6.17.23 Football Articles

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Recruiting Roundup: Huge week for Auburn football

Updated: Jun. 16, 2023, 1:09 p.m.|Published: Jun. 16, 2023, 12:59 p.m.

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It’s been a big week for coach Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers.

Not only did Auburn add three new commitments for the Class of 2024, but two previous commitments announced they were shutting down their recruitment.

Moody defensive back A’Mon Lane and Andalusia running back J’Marion Burnette announced on social media that they were closing the recruiting process.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound Lane committed to Auburn last June, the first commitment in the Class of 2024.

“I want to thank all the coaches who have poured time into me and my family,” he said on Twitter this week. “I am beyond grateful and blessed for all the opportunities that God has given me. I’m officially shutting down my recruitment, and I will be taking one official visit to Auburn in December. War Eagle.”

Burnette, who committed to Auburn earlier this spring, followed the same path as Lane later in the week.

“First off, I would like to thank God for giving me the ability to play the game I love at the next level. Nothing is impossible with Him,” he wrote. “I would like to give a huge shoutout to my mother for keeping me strong and fighting with me through everything. I love you.

“To the rest of my family, my coaches throughout my career and all my close friends, thank you all. I couldn’t do it without ya’ll. Thank you to every single coach that has given me the opportunity to play football at the next level. Special thanks to coach Cadillac (Carnell Williams), coach Freeze and the rest of the amazing staff at Auburn University for believing in me. With that being said, I will be shutting down my recruitment. Thank you all. God Bless. War Eagle.”

Burnette, who helped Andalusia to the Class 4A state title last fall, is ranked No. 14 among senior recruits in the state, according to the 247 composite rankings. Lane is No. 16.

The Tigers’ highest-rated in-state recruit in this class right now is Booker T. Washington linebacker Joseph Phillips, who committed to Auburn over rival Georgia on Thursday. Phillips, a 4-star, is No. 8.

Auburn also received commitments this week from Baker wide receiver Bryce Cain and Naples, Fla., defensive back Kensley Faustin. The Tigers now have eight commitments in the Class of 2024.

Other recruiting notes:

Brookwood OL Will Sanders announced his top 3 of Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State. The 6-4, 295-pound 3-star senior has more than 20 offers.

Junior defensive lineman CJ Mayo of Highland Home added to his impressive list with a Louisville offer. The 6-4, 225-pound 4-star Mayo also has offers from Auburn, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Clemson, Notre Dame, Penn State, Miami and more.

Cole Gamble of Mountain Brook recently picked up offers from UAB and Samford to go along with Navy, North Alabama and more offers. The 6-1, 195-pound running back helped the Spartans to last year’s Class 6A championship before falling to Saraland.

Charles Henderson 3-star receiver Jywon Boyd announced his top 5 and will commit on June 30. UAB, Troy, Memphis, Tulane and Louisiana-Monroe are the contenders for the 5-11, 189-pound Boyd.

Although Patrician Academy’s Jay Lindsey committed to Mississippi State in April, he recently announced an offer from Alabama. The 6-5, 235-pound senior 3-star tight end also has offers from Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, UAB and more.

Class of 2027 Central-Phenix City quarterback Bobby Coleman Jr. has had an impressive start to recruiting. The 5-11, 158-pound Coleman recently earned an offer from Auburn after Texas A&M was the first to offer.

James Clemens defensive end Jaylen Brown picked up an offer from Maryland. The 6-4, 230-pound senior also has offers from Jacksonville State, Arkansas State, Tennessee-Martin, Austin Peay and more.

Sophomore 6-2, 180-pound receiver Dylan Cope of Hewitt-Trussville announced his first offer from Memphis.

Enterprise 4-star recruit Eric Winters added a Georgia offer to a list that includes Auburn, Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, Clemson, Penn State, Oklahoma, USC, Georgia Tech, UAB, Central Florida and Troy. The 6-2, 200-pound Winters is a senior.

UMS-Wright athlete Joe Lott received an offer from Southern Illinois.

Former Auburn basketball commit and reigning Mr. Basketball in the state of Alabama Labaron Philon received an offer from Penn State.

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3 questions Auburn football will have to answer next season. Will new-look O-line work?

Richard Silva

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AUBURN — We're under 80 days away from Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze debuting on the Plains, and while the roster needed an overhaul — over 40 new players have been added — plenty of questions have presented themselves revolving around the newcomers.

And it's not just the player personnel that's different. Freeze retained only two on-field coaches — running backs coach Cadillac Williams and safeties coach Zac Etheridge — from the previous staff. Every other position coach, plus offensive and defensive coordinators Philip Montgomery and Ron Roberts, are new.

Freeze's team will begin answering these questions when it takes on UMass on Sept. 2 (2:30 p.m. CT, ESPN). Here are a few of the biggest questions the Tigers will have to answer.

IN TWO SEASONS:Breaking down Auburn football's 2024 SEC schedule, most intriguing games

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION:Ranking the QBs on Auburn football's 2023 schedule. Jayden Daniels or KJ Jefferson at No. 1?

POTENTIAL CONSIDERATION:Which Auburn football players should be on next year's College Football Hall of Fame ballot?

How will the new-look offensive line perform?

Auburn fans have seen some poor O-line play over the years, but last season had some particular issues. Per Football Outsiders, the Tigers had a stuff rate of 20.4% in 2022, which was third-worst in the conference, better than Ole Miss (20.9%) and South Carolina (22.2%). Stuff rate is the percentage of offensive rushes by a running back that are stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Freeze obviously noticed this and addressed the issue, or at least tried to. Auburn added nine new offensive linemen this offseason, with three of those — transfers Gunner Britton (Western Kentucky), Avery Jones (East Carolina) and Dillon Wade (Tulsa) — all but locking up starting spots during spring practice at right tackle, center and left tackle, respectively.

The Tigers also went out and got Jaden Muskrat from the portal in May. There's potential for Auburn to return one starter from the o-line last season (Jeremiah Wright).

Can the pass rush work?

Similar to the offensive line, the coaching staff overhauled the pass-rush unit. The Tigers added transfers Elijah McAllister (Vanderbilt), Jalen McLeod (Appalachian State) and Stephen Sings V (Liberty) this offseason, and true freshman Keldric Faulk drew notable praise throughout spring practice as an early enrollee.

But are the new faces talented enough to make the jack position — what the new staff is calling pass rushers off the edge — work? Roberts said in March he wants his defense to create "havoc" on at least 20% of plays. That's not a word he used on a whim, but rather a stat he keeps. Whether it's a sack, an interception, a pass breakup or anything of that nature, it's recorded as havoc.

A successful pass rush will go a long way in getting Auburn to that 20% mark.

Is a heavy rotation at linebacker possible?

Opposing offenses ran 859 plays against Auburn's defense last season. Owen Pappoe, who was drafted in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft by the Arizona Cardinals in April, was on the field for 806 of them. Returning LBs Cam Riley (477) and Wesley Steiner (348) saw significantly less time, and no others players at the position were on the field for a notable amount of snaps.

That will likely change under new linebackers coach Josh Aldridge, who told reporters April 4 he wants a rotation of about five or six LBs. He estimated the top two would get about 45 snaps a game, the next duo getting 25-30 and one guy getting around 10-15.

If Aldridge stays true to that, 45 snaps per contest over a 12-game schedule would mean two players end the season with approximately 540 snaps at linebacker. A couple more would be at 330, and another would finish around 150. It's to be seen whether Auburn has the personnel to pull that off.

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.

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Auburn commit shuts down recruitment, reaffirms pledge to the program

Spenser Davis

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Auburn commit J’Marion Burnette isn’t going anywhere.

Burnette announced Thursday afternoon that he is shutting down his recruitment and will remain committed to the Tigers.

“Thank you to every single coach that’s given me the opportunity to play football at the next level,” Burnette wrote in-part. “Special thanks to coach Caddii, coach Freeze and the rest of the amazing staff at Auburn University for believing in me.

“With that being said, I will be shutting down my recruitment. Thank you all GOD BLESS!”

Here’s his full message:

Burnette is a 4-star prospect and one of the highest-rated players in Auburn’s 2024 recruiting class. He’s been committed to the Tigers since March of this year.

He’s the No. 217 overall player and the No. 16 running back in the country for, per 247Sports Composite rankings. Burnette is also the No. 14 player from the state of Alabama.

Burnette attends Andalusia High School in Andalusia, Alabama. He’s listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds.

Auburn is off to a solid start in this recruiting cycle. The Tigers have 8 commitments so far and own the nation’s No. 28 class, according to 247Sports Composite rankings.

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Cadillac Williams ranked one of the top-three running back coaches in college football

Lance Dawe

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Williams is the second-best running backs coach in college football according to Big Game Boomer.

The Tigers are known for producing great running backs - the most recent being Tank Bigsby, a third-round selection in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Seldom discussed are the coaches that make Auburn's star tailbacks shine. Recently, however, Auburn associate head coach and running backs coach Carnell "Cadillac" Williams was been named one of the best running backs coaches in the country.

Big Game Boomer, a college football social media influencer, constantly releases lists, rankings, and tier lists of players, teams, and fanbases. He recently posted a graphic of his top 50 RB coaches in college football. Cadillac Williams is listed at No. 2.

Mike Hart of Michigan is the only coach ahead of him.

Williams has spent the past three seasons at Auburn as running backs coach and was promoted to associate head coach following the hiring of head coach Hugh Freeze in November of 2022. Cadillac served as the Tigers' interim head coach for the final month of the 2022 season, posting a 2-2 record, 1-1 in SEC play.

Williams ranks second all-time in Auburn football history in career rushing yards and first in career rushing touchdowns. During his short time at Auburn he has seen the likes of Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter flourish. At just 41, Williams has plenty of football ahead of him - head coaching opportunities are certain to arise in the future.

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Twitter reacts to Auburn's 2024 SEC football schedule

JD McCarthy

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The start of a new era of SEC football is here as the conference announced the 2024 football schedule Wednesday night.

The 2024 season is the first that Oklahoma and Texas will compete in the SEC, as a welcome, every current member of the SEC will play one of the Sooners or the Longhorns in 2024. The SEC will also be removing divisions in the 2024 season as the conference expands to 16 seasons.

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With divisions a thing of the past, teams will be able to play every member of the conference consistently but the downside is that some rivalries will no longer be played every year.

One such rivalry is Auburn and LSU, which will not be played in 2024 for the first time since 1991. However, the Tigers will get to host Oklahoma for their signature home game of the season.

Auburn fans had plenty to say about the schedule, here are their top reactions.

Some thoughts on the 24 SEC schedule.

Auburn has a great chance to get back to 8-4, 9-3, or 10-2 Home: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, 4 auto noncon wins.

Away: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri

But also, Bama and Georgia on the road means getting to…

— Bud Elliott (@BudElliott3) June 14, 2023

2024 looks like nothing but dubs if you ask me

— Drunk Aubie (@DrunkAubie) June 14, 2023

update: 2024 will be the first year Auburn…

– hasn't played LSU since 1991
– hasn’t played Ole Miss since 1989
– hasn’t played Mississippi State since 1954
– hasn’t played any of them since 1933

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) June 14, 2023

Meh I was hoping we'd get Texas first

— gAUlf (@gAUlf_WDE) June 14, 2023

No LSU, Ole Miss or Mississipppi State on the 2024 Auburn schedule…

Man it's gonna take a minute to get used to this.

— Cole Cubelic (@colecubelic) June 14, 2023

OKLAHOMA AT AUBURN. 2024. BE THERE.

— Kyle (@AllAubarn) June 14, 2023

Love our 2024 schedule.

Will be wierd though not playing LSU or the Mississippi schools.

— TorresOnAuburn 🥶 (@TorresOnAuburn) June 14, 2023

Only one SEC team will have to go to both Athens and Tuscaloosa in 2024. Congratulations, Auburn.

— Kevin Scarbinsky (@KevinScarbinsky) June 14, 2023

No LSU is weird, but that’s the best schedule Auburn has had in like 20 years

— Jordan Powell (@Smuphy) June 14, 2023

Ready to flip that lil wagon over in 2024.

— The War Rapport (@thewarrapport) June 14, 2023

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once again i remain the hardest working fiddy on the site. i do it for the love of Auburn and you guys rock!

[Hank2020 3,358]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

once again i remain the hardest working fiddy on the site. i do it for the love of Auburn and you guys rock!

I thought you were the “only” fiddy. Glad you are on our side. Your efforts are greatly appreciated..

[aubiefifty 18,259]

1 hour ago, Hank2020 said:

I thought you were the “only” fiddy. Glad you are on our side. Your efforts are greatly appreciated..

well um yes..........good call. it just sounds catchier my way..........lol