Harsin looking for fewer 'repeats

[aubiefifty 18,231]

Harsin looking for fewer 'repeats' as opening night draws closer

ByMark Murphy

4 minutes

---

 

2022 Auburn commitment Omari Kelly in action

 

AUBURN, Alabama–Now in the final week of practice prior to their first game week of the Bryan Harsin Era, Auburn’s new head football coach said the focus for his Tigers is on executing assignments in all phases of the game.

Harsin, who watched Wednesday’s practice via video while being quarantined until Monday due to a positive COVID-19 test, said he liked what he saw from the players during their “Workday Wednesday” session. The guys did a good job,” he said.

Auburn will play its first game a week from Saturday when Akron visits Jordan-Hare Stadium for a 6 p.m. CDT kickoff.

“Right now from what I have seen, and just where the players are at, we are now executing more consistently,” Harsin said during his first appearance on Tiger Talk, Auburn's weekly call-in show. “Still, that has got to be the key going into this next week.”

The former Boise State head coach said the team’s attention is turning towards game planning. “You get into your scout teams, you start to get into your two-deep, and the plays you have been running through camp are going to be the same ones pared down for that particular game so you can go out and execute them at a high level,” Harsin said.

“Really it has got to be this next week that we have got to be clicking,” he noted.

Commenting on what he wants to see from his players prior to the first game, Harsin said, “Every rep you take in practice, getting in and out of the huddle, we are flying to the ball, we know how to communicate, we are lining up properly on special teams. We don’t need to have a lot of repeats. I think we are still in that phase where we are having a lot of repeats right now.”

With fall semester classes starting on August 16th the Tigers switched out of preseason camp mode that allowed unlimited time on football activities. The current limit is 20 hours a week, which made it important that a lot of learning and contact work get done during the camp portion of preseason drills. “We start school fairly early so the 10 days we had, we had to maximize that time,” the coach said. “Guys did a good job. That phase for us is really that discipline and toughness phase. We have to do a lot of things in a short amount of time.”

The coach noted that he and his staff still have guys “on the bubble” for making the two-deep depth chart for opening night, but said they have a good idea of who the likely starters and backups will be for the opener.

“If you have been chosen to be a starter now, it is not time to sit back and relax,” Harsin said. “It is time to take advantage of the reps with the other 10 guys who are going to be starters with you.”

*** Subscribe: Receive the latest Auburn intel and scoops***

8COMMENTS

He said that he expects to see players operating at a high level for every practice. “If that doesn’t happen another guy is going to get a shot,” Harsin said. “That is going to continue happening throughout the year. There is going to be constant competition.

“Everybody wants to play,” he added. “The goal is to make sure if you are out there getting the most reps, you take advantage of it. If you are not getting the most reps make your opportunity count. I think our guys have done that.”

">247Sports

[SRBautigerfan 1,040]

44 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

He said that he expects to see players operating at a high level for every practice. “If that doesn’t happen another guy is going to get a shot,” Harsin said. “That is going to continue happening throughout the year. There is going to be constant competition.

This seems like a wise way to insure maximum effort while also giving everyone an equal chance for PT.  I like it.

[aubiefifty 18,231]

1 minute ago, SRBautigerfan said:

This seems like a wise way to insure maximum effort while also giving everyone an equal chance for PT.  I like it.

war eagle and welcome to the board!