Auburn police arrested former Auburn football staff member 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 sports information to other programs without consent and is accused of “disclosing, using, monitoring or taking computer programs and data” with the intent to harass Auburn University Athletics through commercial disclosure. Jenrath, 24, was hired by first-year coach Alex Golesh’s staff in January but was fired in the spring, sources told CBS Sports. Jenrath allegedly used a pseudonymous email address named “Don Julio” to share 10 documents containing personal information about high school recruits Auburn had targeted for the classes of 2027, 2028 and 2029, sources told CBS Sports. Subject of the email also included Golesh’s home address, a source said. The documents contained evaluations of recruits by Auburn coaches, including information about who the new Auburn staff was targeting and not targeting. The emails did not include information about the game plan, the source said. A source who received the email questioned how proprietary the information really was. seen at an Auburn baseball game, even though he told staff he was sick. “Your high school’s JUCO evaluation process and how it gets from the intern to the head coach is not confidential information,” a source said CBS Sports obtained part of what Jenrath emailed to dozens of seemingly random front office employees in July The source who received the documents said 85 different email addresses were listed, including theirs. lists the names, phone numbers and emails of recruiting staff and scouts. It also includes a section for scouting office rules/expectations and an explanation of the different recruiting and scouting services used by Auburn’s scouting department. Another source who had seen the recipients of the emails noted that some of the addresses were from employees who had moved on to other jobs. “It’s almost like I asked AI for a list of members of the recruiting staff.” places players on his recruiting board. There are the “obvious ones,” labeled for coaches who “don’t hesitate to make their commitment regardless of roster spots. All hands on deck in recruiting. Few if any questions about traits/character. He will be one of the best players in college football. “Multiple medical issues causing durability issues.” Also included is an Auburn organizational chart, which maps the pipelines through which a player surfaces to Golesh for evaluation. One source described individual player emails Jenrath sent to rivals as random and said one player was enrolled in college at the time the email was sent. One 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 kicker in high school, worked as a player personnel scouting assistant at Auburn, helping with running backs, special teams and player recruiting, according to his LinkedIn profile, which has since been deleted 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 the Auburn competitors who received the information gave it to Auburn, police said. Jenrath surrendered to Auburn police on Monday and was transported to the Lee County Jail, where he was being held on $15,000 bail.
