
