12/27/22 Auburn Articles

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Jason Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

Jason Caldwell

4–5 minutes

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Great gifts over the years

Just the other day I watched the special on the SEC Network about play-by-play guys in the league over the years and it brought back some great memories for me, but it also made me think of just how fortunate I am to have this job and be doing what I love. I grew up listening to Jim Fyffe. Some of my fondest memories are of cutting wood on Saturdays with my dad while listening to the Auburn game on the radio. That carried over to basketball season where I would listen to Sonny Smith's teams in the mid-80's and hang on every word. When I got into this job I got to know Jim before he passed away and built a great friendship with Rod Bramblett, Andy Burcham, Stan White, Quentin Riggins, Paul Ellen and the crew. 

Sitting there watching the special the other night made me realize just how fortunate I am and reminded me not to take for granted the opportunity I have been given. I have been part of many special moments over the years and hope there's many more to come.

The next step for Auburn football

I remember growing up following Auburn football and being able to turn on the TV on Sunday to watch the two games that were being shown and could usually find a former Tiger playing a key role for his NFL team. Names like William Andrews, James Brooks, Joe Cribbs, Byron Franklin, Doug Smith, Lionel James, Ben Thomas, Kevin Greene, Gerald Robinson, Gerald Williams, Steve Wallace, Tommie Agee, Kevin Porter, Walter Reeves and others were all guys that were playmakers and names known around the league.

They set the table for a strong 20-year run of Auburn in the National Football League, but if you want to look at the state of the program and the reason why the Tigers are on their third coach in the last four years, it’s because of the lack of talent in the program as a whole.

That shows up when you get guys to the next level and they become stars. Auburn’s last Pro Bowl selection was in 2021 when long snapper Josh Harris was picked for the honor. He was the first Auburn player since 2018 to get selected. By comparison, Alabama has 11 former players in this year’s Pro Bowl alone.

That’s the challenge for Hugh Freeze and company. Getting guys to the NFL and winning games. That’s the key to getting better and better players and giving yourself a chance to compete for championships.

The last month has shown this current staff has the ability to compete and win some of those battles. That’s just the beginning of getting Auburn back to where the program belongs.

Go time for Auburn basketball

Coming off perhaps its best performance of the season to this point, Bruce Pearl’s Tigers open SEC play Wednesday at 6 p.m. when the Florida Gators come to Auburn to open SEC play. That’s very good news considering the struggles that Auburn has had going on the road to Gainesville for much of the last 20 years, but the Gators have been tough no matter the venue. 

This will be the first meeting between mentor and pupil with Todd Golden in his first season with the Gators after coming from San Francisco. Florida is 7-5 overall, but has played a strong schedule with losses coming to Xavier, West Virginia, UConn and Oklahoma along with Florida Atlantic. 

47COMMENTS

The challenge for Auburn will be handling big man Colin Castleton. Averaging 15.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game this season, Castleton had two huge games against the Tigers last season with 22 points and 10 rebounds in a loss at Auburn Arena before having 19 points and 8 rebounds in a Florida win in the rematch last year.

Getting a win would be a big deal for the Tigers with some challenging games ahead to open league play. Following Florida, Auburn travels to Georgia before playing host Arkansas, going to Ole Miss and then playing at home vs. Mississippi State. If the Tigers can build on what they did against Washington then I like their chances to build some momentum.

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AuburnSports - Davis returns as WR coach

Bryan Matthews AuburnSports Davis returns as WR coach 1h ago

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AUBURN | A familiar name is returning to Auburn as an assistant coach.

Marcus Davis, who was a receiver at Auburn from 2013-16, is expected to be hired by Hugh Freeze as wide receivers coach, a source confirms to AuburnSports.com.

Davis has spent the previous season as the wide receivers coach at Georgia Southern.

Davis began his coaching career as an offensive analyst and strength and conditioning intern at Auburn in 2018. He was promoted to assistant director of player personnel and player development the following year.

His meteoric rise through the coaching ranks continued as a Florida State graduate assistant in 2020 and the wide receivers coach at Hawaii in 2021.

GSU put up big passing numbers this fall as Khaleb Hood led the Sun Belt with 80 receptions for 896 yards and three touchdowns. Davis had two other wide receivers in the league's top five as Jeremy Singleton had 66 catches for 714 and two touchdowns and Derwin Burgess Jr. had 58 receptions for 717 yards and seven scores.

GSU finished fourth nationally averaging 327.8 passing yards per game under offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis, who spent the previous three seasons at Western Kentucky.

Davis was part of AU's SEC Championship team in 2013 that lost to FSU in the BCS national championship game. He played in four bowl games during his AU career and finished with 83 receptions for 650 yards and three touchdowns in 50 games.

A native of Boynton Beach, Fla., Davis is married to Amberly and has a daughter, Milaf Price.

The hire of Davis will complete Freeze's first on-field staff at Auburn.

 

 

i am so confused about Auburns WR coach. this is the third one i believe?

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Auburn football: Tigers looking to take this RB from the transfer portal

Mary Kate Hughes

2–3 minutes

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Auburn football Mississippi State QB Will Rogers (2) hands off the ball to DL Dillon Johnson (23) at the 2022 Egg Bowl at Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss., Thursday, November 24, 2022. Mississippi State beat Ole Miss with a final score of 24-22. Ejs 3957

 

The Auburn football program had an extremely successful signing day under new head coach Hugh Freeze, but the recruiting for the 2023 cycle is not over yet. There are still high school prospects that plan to sign in February, and many transfers are to be looked at in the portal.

So far, Freeze and his coaching staff have taken three transfers out of the portal: former Vanderbilt edge Elijah McAllister, former Tulsa offensive tackle Dillon Wade, and former Florida International tight end Rivaldo Fairweather.

Still, Freeze has said from the beginning that they plan to lean heavily on the transfer portal in year one, so the hunt is still on. One of the transfers that the Tigers have taken an interest in is former Mississippi State running back Dillon Johnson.

Tank Bigsby announced that he will be entering his name into the 2023 NFL Draft, so even with Jarquez Hunter bringing his talent back for another season, the staff is looking for another experienced running back to play alongside him while rising sophomore Damari Alston and incoming freshman Jeremiah Cobb continue to learn and work their way up.

According to Auburn Undercover, Dillon Johnson officially visited the Plains earlier this month and liked what he saw:

Insert Mississippi State transfer Dillon Johnson, who visited before the dead period and Auburn is trending in the right direction with. Johnson is an experienced pass-catcher from his time in Mike Leach’s offense and is a physical runner, too. He’s about perfect for what Auburn is looking for and someone who could fit in well with Freeze’s system.

Johnson plans to make a final decision on January 3, according to Kieth Niebuhr of Auburn Live, and it will all come down to Auburn football, Louisville, South Carolina, or a possible return to Mississippi State.

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2023 Auburn Football Schedule Announced

JackCondon@CollegeAndMag

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For some reason, the SEC decided to drop the 2023 SEC football schedule in the middle of all of this turmoil. Respect our privacy at this tough time.

I guess we made some folks mad, because that is not a fun schedule.

SEPTEMBER 2 - vs UMass

SEPTEMBER 9 - @ Cal (Berkeley)

SEPTEMBER 16 - vs Samford

SEPTEMBER 23 - @ Texas A&M (College Station)

SEPTEMBER 30 - vs Georgia

OCTOBER 7 - BYE

OCTOBER 14 - @ LSU (Baton Rouge)

OCTOBER 21 - vs Ole Miss

OCTOBER 28 - vs Mississippi State

NOVEMBER 4 - @ Vanderbilt (Nashville)

NOVEMBER 11 - @ Arkansas (Fayetteville)

NOVEMBER 18 - vs New Mexico State

NOVEMBER 25 - vs Alabama

Our non-conference slate should bring us to a 4-0 record at minimum, and we get to erase a “never-played” from the non-con group with Cal in Week 2. That’ll be a great trip for Auburn fans, and we’ll likely have an advantage in that stadium since the California teams have not been drawing well as of late.

However, we get about the worst start to the conference season with A&M, Georgia, and LSU the first three weeks, with A&M/LSU on the road and Georgia at home. If the Tigers start 3-0, it’s more likely that they’ll end up 3-3 after that stretch. The other two road games are manageable with Vandy and Arkansas, but of course it’s never going to be easy finishing with Alabama. I’m sure that a new coach will have a heck of a time figuring out this slate, because we will have a new coach directing us in 2023.

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Bryan Harsin takes the top spot of an undesirable year-end list

Taylor Jones

3–4 minutes

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It is no secret that the end of Bryan Harsin’s Auburn tenure, or the whole tenure for that matter, will forever be a dark chapter in the history of Auburn football.

He began his Auburn career as the “out of left field” hire. He was not the most popular name of the search, as he came to the Plains from Boise State with minimal experience coaching football in the south. His first season got off to a hot start, as the Tigers began the season 6-2, with a win over a top-10 Ole Miss team. However, following that game on Halloween weekend, things began to take an ugly turn as Auburn would lose its final five games.

Once the offseason began, he would be the subject of a coup to remove him from his job, which he would ultimately survive. That would not clear up the main issues within the program, however. In year two under Harsin, Auburn lost to Penn State at home in blowout fashion and would lose lengthy winning streaks to Arkansas and Ole Miss. In addition to the on-field product, Auburn also fell behind in recruiting. Because of the regression, Harsin was dismissed from his duties on Halloween, two days after Auburn’s 41-27 loss to Arkansas at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

His time in Auburn was anything but pretty, which is why he takes the top spot of an undesirable year-end list.

On3 recently released their assessments of second-year coaches, from worst to first. Several coaches got a good report, including Tennessee‘s Josh Heupel and Kansas’ Lance Leipold. As for Harsin, he kicked off the rankings by having the worst performance of any second-year coach.

Jesse Simonton of On3 sympathizes with Harsin, but also says that Auburn was more motivated to play following his departure.

For more than a year, Auburn essentially treated Bryan Harsin like the kid in Toy Story who tortures Woody with a magnifying glass. It was wholly unfair to Harsin.

But setting aside all the ugly and unfounded rumors surrounding Harsin and his family, the former Boise State head coach did an awful job at one of the premiere programs in the country.

Harsin lost five straight games to end a disappointing Year 1, and things only got worse this fall. After a pair of victories over cupcakes — including a way-too-close for comfort 24-16 win against San Jose State — the Tigers lost 6-of-7, with their lone win a Yakety Sax overtime victory against Missouri.

Harsin was poor recruiter (Auburn wasted a historic set of prospects from the state of Alabama in 2022), motivator and leader. It said a lot that the second he was gone the Tigers suddenly started playing inspired and united.

Harsin’s Auburn career ended with a 9-12 record. After his dismissal, interim head coach Cadillac Williams led Auburn to a 2-2 record, which ended their season at 5-7.