1/12/23 Auburn Articles

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Meet the transfers: Auburn's 10 portal pickups so far

Nathan King

7–9 minutes

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Hugh Freeze's 2023 roster rebuild is now 10 transfers in, and it's so far, so good for the Tigers in terms of restoring depth to various position groups, and adding starting-caliber players to others.

Auburn needed to hit the portal hard in order to field a competitive squad this fall, and Freeze and his new staff have done so, especially in the past couple weeks, where the Tigers have added six transfers in the past four days. 

With the winter portal entry window closing next Thursday, here's a snapshot of the Tigers' current transfer haul, as Auburn now has the nation's No. 3 transfer class, according to 247Sports' transfer rankings.

TE Rivaldo Fairweather 

(FIU Athletics)

Previous school: FIU

Committed to Auburn: Dec. 18

Career stats (3 seasons): 54 catches, 838 yards, 5 TDs

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 6 TE

Auburn Undercover's take: Under new position coach Ben Aigamaua, who comes over from Liberty after spending all four seasons under Freeze there, Fairweather brings strong production to one of the most experienced units on Auburn’s roster. Freeze has a history of utilizing hybrid, big-bodied targets in the passing game, which Fairweather and Landen King seem to fit the mold of. 

DE Elijah McAllister

(Doug Engle / Syndication: The Gainesville Sun, USA TODAY Sports)

Previous school: Vanderbilt 

Committed to Auburn: Dec. 20

Career stats (3 seasons): 65 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 INT

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 8 EDGE

Auburn Undercover's take: McAllister dealt with a couple knee injuries at Vanderbilt but still represents an important pickup at an extremely thin group of pass-rushers for Auburn. With former Western Kentucky transfer Marcus Bragg also out of eligibility, Dylan Brooks, a former top-100 recruit, is the only scholarship player returning from last year's edge rushers room.

OT Dillon Wade

(Troy Taormina, USA TODAY)

Previous school: Tulsa

Committed to Auburn: Dec. 23

Career stats (2 seasons): 12 starts, 17 game appearances

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 3 OT

Auburn Undercover's take: Wade was rated so highly in the portal for a reason, despite only starting one season at the Group of Five level: He's displayed significant growth in each of his two college seasons in which he saw the field, and his film was highly respected once he hit the transfer portal, garnering offers from Auburn, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, TCU, Ole Miss and Colorado, among others. If Wade slides in as seamlessly as Auburn hopes at the ever-important spot of left tackle, he could end up being one of, if not the most important transfer for Auburn in 2023.

OT Gunner Britton

(Michael Allio, Getty)

Previous school: Western Kentucky

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 5

Career stats (4 seasons): 19 starts, 45 game appearances

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 5 OT

Auburn Undercover's take: With SEC-ready size at 6-foot-6 and 305 pounds, Britton boasts plenty of experience — and versatility — at the Group of Five level. If Wade is ready to take over Auburn's left-tackle opening, Britton could do the same at right tackle, as he was another crucial addition, considering Auburn returns just one player from last year's team (Colby Smith) who has any experience playing tackle.

DT Mosiah Nasili-Kite

(Maryland Athletics)

Previous school: Maryland

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 8

Career stats (3 seasons): 80 tackles, 14.5 TFLs, 9 sacks, 1 fumble recovery

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 10 DL

Auburn Undercover's take: Nasili-Kite represents exactly what the Tigers needed from the transfer ranks along the defensive front: a veteran to complement returning starters Marcus Harris and Jayson Jones who appears ready to contribute well from Day 1. It's also a bonus that Nasili-Kite was versatile enough with the Terrapins, at 6-foot-2 and 305 pounds, to play a variety of spots along the D-line, and he was a strong pass-rusher, too, finishing No. 2 on the team in QB pressures last season.

LB Demario Tolan

(Jon Korduner, Getty)

Previous school: LSU

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 8

Career stats (1 season): 10 tackles

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 8 LB

Auburn Undercover's take: A versatile athlete at 6-foot-2 and 222 pounds, Tolan isn't a proven contributor joining Ron Roberts' defense. He's not a plug-and-play addition who will automatically contender for a spot in the starting rotation. But the former top-200 recruit does represent a boost to a position group that doesn't have much in terms of proven depth after the loss of Owen Pappoe, who's off to the NFL draft.

DT Lawrence Johnson

(Joe Robbins, Getty)

Previous school: Purdue 

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 8

Career stats (4 seasons): 88 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, 2.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 20 DL

Auburn Undercover's take: Johnson helps Auburn with its continued alleviation of pressure on the youngsters on the D-line, allowing for patient development and progression under the new defensive staff. While Auburn may not have as dominant a force in 2023 as someone like Colby Wooden, it's bulking up the defensive front with experience in hopes of offsetting its losses by committee, and its rotation next season might be capable of going deeper than in 2022.

WR Nick Mardner

(Ian Johnson, Getty)

Previous school: Cincinnati

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 9

Career stats (4 seasons): 81 catches, 1,488 yards, 11 TDs

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 25 WR

Auburn Undercover's take: Rejoining his former position coach Marcus Davis, who coached him at Hawaii in 2021, Mardner joins a receiving corps with plenty of intriguing pieces but not many standouts. At 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, Mardner will compete with rising sophomore Camden Brown on the outside. Mardner's best college season came under Davis' tutelage at Hawaii, when he was an All-Mountain West selection with 46 receptions, 913 yards and five touchdowns.

RB Brian Battie

(Will Turner, 247Sports)

Previous school: USF

Committed to Auburn: Jan. 9

Career stats (3 seasons): 1,842 yards, 10 TDs; 24.2 yards per kick return, 3 TDs

247Sports transfer ranking: No. 8 RB

Auburn Undercover's take: To help offset the loss of Tank Bigsby, Auburn could have done a whole lot worse than bringing in a 1,000-yard rusher in 2022 and a special teams All-American in 2021. He'll obviously be expected to make a huge impact in the Tigers' return units, but in Cadillac Williams' room, Battie serves as a highly productive veteran to pair with Jarquez Hunter, who figures to be Auburn's lead back after waiting behind Bigsby for two seasons.

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Auburn quarterback T.J. Finley returns to team

River Wells

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One of Auburn’s quarterbacks that appeared to be leaving at the end of last year may be staying with the team after all.

Nathan King of 247sports reported on Wednesday that quarterback T.J. Finley, who appeared to have left the team after the firing of coach Bryan Harsin, is back with the Tigers for their winter workouts. Finley began 2022 as the team’s starter before eventually being phased out for quarterback Robby Ashford.

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Finley came to Auburn after transferring to the Plains from LSU in 2021. He had his career-best completion percentage over a season in 2022 with 62.3 percent, but he threw just one touchdown to four interceptions. In any year where he’s had more than 100 attempts, Finley has never had a completion percentage over 60 percent.

The senior returns to the team after leaving it for the last four games last year for reasons unrelated to injury – Finley got injured earlier in the year and then did not win the job back from Ashford for the rest of the year. Finley never entered the portal, however, and he appears to be back with the team once again under new head coach Hugh Freeze. It’s unknown who Freeze intends to have under center for 2023, but Finley could be in the mix with his return to the roster.

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Five expectations for Auburn football's quarterbacks under Hugh Freeze

Lance Dawe

5–6 minutes

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Auburn Daily

Football

Here are five things we can expect out of Hugh Freeze's quarterbacks at Auburn.

New Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze is known as a bit of a quarterback guru.

Now entering his first season on the Plains, Freeze will have that reputation put to the test.

Auburn quarterback Robby Ashford was thrown into the fire as a freshman and unsurprisingly struggled in a variety of areas - accuracy, decision making, turnovers, etc. However, he did flash glimpses of potential, rushing for over 700 yards and finished sixth in the SEC in yards per completion (min. 100 attempts).

Unless Freeze decides to roll with a quarterback out of the portal, he's going to have the chance to build on Ashford's foundation and unlock his potential.

Regardless of who the signal-caller is, here are five things we can expect out of Freeze's quarterbacks at Auburn.

More gambling

Jason Homan/ Auburn Daily

Over the course of his ten seasons coaching Division I college football, Hugh Freeze quarterbacks throw an interception on 2.9% of their passes. Compare this to Auburn, who from 2013-2022 threw a pick on 2.1% of their passes.

The gap between these two styles of play starts to shift when you look at interception totals - Hugh Freeze QB's 117 interceptions to Auburn's 65 - but that's not a fair comparison because of two reasons. One, the Tigers have thrown the ball significantly less than the average SEC team over the last decade. Two, there's a two-year gap in the Hugh Freeze numbers because he was out of coaching.

Only twice has Auburn eclipsed double-digit interceptions since 2013. Hugh Freeze quarterbacks have done it seven out of his nine seasons.

More turnovers come with throwing the ball more. Especially in Freeze's offenses.

More explosive play

Matt Bush-USA TODAY Sports

While turnovers may be a downside, more explosive play is also to be expected from Freeze signal-callers.

During his time at Ole Miss, Freeze never had a passing offense finish outside of the top five in the SEC in yards per game and only had one aerial attack step outside the top five of the league in yards per attempt.

If we're looking at this year specifically, there's reason to expect Auburn's receiver room to be used pretty differently considering the blend of size and speed the Tigers have in the rotation. Physical, big-bodied receivers are what have thrived in Freeze's systems in the past - and part of it has to do with the downfield passing from his quarterback.

This isn't Joe Burrow and the 2019 LSU Tigers by any stretch. However, fans should be excited about a more, well, exciting passing game.

Better accuracy

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Seven of Freeze's ten offenses have seen better completion percentages than Auburn's passing attacks in the same year.

We won't sit here and tell you that every year Freeze beat out the Tigers' passing attack by a wide margin in that category, but it's not unfair to say Freeze's quarterbacks have had a consistent edge over Auburn's from a raw numbers perspective - more reps, completions, accuracy, etc.

If we're talking specifically about this upcoming season, there's little doubt that Ashford will improve on his 49.5% completion percentage.

Dual-threat abilities

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Freeze has utilized his quarterback's legs to not just produce yardage, but to actually get in the endzone.

His starting signal-callers have averaged 447.1 yards on the ground per season to go along with 7.5 rushing touchdowns.

What's interesting about Freeze's use of dual-threat quarterbacks is that the more he's used them in a given season, the better the team has done overall. Now, the utilization of a QBs legs may not directly correlate to wins, but it does indicate that the offense probably performs better and therefore the team as a whole is more competitive.

Four of Freeze's ten seasons have included his starting quarterback rushing for over 500 yards. Those teams went a combined 38-11 (0.78 win percentage) and produced all three of his ten-win seasons.

It does make one wonder what could be in store if Auburn were to ride with Robby Ashford and improve his passing game...

Big performances in big wins

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Excluding 2012, Hugh Freeze is 5-7 against top 10 opponents. In those five wins, his quarterbacks produced some solid (averaged) stat lines:

- 314.4 passing yards per game

- 10 total TD/2 INT

- 79.6 QBR

When the quarterback plays well in important contests, the team plays well.

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Guessing Auburn's offensive line depth chart after adding Avery Jones

Zac Blackerby

2–3 minutes

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The Auburn Tigers entered the offseason dealing with a situation that has been hurting them for years - addressing the offensive line. 

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze and offensive line coach Jake Thornton have rebuilt and revamped the Auburn offensive line after adding five players in the 2023 recruiting class and three players via the transfer portal. 

All three of those portal transfers are going to be projected to start by every outlet covering the Auburn football program. 

Here is our way-too-early stab at projecting the offensive line. 

Left tackle - Gunner Britton

The Western Kentucky transfer has a chance to be Auburn's best offensive tackle since Greg Robinson. His experience, size, and ability to make an impact in pass protection and run blocking give the offense a much larger chance to be successful in Freeze's first year at Auburn. 

Left guard - Jeremiah Wright

Sounds like this staff thinks highly of Wright. Still raw, but he has been asked to change positions several times since he's arrived at Auburn. Wright played 231 snaps at left guard last season. 

Center - Avery Jones

The East Carolina transfer brings experience and was one of the better pass-blocking centers in college football last season according to PFF. 

Right guard - Izavion Miller

This spot is probably the biggest question mark on the offensive front. We currently can see Miller sliding in from the tackle spot and asking him to play on the interior. While he was the top juco offensive lineman in this class, his feet seem to drag more than what you'd like to see from an SEC tackle. Kam Stutts returning will compete for this job as well. 

Right tackle - Dillon Wade

The Tulsa transfer played right and left tackle before transferring to Auburn. Wade was seen as the favorite to start at left tackle before Britton committed to the Tigers. Wade moves well for his size and could be a candidate to shift inside if the coaching staff asked him to change positions. For now, we think he will start at right tackle. 

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Hugh Freeze adds Group of 5 assistant to Auburn support staff

Published: Jan. 11, 2023, 5:13 p.m.

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Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze is introduced during Auburn basketball vs Arkansas on Saturday, Jan. 7,.2023 in Auburn, Ala. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics/AU At

Hugh Freeze is adding another familiar face and Group of 5 assistant coach to Auburn’s support staff.

Vontrell King-Williams, who spent the 2022 season coaching defensive tackles at Eastern Michigan, is joining Auburn’s off-field staff, he announced Wednesday afternoon. King-Williams is expected to serve as a defensive analyst for the Tigers, according to FootballScoop, working on a defensive staff that includes a pair of former Liberty assistants: defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett and linebackers coach Josh Aldridge.

Read more Auburn football: Former Auburn QB Zach Calzada transfers to top FCS program

Former Auburn reserve quarterback transferring to Albany

Meet Hugh Freeze’s 2023 Auburn football coaching staff

King-Williams previously spent two seasons working for Freeze at Liberty, where he was a defensive graduate assistant in 2020 and 2021 before taking an on-field position at EMU. It was King-Williams’ second stint at Eastern Michigan after spending two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant and recruiting assistant for the program in 2018 and 2019.

A graduate of UTSA, where he spent his final two seasons in 2015 and 2016 after starting off at Illinois and then going the junior college route, King-Williams got his coaching start as a defensive line intern at his alma mater in 2017.

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

If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.

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this video include some game footage of Brian.

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includes game footage.

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there will be a pop test on these articles later today. just a warning.................

[Quietmaninthecorner 2,032]

20 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

Freeze has utilized his quarterback's legs to not just produce yardage, but to actually get in the endzone.

His starting signal-callers have averaged 447.1 yards on the ground per season to go along with 7.5 rushing touchdowns.

What's interesting about Freeze's use of dual-threat quarterbacks is that the more he's used them in a given season, the better the team has done overall. Now, the utilization of a QBs legs may not directly correlate to wins, but it does indicate that the offense probably performs better and therefore the team as a whole is more competitive.

Four of Freeze's ten seasons have included his starting quarterback rushing for over 500 yards. Those teams went a combined 38-11 (0.78 win percentage) and produced all three of his ten-win seasons.

It does make one wonder what could be in store if Auburn were to ride with Robby Ashford and improve his passing game..

interesting info!

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A look at Auburn Football’s 2023 schedule

 

Taylor Jones

Thu, January 12, 2023 at 10:00 AM CST

 

 

Hugh Freeze has brought excitement to Auburn fans since being officially introduced as the Tigers’ next head coach on Nov. 28, 2022.

Freeze has put together a stellar coaching staff, and has brought Auburn back to relevancy in the recruiting world. His quick success has Auburn fans wanting to watch the offseason work come together on the football field.

The Tigers’ 2023 slate will feature seven home games, including dates with defending College Football Playoff national champion Georgia and archrival Alabama. Auburn will also visit conference foes LSU, Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. The highlight of the nonconference slate will be a road trip to the west coast to meet Cal in September. It will Auburn’s first trip to California since the BCS National Championship Game during the 2023 season.

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Begin planning your trips to the Plains and beyond. Here is a look at Auburn’s 2023 schedule.

Sept. 2 vs. UMass

Mitchell Leff/Getty Images

Sept. 9 at Cal

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 16 vs. Samford

The Montgomery Advertiser

Sept. 23 at Texas A&M

Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

Sept. 30 vs. Georgia

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Oct. 7 OPEN DATE

The Montgomery Advertiser

Oct. 14 at LSU

Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Oct. 21 vs. Ole Miss

Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Oct. 28 vs. Mississippi State

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 4 at Vanderbilt

The Tennessean

Nov. 11 at Arkansas

Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 18 vs. New Mexico State

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 25 vs. Alabama

Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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