4/15/23 Football articles

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

si.com

 

An updated look at Auburn's DE room after losing Jeffrey M'ba

Lance Dawe

2–3 minutes

---

Here's a look at Auburn's DE room after losing M'ba.

Auburn football doesn't have a ton of depth on the outside of their defensive line.

Their "Jack" position (formerly known as EDGE) is already thin with desperate need of help in the transfer portal.

With the loss of defensive end Jeffrey M'Ba to the portal, the Tigers are lacking for experienced options on the outside.

Here's a look at Auburn's DE room after losing M'Ba.

Mosiah Nasili-Kite

The former three-star prospect in the 2020 class recorded 26 tackles, 2.5 TFL and one sack this past season. It was a step down from his 37 tackle, 7 TFL and four sack campaign in 2021. He transferred in from Maryland earlier this offseason.

Zykevious Walker

Walker appeared in total 21 games over the last three seasons, recording 20 tackles, with 2.5 for a loss and one sack.

Marcus Harris

Over the course of 23 games in two seasons Harris has 58 tackles, 13 TFL, and 4.5 sacks. Harris won't typically line up at DE, but he could find his way into the rotation here.

Quientrail Jamison-Travis

The Iowa Western Community College product recorded 102 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries over the course of three seasons with the Reivers.

Garrison Walker

Walker has appeared in five games and has three total tackles and 0.5 TFL.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

si.com

 

Auburn Briefing: Jeffrey M'ba is the latest Tiger to enter the portal

Zac Blackerby

2–3 minutes

---

Auburn football's transfer portal action is about to heat up.

The Auburn Tigers are expected to have several names enter the portal over the coming weeks when the transfer portal window opens this Saturday. The Tigers saw some news come out Thursday afternoon that got the ball rolling.

Jeffrey M'ba will enter the portal

To the surprise of many Auburn fans, M'ba announced that he will be entering the transfer portal once it opens this weekend. Looking like he was the backup defensive end to Marcus Harris, he must not have been happy with what a potential rotation or depth chart may look like after spring practice concluded.

He is the third Auburn defender to announce that they intend to enter the portal. he joins linebackers Kameron Brown and Desmond Tisdol. 

Edouard Julien hits a home run in his first at-bat

The Twins love what they see in former Auburn standout Edouard Julien and at the first at-bat of his MLB career, he hits one long.

Per OptaStats, Julien is the fourth hitter since 1974 to collect his first career hit and first career home run in the same inning.

“You kind of have pressure to get the first one out of the way,” Julien said. “And then right after, just to get a homer, I couldn’t write a better script. It was an unforgettable moment.”

The Twins beat the Yankees 11-2.

We wrote it

Auburn Daily's Andrew Stefaniak wrote about Auburn basketball reaching out to FSU's Matthew Cleveland yesterday. 

Auburn has reached out to former Florida State Seminole guard Matthew Cleveland after he decided to enter the transfer portal.
Cleveland was the Seminoles' leading scorer last season, averaging 13.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game.
The six-foot-seven 200-pound guard from Atlanta shot 35% from three a season ago. 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

al.com

 

Auburn QB Holden Geriner in 'much better place,’ more confident than last year

Published: Apr. 14, 2023, 11:13 a.m.

6–7 minutes

---

No one would have blamed Holden Geriner for being down on himself after his first college season.

The former four-star recruit played only a handful of snaps as a true freshman last season and redshirted while working behind a pair of former transfers in Robby Ashford and T.J. Finley. Then at the end of October, the coach who recruited him to Auburn and who was exceedingly high on his arm talent and future potential, was fired. A new staff entered the fold, and with that came a new offensive system — a switch from a more pro-style scheme that seemed to fit Geriner’s skillset to an RPO-based spread attack.

Read more Auburn football: Auburn defensive end Jeffrey M’ba plans to enter transfer portal

What we learned about each position on Auburn’s offense this spring

Projecting Auburn’s post-spring 2023 depth chart

Yet when Auburn wrapped up its first spring under Hugh Freeze with last weekend’s A-Day game, Geriner couldn’t wipe the subtle smile from his face.

“I feel like I’ve grown tremendously from a physical aspect, as well as mental,” Geriner said. “I feel like I’m in a much better place mentally and just confidence-wise.”

After six weeks of spring practices, it’s easy to see why Geriner has a renewed sense of confidence, even after all the change around him the last five-plus months. The redshirt freshman was right in the thick of a wide-open quarterback competition that will continue through the offseason and into fall camp, and there was a stretch in the middle of spring when he turned a corner with his development and was seen taking first-team reps in practice (albeit while Ashford was limited due to shoulder soreness).

Geriner didn’t take any of it for granted, even if he was the third quarterback in the rotation come A-Day, when he completed 3-of-5 passes for 17 yards and ran in a 2-point conversion during the rain-soaked and weather-shortened scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“I definitely think I’ve gotten a lot better this spring with Coach Freeze and coach (Philip) Montgomery and coach (Kent) Austin, all their mentorship and help,” Geriner said. “I think it’s gone really well. It’s been super fun just being out there, just competing every day. I think I’ve definitely improved myself along with all these other quarterbacks and players.”

Things started to click for Geriner during the third week of practice, after Freeze provided a blunt assessment of Auburn’s quarterback room, saying the Tigers’ trio of returning scholarship quarterbacks weren’t as far along, or as consistent, as they needed to be. Following those remarks, Geriner put together his best week of practice — which also happened to include an off-day opportunity to throw alongside program legend Cam Newton, the former Heisman winner and national champion who threw at Auburn’s pro day last month.

“That was an unbelievable experience to be out there with Cam and just throw it around with him, but it was definitely something that I didn’t take lightly,” Geriner said. “I just went out there and just had fun and threw it around a little bit. It was awesome.”

That was the same week that Geriner received more first- and second-team reps while Ashford nursed his sore shoulder. The following Monday, Geriner was the first quarterback in the rotation during the window of practice that was open to media, which drew some added attention to the 6-foot-3, 212-pounder.

Geriner continued his progress through the final weeks of spring practices, with Freeze crediting his improved accuracy on downfield passes but still making note of areas that need to be improved overall, including his steadiness in the pocket, day-to-day consistency and understanding of the RPO aspect of Auburn’s offense. Like each of Auburn’s three quarterbacks this spring, though, there was good and bad in Geriner’s performances over the course of six weeks.

Geriner, for his part, has appreciated Freeze’s honest approach to evaluating the quarterbacks. He’d rather a coach be straightforward in his critiquing than to have to guess what he’s doing wrong or needs to work on. For Geriner, that work is still in progress, but he believes he has made some notable strides in a couple key areas when it comes to the playing quarterback.

“I would say just confidence and just staying calm,” Geriner said. “I think that’s something that (Freeze) looks at in a quarterback, just being calm and confident. So, that’s something that I really took to heart and just tried to improve on. And also being able to run. I know I can make all the throws, so just being able to improve my legs is something I’ve worked on a lot.”

That growth and confidence was on display throughout the spring, culminating with A-Day. Geriner may have been the third quarterback in the rotation during the spring game, but he also guided a possession with the first-team offense on the final day of spring.

The redshirt freshman has gone from the perceived third quarterback in the Tigers’ ongoing race to someone who has more of a realistic opportunity to compete for the job this offseason.

“I think he has a real chance to be a solid quarterback,” Freeze said ahead of A-Day. “But I think the other two, again, had good days also. Better days. So, the interesting thing will be their response to the competition that’s created and that has been created, that will continue to go on. Being the quarterback, to me, at an SEC school, at a place like Auburn, carries a lot of weight with it. That weight doesn’t end when spring practice 15 is over.

“How does that go through summer? What does that look like in the leadership of this team? That will all play into, ultimately, who gets that first nod. It’ll be interesting to see how they all respond to that.”

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

[aubiefifty 18,259]

saturdaydownsouth.com

 

Auburn analyst reportedly leaves for on-field role with MAC program

Keith Farner

2–3 minutes

---

Auburn analyst RJ Fleming is set to be hired as the new wide receivers coach at Toledo, Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports reported.

It’s been a busy spring for Fleming, who joined the Jackson State staff after the transition from Deion Sanders to T.C. Taylor as head coach, and then he left for Auburn in March.

Fleming worked at Liberty as an offensive quality control and wide receivers coach for coach Hugh Freeze from 2019-20. He helped guide the Flames to their best season in school history finishing with a 10-1 record in 2020. The offense finished ranked 15th in FBS in total offense with 482.7 yards per game.

Earlier in his career, Fleming was the running backs coach for Texas State in 2022, and previously a wide receiver and offensive analyst coach for Eastern Michigan in 2021.

TRENDING

58,148 READS

51,772 READS

23,016 READS

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South. Follow on Twitter.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

247sports.com

 

Auburn WR Tar'Varish Dawson enters transfer portal

Christian Clemente

2–3 minutes

---

 

Auburn has its second departure to the transfer portal this week, with former 4-star athlete Tar'Varish Dawson re-entering the transfer portal. Dawson originally entered the portal during the 2022 season, but ended up re-joining the team after Bryan Harsin was fired and taking his name out of the transfer portal.

During Dawson's freshman season he redshirted, eventually playing at the end of the season and taking his first snaps in the Birmingham Bowl. In 2022, he caught two passes for 30 yards early in the year. Dawson began the season as Auburn's starting slot receiver, though that only lasted for a week before he was supplanted by redshirt junior Ja'Varrius Johnson. After Dawson did not appear in Auburn's Week 4 win over Missouri, he was removed from the depth chart altogether before returning as the co-backup at slot receiver with true freshman Jay Fair.

In spring practice, Dawson was getting reps behind both Johnson and Fair again.

Dawson was the sixth-highest rated recruit in Auburn's transition class from Gus Malzahn to Harsin, ranked by the industry-generated 247Sports Composite as the No. 351 overall player and No. 22 athlete, projecting as either a defensive back or receiver.

10COMMENTS

Defensive lineman Jeffrey M'ba announced his intention to enter the transfer portal earlier this week, along with linebackers Desmond Tisdol and Kameron Brown, who entered the portal earlier in March.

The post-spring transfer portal window is open from April 15-30. That's just when undergraduates are required to enter the portal, they are not required to make a commitment and sign with a program then.

">247Sports

[aubiefifty 18,259]

1. Recruiting

NCAA approves major change to football recruiting official visits

• Published: Apr. 14, 2023, 9:45 a.m.

The NCAA Division I Council this week adopted a major change to football recruiting. NCAA Photos via Getty Images

NEW!

 

By

• Creg Stephenson | cstephenson@al.com

The NCAA Division I Council this week adopted a major change to football recruiting, namely the number of schools a student-athlete may visit during the process.

In the past, recruits were allowed to take official visits to five schools beginning April 1 of their junior year. Now, recruits can make official visits to an unlimited number of schools during that period.

Athletes can officially visit each school only once, with the exception of schools that have undergone a head-coaching change since the first visit (in which case a second visit would be allowed). Visits may last no longer than two nights, and schools can continue to cover travel costs, transportation meals and “reasonable” entertainment for prospects and up to two family members.

“For young people considering where to go to college, visits to campus — both official and unofficial — are an integral part of the decision-making process,” said Lynda Tealer, executive associate athletics director at Florida and chair of the Division I Council. “This was an opportunity to modernize NCAA rules in a way that provides greater and more meaningful opportunities for prospects going through the recruitment process.”

The new rules take effect July 1, so they will be in place for the 2023-24 signing class.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

here is what harsin has been up too.................cuss if ya feel like it. i cannot stand the man.