Tigers will face 'stud' receivers

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247sports.com

 

Harsin says Tigers will face 'stud' receivers at Penn State

ByMark Murphy

4-5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Southeastern Conference football teams are known for their speed and athleticism, something Auburn will count on when the Tigers make their first road trip of the 2021 season to Penn State.

Auburn’s head coach said that the more he watches video and studies the Nittany Lions, the more he is impressed with the talent his guys will be facing on Saturday night at Beaver Stadium.

“Every guy on our team, they have our attention, I can tell you that,” Bryan Harsin said on Wednesday. “They are working hard this week to go compete with them and also be very good players on the field we step on as well.”

Harsin’s 22nd-ranked Tigers will take a 2-0 record into Auburn’s first-ever road trip to Penn State, a team that is ranked 10th and is also 2-0.

“Penn State’s team speed is very good,” Harsin said. “I think their wide receivers play hard.” The Auburn coach pointed out that quarterback Sean Clifford’s two favorite targets, Jahan Dotson and Parker Washington, are examples of the type of personnel Auburn will be facing on Saturday night. He  called Clifford a smooth operator of Penn State's offense.

“I think those guys are studs,” he said of the wide receivers who each have 10 catches this season. “They are very good players.”

Containing Penn State’s passing game will be a key to success for the Tigers. The Nittany Lions have 500 yards passing through two games and 290 on the ground.

“You see guys just not on O and D, you see guys on special teams who play hard,” Auburn’s first-year head coach noted. “They play hard and they play fast so that is really the challenge for us and every guy on this (Auburn) team should expect that. You are playing a good team. You are playing a good team with really good players.

“We have players on this team who I think can play as well so how far are you going to go? Are you ready for the challenge to face those two wide receivers, for example?”

Harsin said it is important for his players to do everything possible in practice this week to be ready for what they will be facing on Saturday night. “If you study the film, if can watch, you just can see what those guys are capable of doing,” he said of the Nittany Lions. “You have all of the film, you have all of the resources right in front of you to do that, so watch it, visualize and get yourself in the right frame of mind to practice right and know what you are getting yourself into when it comes game time.

“That is just one of the challenges that Penn State’s team is providing us,” Harsin said of his opponent’s passing attack. “They have got a lot of other good players as well."

Jahan Dotson is leading the Nittany Lions in receiving yardage. (Photo: Grace Brennan-FOS/247)

Harsin noted that it is difficult for his scout teams to duplicate what his Tigers will see from Penn State on Saturday night and added that it will be tough to duplicate the atmosphere he expects his Tigers to see with 106,572 fans, mostly cheering for Penn State, trying to make it difficult for the Tigers, who will be making their first road trip with the new coaching staff when they take a charter flight out of Columbus, Ga., on Friday.

“That should be something we should all embrace and want to be a part of,” he said of the challenge of playing a Top 10 opponent on the road. “If you are a guy that is worried about it or shying away, don’t get on the plane. We’ll take somebody else. We’ll go out there and take the guys who have their minds right, and are ready to play and do their jobs in this game, and we will compete with them.”