The role of NFL film study within Auburn's offense

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The role of NFL film study within Auburn's spring offense

ByNathan King

4-5 minutes

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Auburn's offensive line works during a recent spring practice

 

AUBURN, Alabama — As anticipated, much of Auburn’s offensive focus in 2022 will center around junior running back Tank Bigsby.

With a new starting quarterback set to take over, and with a receiving corps relatively short of proven production, Bryan Harsin again wants his offense to predicate around the power run game. The return of Bigsby this offseason, when it was rumored he was considering a transfer, was obviously massive for the Tigers’ 2022 hopes, and the coaching staff doesn’t want to waste their backfield talent in what could be Bigsby’s final college season, depending on how successful Auburn’s run game can be.

“I'm expecting a lot out of him, to be honest with you,” offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau said. “I've had conversations with him about that.”

With four of five starters set to return on the offensive line, Auburn’s staff feels comfortable enough with its personnel that it hopes to make some changes in terms of its rushing schemes — in hopes of maximizing Bigsby’s output from play to play.

Some of those new wrinkles have stemmed from offseason NFL film study, something Harsin has long utilized as a coach.

“We're always looking at NFL film, either way, for all of our positions,” Harsin said.

Bigsby’s yards-per-carry numbers dropped last season from his SEC Freshman of the Year campaign in 2020 (6.0 to 4.9), but he still was able to become the program’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2017 (Kerryon Johnson).

“We're going to do some things differently to kind of fit (Bigsby’s) running style,” Kiesau said. “We put a lot of hours into studying some NFL teams and what they've been doing — Coach Friend, Coach Bedell, myself, really all of us — to kind of put ourselves in the best situation for what's going to fit Tank's style of running, and how we're going to do that. So I'm excited to see where he goes; he's going to be a big part of what we're doing.”

Breaking down professional tape for players is a staff-wide undertaking, offense and defense. But the running game in particular was singled out by Kiesau, and position coach Cadillac Williams has been praised for his work in that regard, too.

“Coach Cadillac does a great job with it,” tight ends coach Brad Bedell said.

For Bedell, studying NFL tight ends with his group is a welcome break from the grind and routine that players become engrossed in. “Young men have the attention span of a gnat,” he joked.

“Kids need to see someone other than themselves, right?” Bedell said. “These people are doing it great. Don't shy away: If this is where you want to be, this is what it takes to get there. Them visualizing it and seeing it can help that development.”

With super senior Shaun Shivers transferring to Indiana in the offseason, and No. 2 tailback Jarquez Hunter out for the rest of the spring following a knee procedure, Auburn is thin on depth behind Bigsby. His current backup is walk-on Sean Jackson, followed by former Central Michigan transfer Jordon Ingram, who had two carries last season.

Auburn’s rushing attack had explosive moments but was inconsistent in 2021, finishing No. 9 in the SEC in yards per carry. Per Football Outsiders, Auburn was No. 10 in the SEC in rushing opportunity rate (60.0%) — the percentage of carries that gain at least 4 yards.

“We're just looking at things that we did last year, things we can improve on, and looking at how we can run the ball and be successful,” Harsin said. “Obviously, Tank is a big part of that. So you know, it just goes back to some film study and things that we want to do, and then examples of how we want to work that with the O-line and put all those things together.”

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