Harsin to his Tigers: 'Work your a** off every single day'

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2 Minute Drill: Keys for Auburn offense vs. Georgia

 

AUBURN, Alabama–Asked about the development of the wide receivers as a group and Elijah Canion in particular, Auburn coach Bryan Harsin said the receivers are a work in progress heading into Saturday’s SEC football matchup against Georgia, Auburn's oldest rival.

Harsin extended his remarks Wednesday on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference to include basically every position on the roster needing to get better. The No. 18 Tigers, 4-1 and 1-0 in the SEC, will play host to No. 2 eorgia at 2:30 p.m. CDT on Saturday. The Bulldogs are 5-0 overall and 2-0 in the league.

“That group continues to be a work in progress,” Harsin said about the receivers, who are led by sophomore Kobe Hudson’s 14 catches for 217 yards and one touchdown this season. “Most every position group on this team is that same way.”

Shedrick Jackson has 14 catches for 173 yards and one score, Demetris Robertson has 17 catches for 172 yards and two touchdowns, Ja’Varrius Johnson has six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown, Malcolm Johnson has three catches for 70 yards and a touchdown, Canion has four catches for 46 yards and the other wide receiver with a reception is Ze’Vian Capers with four catches for 35 yards.

Asked about Canion not being on the travel roster for Auburn’s win at LSU last Saturday, Harsin said, “Elijah needs to get himself into the mix. He is out there, he is practicing and has every opportunity, like everybody else, to put themselves into a position to play. At the end of the day, we are still competing in practice. We are still doing things to try to get the best players on the field, the guys who deserve to play, the guys who have worked hard to put themselves in a position to play."

Auburn’s starting quarterback, Bo Nix, confirmed that Harsin is pushing players hard to sweat the details. “It is at an all-time high,” Nix said. “Obviously, when it comes to coaching he is relentless when it comes to the details. You can always get better at something and he is making sure that we are seeing those things and working on those things. It is really easy to be comfortable where you are at not getting any better.”

Eric Kiesau is shown at Tiger Stadium prior to his first game as Auburn's wide receivers coach. (Photo: Jason Caldwell, Inside the Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)

Georgia  is coming of back-to-back shutout SEC victories - 37-0 over Arkansas and 62-0 over Vanderbilt.. Harsin said he wants his team to do everything possible this week to get ready for the Bulldogs.

“That is one of the things we have got to continue to keep getting better at here in this program–that is understanding the importance of practice,” Harsin said. “There is not a player in America that doesn’t want to play in a game, but the guys who are going to be the most successful, and the dudes that love football, they practice, they study and they do things every single day, not to just get better for the game, but getting better for that day because they want to perform.

 “Not everybody does that in every group on this football team and every position on the team is a work in progress because we don’t have that from every single group consistently.”

Harsin said he wants to get to the point where “iron sharpens iron” in practices. “We are not there yet. That has got to continue to be something that is focused on and is important to every coach and player in this program because you just don’t show up, you don’t roll a ball out there and go play a game.

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“You have got to work your ass off every single day. When guys understand that and you put that amount of time in, and you put that much intensity into something you are really trying to prepare for and be great at, then come game times that is the fun part. That is where you get to go out there and really just execute all of these young have already been doing.

“That is the challenge for all position groups, for everybody in this program–that sense of urgency of what it really takes to go out there and play like we all want to, but you have got to do the work. That is what we are focusing on and challenging everybody in our program on every single day.”

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