3/15/23 Football Articles

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247sports.com

 

Auburn coach predicts Zac Etheridge will become 'household name'

Nathan King

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — Zac Etheridge became etched in Auburn lore when he overcame a frightening injury, then was a team captain on the 2010 BCS national title team. He’s adding to his legacy on the Plains as a coach, entering his third season as an assistant.

And Wesley McGriff believes Etheridge’s star is only beginning to shine.

He and Etheridge are tag-teaming Auburn’s secondary on Hugh Freeze’s inaugural staff, with Etheridge overseeing safeties and nickels, and McGriff — who’s back at Auburn for his third stint with the program and his third stint with Freeze — working with cornerbacks.

Before working together, McGriff knew of Etheridge’s recruiting prowess — he was ranked the No. 10 recruiter in the country last month by 247Sports — and knew of his name from working at Auburn previously.

But through four days of spring practice, McGriff has seen Etheridge’s abilities first hand — and he’s seen a dynamic coach who’s made a impact on his room.

“You refer to him as a young coach, but he's a guy who has a lot of knowledge and a lot of wisdom,” McGriff said during a chat with reporters Tuesday. “It's been fun to be around him, and just to be in the same room as him, watching tape and just knowing — we do a lot of things together. You'd be surprised if you were in a meeting with him, just his football IQ. People always refer him as a recruiter — and he does a great job recruiting — but that young man is also a great football coach.”

Etheridge's first assistant job came in 2018 at Louisiana, where he worked under Ron Roberts, now Auburn's new defensive coordinator. He coached the following two seasons at Houston before returning to his alma mater under Bryan Harsin in 2021.

He's coached two All-Americans — Marcus Jones at Houston and Roger McCreary at Auburn — and his defensive backs have been one of the better position units on the Tigers' roster the past two seasons. This past season, cornerbacks D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett both could have been NFL draft selections before opting to return to school. McGriff now inherits them as crucial pillars of his cornerbacks room.

“I'm closer to the end than I am the beginning, so I'm excited to go on this ride with him,” McGriff said. “But I'm also excited about watching his career down the road and watching where he's going to go. Keep an eye on him, now. He's going to be a rockstar; he's going to be a household name. One, he's smart, he's passionate, he cares about the players, he's good with people, he's very articulate. He's been blessed with a lot of qualities that are going to not only make him a good football coach but a great person.”

Etheridge has already seen multiple promotions at Auburn — being given control of the entire secondary last offseason, and earning the additional title of associate head coach ahead of the 2022 season, too — and McGriff sees his partner in the defensive backs room continuing to blossom into one of the more well-renowned coaches in not only the conference, but in the sport.

“I'm telling you, his career is definitely going to take off, and Auburn is blessed to have him in the building and I'm blessed to be around him,” McGriff said. “I've been doing this a long time, but when you have an opportunity to do it with a young man like that, chalk it up because it's fun.”

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247sports.com

 

Veteran DB coach sees his group coming together early in spring

Jason Caldwell

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—One of the biggest questions surrounding Auburn football and Auburn athletics in general the past few years has been wondering if everyone was pulling in the same direction? Someone who has been at Auburn two times before and has also coached at several other SEC schools and in the NFL, assistant Wesley McGriff knows what it looks like when everyone is on the same page. That’s what he sees inside the Auburn football program right now under the direction of Hugh Freeze.

That is something that has carried from the coaches to the players and it’s that bond that is continuing to be built with the Tigers going through their first spring together as a new team. McGriff said it hasn’t taken him long to see that culture of working together once he got his cornerbacks and nickel defensive backs together to start working on the spring.

“You move around a lot of different places, but when you come in those walls and you realize you have a lot of guys in the building who share the same background, share the same goals, the same seriousness about being better and being a champion, then that's an immediate bond,” he said. ““That's what you'd witness if you were a fly on the wall in our building, particularly during in our meeting sessions, particularly in our conversations, like now it's a handful of guys who came downstairs and want to watch the tape on their own. 

“They sense that, and when you sense that there's another man with the same vision -- the same taste and desire that you have -- that bond grows immediately. That's what you see behind those walls at Auburn right now is a bunch of guys with the same goals in mind, and those guys are really bonding.”

Back at Auburn and reuniting with Freeze, McGriff has one familiar face in his room with Nehemiah Pritchett still on the Plains. With plenty of new guys to learn while at the same time trying to get them up to speed on a new defensive system, he said these are the moments he loves as a coach.

“It has been absolutely fun,” he said. “It’s fun to be around the guys. They are doing a great job in the classroom, first of all, of communicating and being one. It’s carrying over to the field. You see a lot of communicating with them and you see a lot of bonding and a lot of coaching going on. It has been a lot of fun to be around the guys on the grass and share this thing with Zac (Etheridge) and us doing it together. I’m looking forward to the remainder of the spring and the season with the chemistry we have in that room.”

Chemistry is something that is talked about plenty when discussing the offensive line, but it’s equally as important when talking about the secondary. With the passing game a bigger part of offenses now than it has ever been, McGriff said it forces the secondary to make sure everyone is on the same page at all times.

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“ We defend the second most precious thing in the game,” McGriff said. “The o-line defends the quarterback and we have to defend the goal line. If anything gets behind us on the ground or in the air, that could be the game, the season, it could be somebody’s career. To have that bond and be on one page, it’s dynamic and very, very important. It’s one of the critical things of why we meet together a lot. 

“We have to be on the same page. The communication between the corner and the nickel has to start in the meeting room. It cannot be for the first time on the grass that they hear each other’s voice. That’s where the bonding starts. It’s really critical to the success of any team, particularly the defense.”

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si.com

 

Three-star TE Dillon Hipp praises Auburn coach Ben Aigamaua for genuine approach in recruiting

Lance Dawe

2–3 minutes

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The Tigers' coaching staff is putting in work on the recruiting trail - and recruits are seeing it.

Auburn football's new coaching staff has worked wonders on the recruiting trail in just a matter of months.

It's a stark contrast from what was happening just an offseason ago.

Dillon Hipp, a three-star tight end out of Scottsdale, Arizona, sat down with college football recruiting analyst John Garcia Jr. to discuss some of the schools he was in contact with recently.

When asked about Ole Miss and Auburn, Hipp said that the two campuses and overall vibe were close.

"They're actually very similar," Hipp said. "With the college town aspect. Everybody there was very kind in that type of way. They just had the same type of vibe."

Hipp noted that while he didn't get to meet Coach Hugh Freeze in his recent conversations with the Tigers, but he did get to spend some time with his main contact - new tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua.

According to Hipp, Aigamaua is unique in the fact that he doesn't want to try and pressure Hipp into committing to the Tigers.

"With Coach Ben, he really shows a lot of effort," Hipp said. "He wants to earn an official from me, he doesn't wanna pressure me like a lot of schools tries to do, which just shows the type of coach he is. The contact he's had with me - he's sent me long messages that are personal, and have meant a lot to me."

The 6-6, 230-pound tight end is the No. 28 overall tight end in the 2024 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

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247sports.com

 

Wesley McGriff on third Auburn coaching stint: 'I'm never leaving'

Nathan King

3–4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — Wesley McGriff had it easier than Auburn's other eight new assistant coaches.

Any coach will say one of the most difficult parts about changing jobs is making the transition into a new house, in a new place, especially when most coaching changes and hires occur during prime recruiting time after the season. But McGriff never sold his house in Auburn after his last stint on the Plains just a couple years ago.

"I walked right back into my home," McGriff said during a chat with local reporters Tuesday. "It's good to be back home. In this profession, you move a lot. But it's been one transition where I didn't have to make a lot of adjustments. You know where everything is when you walk back into your house, and it's a blessing."

Coach "Crime Dog" isn't an Auburn alum, nor did he cut his teeth with the Tigers as a young coach in the industry. But McGriff has more experience at Auburn than most of Hugh Freeze's inaugural staff, now back coaching with the program for the third time.

Former coordinator Kevin Steele hired McGriff to coach defense backs when Steele took over the Tigers' defense in 2016, then Steele and Gus Malzahn brought him back in 2019 after McGriff was let go as Ole Miss' defensive coordinator.

"Oh, I'm never leaving," McGriff said. "I mean, I just went to coach somewhere else, but I never left Auburn. We kept the house here, and this is home."

McGriff wasn't retained by Bryan Harsin in 2021, and spent the following two seasons at Florida and Louisville. And when Freeze landed the Auburn job, McGriff, who had been hired by Freeze twice previously at Ole Miss — as cornerbacks coach in 2012, and defensive coordinator in 2016 — got the call again.

"Did I ever think that I would come back here to coach?" McGriff said. "I was hopeful for that, but, man — when you have an opportunity to come to a place like Auburn, you get that phone call, it's a very short conversation."

In arguably the top unit on the roster, McGriff splits duties in the secondary with Zac Etheridge; McGriff coaches cornerbacks, while Etheridge is over nickels and safeties.

Now in his third decade as an assistant on the FBS level — plus a three-year pitstop in the NFL with the Saints — McGriff is plenty comfortable in the SEC. But something about Auburn is different to McGriff. "The town, the location, the league" are all what a coach looks for at any stop in his career — let alone three times. The only thing bad about Auburn, McGriff said? "Your weight just goes" because of all the good food in town. 

"It's one of those places that you dream of coaching," McGriff said. "To have the opportunity to do it three times — man, don't wake me up."

 

 

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[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

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si.com

 

Podcast: TJ Finley or Robby Ashford? Surprise offensive lineman emerges

Zac Blackerby

~2 minutes

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Who will win Auburn's quarterback battle?

Auburn football is expecting another quarterback to enter the battle with Robby Ashford and TJ Finley when we approach the May Transfer Portal Period. If Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers coaching staff can't add another arm, it's interesting to see what could happen to the offense.

A surprise offensive lineman has emerged in spring camp. Dillon Wade, Gunner Britton, and Avery Jones are all guys that we expected to see more of but Tate Johnson seems to be a player that Auburn wants to see more of moving forward.

DeMario Tolan continues his strong start to spring practice as he has emerged as the main fixture in the center of the defense so far behind a defensive line that is rounding into form.

On today's Locked On Auburn, Zac Blackerby is joined by Mike G of the War Rapport. the guys discuss the latest Auburn football news, rumors, and speculation.

You can watch the episode below on YouTube or listen to the audio version via Spotify.

Locked On Auburn is a daily podcast about Auburn athletics. It can be heard wherever you get your podcasts as well as seen every day on YouTube. It can also be seen and heard every day on Auburn Daily.

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montgomeryadvertiser.com

 

Why Hugh Freeze has been pleased with Auburn football's offensive line in spring practice

 

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN — Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze stopped short of saying interior offensive lineman Tate Johnson was standing out over his teammates, but he gave the junior some of the best praise he's handed out since joining the Tigers.

"There’s an expectation that we’re trying to set and he wants to drive the train for that expectation," Freeze said of Johnson on Monday. "It matters to him. Wearing Auburn on his chest means something. You can’t have enough of those guys.”

Johnson, who was the starting center for the Tigers in 2022 before an elbow injury against Missouri that required surgery, has been working along the interior of Auburn's offensive line so far in spring practices.

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"He’s got to know how to play all three of those middle spots," offensive line coach Jake Thornton said Feb. 28. "He’s intelligent. He’s tough. I believe he’s an Auburn man. He’s been through a lot of lows and a lot of highs here and come out on the other side. ... He’s a technician. He knows how to use his body. He’s not the biggest guy, but he uses his strengths and he capitalizes on what he’s good at."

Johnson is one piece of Auburn's revamped offensive line. Freeze was hired in November and Thornton came over from Ole Miss the following month. Since their arrivals, the Tigers have added eight new linemen: Four high school recruits, three from the transfer portal and one out of junior college.

Three of the four freshmen − Bradyn Joiner, Connor Lew and Clay Wedin − have enrolled early; Tyler Johnson out of Natchitoches Central High School in Louisiana will arrive in the summer.

But the most notable of the newcomers have been the transfers. All three − Gunner Britton (Western Kentucky), Avery Jones (East Carolina) and Dillon Wade (Tulsa) − consistently have been working with the first team. Britton and Wade are tackles. Jones is a center.

“I was really pleased with the O-line in the first few practices," Freeze said ahead of Monday's practice. "This’ll be the second one with pads on and the defense is starting to get more stuff in with more movements. That’s usually when you leave practice feeling awful because we haven’t practiced enough against these movements and it could make you look really bad."

The Tigers have 16 offensive linemen on campus this spring, including those seven newcomers. A new staff, coupled with the addition of so many incoming players, is bound to have growing pains, but Freeze said that's not something he sees as a "great challenge."

His reasoning behind that belief is that it happens every year. Freeze explained that you're always bringing in newcomers at every position, especially in the new age of college football with the transfer portal being so prominent.

"I think players by now, if they’re realistic, they understand at this level every year we’re trying to out-recruit you," Freeze said. "Not many coaches will say that, but that’s the truth. You’ve got to compete every year to earn your time, and we’re going to try again next year to go find another one that’s even better.

"But you still need all of them, and forming them together when they’re competing for playing time and also trying to form a great team, that’s probably somewhat of a challenge, for sure. But it’s something that we’re kind of used to.”

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.