10/21/22 Auburn Articles

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John Samuel Shenker: 'If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly'

The Auburn veteran defends his coach and his team.

• Zac Blackerby
• 19 hours ago

 

Emotions and all over the place when talking to folks that follow Auburn football. 

There's passion and the desire to see Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers excel over the course of the final few games of the season when beatable teams come to Jordan Hare Stadium. 

There is a narrative that the Auburn head coach has lost the team and the locker room. That narrative was put to be by Auburn captain and veteran tight end John Samuel Shenker. 

"I think this game (against Ole Miss) speaks for itself," Shenker said on Locked On Auburn. "If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly. Guys are fighting. That’s (the rumor that the locker room is lost) far from the truth. We’re still battling hard. We’re playing hard and we believe in everything we’re going. People are going to say that when you lose games, that’s going to happen. But no, He (Bryan Harsin) hasn’t lost anybody. We’re fighting. We’re going to get ready, get healthy, and then we’re fighting on and playing against a good Arkansas team next week."

He also touched on the potential discussions that do happen inside the locker room.

"I think it gets harder and harder," Shenker said. "In my opinion, if you’re going to be influenced by it, just turn it off and let it be. Those guys (the bench) aren’t playing, and you just don’t want stuff like that to seep into the locker room and spread. I think we’ve done a good job up until this point with that… Now you have time off, and people go home and hear from their families and all of the opinions of everybody that’s not on the football field so it can be a challenge, it really can. Especially when you’re losing football games. It’ll be a huge key coming back next week, focusing on what we have to do as a team because we’re the only ones out there. That’s the big thing that guys need to be able to understand, and see that come to fruition."

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Auburn announces names for Woltosz Football Performance Center, Creel Family Development Lab

Published: Oct. 20, 2022, 6:31 p.m.

3-4 minutes

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In a Thursday press release, Auburn announced names for the upcoming football performance center and development lab. Tigers’ head coach Bryan Harsin will lead practice at the new football facility, the Woltosz Football Performance Center, and the weight room will be named the Creel Family Player Development Lab.

The named spaces honor Walt and Ginger Woltosz and Keith and Ginger Creel.

“Once again, the Woltosz and Creel families have demonstrated their leadership and commitment to Auburn by their transformational giving,” Interim Director of Athletics Rich McGlynn said. “These named spaces will serve as permanent reminders to football student-athletes, coaches, and the Auburn family of their steadfast dedication and inspiring generosity.”

Read More Auburn Football: How Bryan Harsin is handling Auburn’s open date

Business as usual for Bryan Harsin on bye week despite swirling job rumors

Takeaways and impactful plays from Auburn’s 48-34 loss against No. 9 Ole Miss

In 2019, the Woltoszes gave what was then the largest gift in Auburn Athletics history for the football performance center that now bears their name. Bill and Connie Neville surpassed the record toward the recently named Neville Arena.

“The Woltoszes and the Creels have a passion for supporting Auburn – and specifically Auburn student-athletes – that is second to none,” said Tim Jackson, executive associate athletics director, Tigers Unlimited. “Their generosity toward this project is a game changer for our football program, continuing their broad support for many Auburn Athletics programs.”

Walt Woltosz earned bachelor’s (1969) and master’s (1977) degrees in aerospace engineering from Auburn University’s Samuel Ginn College of Engineering and was later awarded an honorary doctor of science by the University (2021).  Ginger Woltosz graduated with a degree in business administration from San Jose State and earned an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

Their daughter, Caitlin, graduated from Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business and contributed to two equestrian national championships in 2016 and 2018 while earning SEC and national academic honors. Their son, Tanner, was a goaltender for the University of Connecticut hockey team, earning academic and athletic accolades.

Dedicated in August 2021 and scheduled to be the home of Auburn’s football operations at the conclusion of the 2022 season, the Woltosz Football Performance Center features 233,428 square feet and includes indoor and outdoor practice fields. The $92 million facility is the largest athletics project in Auburn history.

The Creel Family Player Development Lab boosts 25,000 square feet of strength and conditioning equipment and training space.

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group.

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Top Auburn football coaching candidate may have flown to Nebraska for meeting

Andrew Hughes

3 minutes

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There’s nothing that gets college football die-hards going like tracking the trajectory of private flights from areas of interest to others. Deion Sanders’ potential flight from Jackson, Mississippi to the Plains got many Tiger fans excited about the prospect of ‘Prime Time’ becoming the next Auburn football head coach.

Now, another top candidate for the Auburn football head coaching role — that being Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin — is having his flight information tracked, though this time, it wasn’t to East Central Alabama.

Instead, the Lincoln, Nebraska native allegedly flew from Oxford, Mississippi to his hometown on October 16. Of course, the Nebraska Cornhuskers head coaching role has been vacant since Scott Frost was dismissed following a Week 2 loss to Georgia Southern at home.

Here was the flight information via Huskers Talk’s Twitter account:

Auburn football, nor Nebraska, are better landing spots for Lane Kiffin than Ole Miss

Lane Kiffin has a great thing at Ole Miss at the moment, even if fans sometimes prefer being on The Grove on gameday than filling up the student section — something Kiffin himself has called out. Vaught-Hemingway Stadium filled up for the 11 A.M. Auburn football game on October 15, but a Week 4 matchup with Tulsa caused Kiffin to snap at the media in the post-game media scrum after the Rebels didn’t score at all in the second half and won a one-score game against their Group of Five opponent:

“Were you at the game? I must’ve been at a different one. It is what it is. Looking around it wasn’t very full and obviously at half the students left, too. When you don’t score in the second half of a game, you’re not going to criticize the fans. I’ve got to do a better job of motivating the players.”

Even if fans didn’t show up to Tulsa, Kiffin has sustainable success in Oxford as he continues to utilize the transfer portal to find starters — Jaxson Dart being the most notable during the 2022 cycle — and hunt for diamonds in the rough out of high school, such as Pike Road running back Quinshon Judkins, who just went for 139 yards against the Tigers.

Jumping to Nebraska, who ranked outside the top 40 in 2022 and is currently outside the top 50 in recruiting for 2023, would be foolish. Making the move across state lines to Auburn football would be less so, but even still, his expectations would be far higher.

Sticking with Ole Miss and shedding the label of being a job-hopper would be Kiffin’s best career move in Fly War Eagle’s opinion.

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[AUINSY 2,242]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

John Samuel Shenker: 'If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly'

The Auburn veteran defends his coach and his team.

• Zac Blackerby
• 19 hours ago

 

Emotions and all over the place when talking to folks that follow Auburn football. 

There's passion and the desire to see Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers excel over the course of the final few games of the season when beatable teams come to Jordan Hare Stadium. 

There is a narrative that the Auburn head coach has lost the team and the locker room. That narrative was put to be by Auburn captain and veteran tight end John Samuel Shenker. 

"I think this game (against Ole Miss) speaks for itself," Shenker said on Locked On Auburn. "If we lost the locker room, then the game would have been a blowout quickly. Guys are fighting. That’s (the rumor that the locker room is lost) far from the truth. We’re still battling hard. We’re playing hard and we believe in everything we’re going. People are going to say that when you lose games, that’s going to happen. But no, He (Bryan Harsin) hasn’t lost anybody. We’re fighting. We’re going to get ready, get healthy, and then we’re fighting on and playing against a good Arkansas team next week."

He also touched on the potential discussions that do happen inside the locker room.

"I think it gets harder and harder," Shenker said. "In my opinion, if you’re going to be influenced by it, just turn it off and let it be. Those guys (the bench) aren’t playing, and you just don’t want stuff like that to seep into the locker room and spread. I think we’ve done a good job up until this point with that… Now you have time off, and people go home and hear from their families and all of the opinions of everybody that’s not on the football field so it can be a challenge, it really can. Especially when you’re losing football games. It’ll be a huge key coming back next week, focusing on what we have to do as a team because we’re the only ones out there. That’s the big thing that guys need to be able to understand, and see that come to fruition."

Hate to see young guys having to go through this, especially so soon after CBH’s hire. Hopefully they’ll grow through it and we’ll all be in greener pastures soon.