The Auburn Tigers have been busy in the NCAA transfer portal lately. One of their recent additions was former Vanderbilt DB Donovan Kaufman.

Kaufman will reunite with former Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason, who is now Auburn’s defensive coordinator.

In a Q&A with AL.com’s Matt Zenitz, Kaufman said he was considering Auburn and Texas during his transfer process:

“I was going back and forth between Texas and Auburn the whole time. It was a lot of other schools. It was actually very, very busy. I hated it. I hate recruitment a lot. I hated it when I was coming out of high school and I still hate it now. And then I was taking exams at the time, so it was aggravating. But the whole time, I was back and forth between Auburn and Texas and then I just took three days and I was like: Alright, now it’s really time to make a decision. And then I wrote down pros, cons, anything I felt like I needed and Auburn was the obvious choice.”

As for what he likes about Mason, Kaufman cited the coach’s skills both on and off the field:

“He’s very attention to detail. He’s a very hands-on coach. He knows how he wants it and he’s going to make sure that you get it like that. He wants the best from his players. And then outside of football, he’s a great man. You can ask anybody about him. Nobody’s ever had anything bad to say about him. I asked about him. Coaches tell me the same thing. I asked about Coach Mason and they were like, ‘I ain’t heard anything bad about him.’ I was like, ‘Yeah.’ He’s genuine. He’s a real guy.”

Kaufman figures to be a contributor in the Auburn secondary this fall. We’ll see if his former coach can continue to get the best out of him.