Spring practice preview: Assessing key position battles

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Spring practice preview: Assessing Auburn's key position battles

ByNathan King 96 minutes ago

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Spring practice is almost here on the Plains, and Auburn — plus every other program in college football — won't take this time for granted ever again.

After spring ball was nixed in 2020 thanks to the pandemic, the Tigers are ready to roll next week and kick off the first practices of the Bryan Harsin era. Starting next week, the Tigers will practice on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Harsin said. After the first two weeks, the team will scrimmage, then get a week off as to replicate a spring break. Then the Tigers return for the final two weeks, culminating with annual A-Day spring game April 17.

“I think the 15 practices in spring are maybe the most valuable practices you get in an entire year," Harsin said this week. "It sets the stage for your whole entire summer because in the summertime, that’s where the greatest development comes for a particular player — their strength, their speed, their football intelligence. All the things they’re preparing to execute during a season happens in the summer. You fine-tune that in fall camp, but where does it all come from? It comes from the spring.”

There are plenty of familiar faces returning to both sides of the ball, and a handful of interesting newcomers, too. So how do they all fit into the equation under new leadership?

Auburn Undercover will preview a different facet of Auburn's upcoming spring practices every day until things get rolling on Monday, from wild-card players to freshman fits to position battles to depth charts.

Next, we'll break down a handful of key position battles on the roster heading into spring camp, where they won't all be decided, but players can make significant strides toward securing some starting jobs this fall.

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RECEIVER ROTATION

(Photo: Reinhold Matay, USA TODAY Sports)

Top contenders: Ze'Vian Capers, Elijah Canion, Kobe Hudson, J.J. Evans, Malcolm Johnson Jr.

Auburn’s biggest production loss in recent years is at receiver, where its top three pass-catchers from last season — Eli Stove, Anthony Schwartz and Seth Williams — all left for the NFL, leaving the passing game with only 14% of its receptions from last year returning among the wide receivers.

Recruiting prepared the Tigers well for this scenario, though. They brought in five receivers in last year’s class — four prospects with a four-star rating, and one three-star in Canion who showed in the Citrus Bowl he could be one of the players to beat.

Capers and Hudson each had seven catches last season for 77 and 70 yards, respectively. Canion went for 81 in the bowl game and a touchdown, but that was his only game appearance of the season. If Capers is recovered from his foot injury by the time spring ball kicks off, he should be the position group’s top returning player, with Hudson and Canion not far behind.

How Harsin and new offensive coordinator Mike Bobo sort of the receiver rotation remains to be seen; Capers and Canion are bigger, longer targets who could be the split end and big slot positions, while smaller, faster targets like Evans and Johnson could fill in at the small slot.

There are a host of names behind the five top contenders, but this is likely the group most capable of cementing themselves in the “starting” rotation, per se.

OFFENSIVE LINE STARTING FIVE

(Photo: Todd Van Emst / Auburn Athletics)

Top contenders: Austin Troxell, Alec Jackson, Tashawn Manning, Brandon Council, Nick Brahms, Keiondre Jones, Brodarious Hamm, Brenden Coffey

Auburn will need to trim this group down to five by the time fall camp starts, but new position coach Will Friend doesn’t necessarily need to rush things, especially considering Council probably won’t be available in the spring as he continues to recover from his knee injury.

The Tigers have eight players with starting experience along the front line returning next season: Troxell and Jackson played left tackle; Manning started at left guard in every game but Council occasionally rotated in there; Brahms played all of Auburn’s non-garbage time snaps at center, Jones took over at right guard for Council when he went down; and Coffey played right tackle after Hamm got injured.

The group had its strong points last season before the injury bug took a serious toll, but it was still overall inconsistent for the third straight season. Some of that had to do with COVID-19 troubles in the preseason, and some of it was Bo Nix’s propensity to escape at the first sign of pressure.

Auburn could also bring in a transfer this summer, like it did with Council last year.

With its third position coach in as many seasons, Auburn once again has a difficult task in organizing its offensive line and priming the group to be successful.

DEFENSIVE TACKLE ROTATION

(Photo: Jason Caldwell/Inside The Auburn Tigers)

Top contenders: Zykeivous Walker, Jay Hardy, Dre Butler, Marquis Burks, Lee Hunter

Regardless of the type of defensive front new coordinator Derek Mason deploys, Auburn will need a couple of these names to rise to the top and make themselves invaluable in terms of playing time.

Tyrone Truesdell is returning along the inside of the defensive line, too, but he’s probably got himself a spot locked up already.

Walker may be this group’s most productive returning player, with 14 tackles and a sack to his name after turning up his play over the second half of the season. He split time as a defensive end and on the inside, but with a 6-foot-4, 266-pound frame, he could be a full-time DT should he bulk further this offseason.

Hardy only played in the bowl game after missing most of the season with an injury, but he’s another former four-star prospect who can play end and tackle. He’s even stockier than Walker at 6-foot-4 and 299 pounds. It’s likely both players had the defensive end option in their repertoire while they were smaller, younger, developing pieces for the defense, and can switch to permanent defensive-tackle roles with more experience and weight.

Former JUCO transfers Burks and Butler showed good flashes last season, again with both players capable of playing defensive end and defensive tackle. Butler was the more consistent of the two and was a strong pass-rusher and overall presence on the line over the final few games of the season.

Then there’s Hunter, who was Auburn’s top-rated recruit in its 2021 class before the Tigers added Dylan Brooks. Hunter is one of six Auburn freshmen who enrolled early and will be on campus this spring. He’s already a monstrous player at 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, and seems to be in line for significant snaps in his first year.

CORNERBACK ROTATION PAST ROGER MCCREARY

(Photo: SEC Media Services / Auburn Athletics)

Top contenders: Nehemiah Pritchett, Dreshun Miller, Jaylin Simpson, Marco Domio

Cornerback might be Auburn’s best position on the roster this season because of this battle.

McCreary is the unquestioned leader of the group after deciding to return for his senior season in favor of being a probable, mid-round NFL draft pick. But after him, the Tigers appear to have three or four starting-caliber players. This is a good problem to have, obviously.

On paper, Pritchett and Miller might be the frontrunners to see the most playing time past McCreary. Pritchett was flat-out dominant at times last season filling in for an injured Simpson, and Miller, a West Virginia transfer, led the Big 12 in pass breakups with eight and was the best player on a Mountaineers secondary that was No. 1 in the country in pass defense.

Simpson looked strong at times when he was healthy, and Domio will be entering his second year in the system after playing sparingly in 2020.

Regardless of how this group is sorted out, Auburn should boast one of the best, if not the best cornerback rotations in the conference this fall.

SAFETY

(Photo: Douglas DeFelice, Getty)

Top contenders: Chris Thompson Jr., Ladarius Tennison, Jaylin Simpson

Jamien Sherwood is off to the NFL, leaving open the starting safety spot alongside Smoke Monday.

Thompson is the only true safety of this group, having played the position as Sherwood’s backup last season, appearing in six games.

But Tennison — a projected starter at nickel, assuming Auburn still has a starter at that position in Mason’s scheme — has said this offseason that he’s preparing to train at both nickel and safety. He could be the man to beat if he moves to safety full time, but it's probably more likely he plays a safety and nickel hybrid position, seeing as he doesn't have a ton of length.

He and Simpson are both wild cards for the secondary; Simpson started last season as Auburn’s No. 2 cornerback but dealt with injuries for most of the year, and Pritchett took advantage of his absence with an exceptional season in coverage.

A safety prospect out of high school, Simpson slid to the back end of the secondary occasionally and could be a possibility to give the room some depth in 2021 — or he could contend for the starting job outright.

Mason will coach the safeties room in addition to his coordinator duties.