Seeking more consistency, big plays

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Auburn seeking more consistency, big plays from wide receivers

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

6-7 minutes

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Auburn opted to fill its starting lineup with the most experience possible at wide receiver to open the season, but with mixed results from that position group through three games, it could be time for Bryan Harsin and his staff to reassess rotations in the lineup.

Auburn’s coaches are consistently evaluating all positions, wide receiver included, but the group could be under more examination this week following a particularly uneven performance during the team’s loss to Penn State in Week 3.

“Guys are competing for opportunities to play, so I think you’re always assessing that,” Harsin said. “Even in a win, you go back and look at the rotation. You look at the guys that played well; you look at other guys that are practicing well that you want to get into the game that may deserve an opportunity.”

Auburn settled on a starting group of Georgia grad transfer Demetris Robertson, senior Shedrick Jackson and redshirt sophomore Ja’Varrius Johnson at receiver heading into the season largely due to their experience and consistency through fall camp. Johnson’s opportunities to this point have been limited due to an early-season injury. Robertson and Jackson, meanwhile, have been the two most prominently featured receivers in the Tigers’ passing game.

Robertson has been targeted 17 times, with 11 catches for 112 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Jackson has been targeted 18 times and has nine receptions for 96 yards.

That duo struggled in Auburn’s loss to Penn State, though. Robertson hauled in just five of his 10 targets for 23 yards. Jackson caught only two of his eight targets for 6 yards, and while he drew a pass interference that helped set up Auburn’s opening field goal, he also had a key drop on a downfield shot on third down late in the first half in which he tripped over himself on the sideline.

The receiving corps as a whole had issues with dropped passes and misalignments, as the group was never able to get on the same page as quarterback Bo Nix against Penn State.

The junior quarterback didn’t have his best night, as some familiar accuracy problems on the road arose again, but he did some things well and was able to move the offense down the field despite not having much help from his receivers. Nix completed just 21-of-37 passes for 185 yards, but he completed just 13-of-26 passes for 112 yards when targeting Auburn’s receivers.

“The guys around him as well need to be consistent and we need to line up properly,” Harsin said. “We need to have guys that are in the game detailed to what it is that they’re out there to do. So, the details of what we’re doing in the offense are extremely important to the success. The quarterback’s job is not to go out there and have to manage every single guy on the field. He has to do his job just like everybody else.

“The quarterback has his job to do. That’s what he needs to stay focused on, so you need all 11 guys on the field doing exactly what we practiced, doing exactly what they’re supposed to do as far as the pre-snap of the play.”

Arguably Auburn’s most consistent receiver in the loss was Kobe Hudson, who has stepped up into a larger role since Johnson has been limited. His fumble on a failed trick play to open the second half was costly to Auburn, but he responded well and finished with four catches for 66 yards on six targets. He now has eight receptions for a team-high 121 yards and a touchdown on 13 targets through three games.

Getting Johnson back to full speed and integrated in the offense should boost the receiving corps, as he appeared to be a favorite target of Nix’s throughout the offseason and had three catches for 51 yards and a touchdown on three targets in the season opener. It’s also possible guys like Malcolm Johnson Jr. (two receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown on three targets), Ze’Vian Capers (one catch for 13 yards on one target) and Elijah Canion (two catches for 26 yards on two targets) — each of whom generated some buzz in the offseason — see more involvement in the offense as the Tigers try to find the winning formula at receiver.

The bottom line, though, is that play needs to improve across the position group, especially with SEC play on the horizon. No. 23 Auburn (2-1) will host Georgia State (1-2) on Saturday in the team’s final nonconference game before diving headfirst into a daunting SEC slate over the next two months.

Harsin wants to see a finer attention to detail from the group, as well as consistency in execution — especially when it comes to generating explosive plays in the passing game. Those were largely absent against Penn State, with the two most successful ones coming on back-shoulder throws from Nix to Hudson and tight end John Samuel Shenker for gains of 36 and 23 yards over the middle of the field. The extended, meticulous drives — like the one Auburn put together in the third quarter — are good and all, but Harsin wants the offense to connect on those explosive plays in the passing game to create momentum on that side of the ball.

And for Auburn’s receivers, being able to do that more consistently comes down to discipline and fundamentals — both of which are things Harsin said are controllable.

“We’ve got to be able to hit ‘em; we’ve got to be able to catch ‘em,” Harsin said. “Those are fundamentals; those are things that we work on every single day that we’ve got to be able to execute in a game. So that’s, to me, that’s just more time of working through those same concepts and the fundamentals of making those plays in order to hit those shot plays down the field or having explosive plays in the pass game.

“…Those are things that we’ve got to find ways to create those opportunities for more explosives, because that’s a big part of it. Explosive plays in a game are a big factor to that offense in particular having success in the game.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

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The team will see more big plays when Shed ain’t the one running deep routes