7.22.23 Football articles

[aubiefifty 18,259]

auburnwire.usatoday.com

Jalen McLeod brings 'freaky' skillset with him to the Plains

Taylor Jones

2–3 minutes

Auburn needed a few players to build up its pass rush depth and found just that within the transfer portal and recruiting.

Vanderbilt transfer Elijah McAllister and true freshman Keldric Faulk will see action this fall at the JACK position, but there is one player that is not being talked about enough, Appalachian State transfer Jalen McLeod.

Buy Tigers Tickets

McLeod graded out at 86.6 last season according to Pro Football Focus, and had an incredible output of 90.7 in pass rushing. He created 37 total quarterback pressures last season at Appalachian State, which breaks down to six sacks, eight QB hits, and 23 hurries. Included in those sacks were two sacks of Texas A&M quarterback Haynes King in the Mountaineers’ 17-14 upset win over the Aggies.

McLeod is an incredible defensive player and plays the game in a humble way.

“He’s a humble guy; he doesn’t brag about it, but we see it on tape,” Elijah McAllister said Tuesday during SEC Media Days. “I’ve never seen that in my life. I’m like ‘dang, Jalen, you did that?’ What did it feel like? ‘I don’t know, I just blacked out, man.'”

Although McAllister, or the rest of his Auburn teammates, have yet to see McLeod on a full scale, he assures Auburn fans that McLeod will prove his worth this season on the field.

“J-Mac, man, that dude’s athletic, he’s freaky, he’s twitchy,” McLeod said. “I’m excited to share the field with him, I’m excited to continue to learn from him in terms of pass rush.”

McAllister also went on to say that he and McLeod will bring a lot to the table, and will provide a solid “1-2 punch” to the JACK linebacker spot.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

auburntigers.com

 

Meet the Coaches: Auburn offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery

Auburn University Athletics

6–7 minutes

---

AUBURN, Ala. – Faith, family and football.

For Philip Montgomery, that’s what matters. That’s what is important to him. As an offensive coordinator in the SEC, he spends a lot of his time in the office or on the football field or out on the road recruiting. But when he does get away, it’s all about family.

“I wish I had more hobbies,” Montgomery said. “My wife tells me I need more hobbies. But honestly, when we get time away from here, I want to go spend it with my wife and my kids. Whether that’s going to the lake, watching a movie together, playing cards together, going out on the grill – it’s just spending quality time with my family.”

Montgomery, who accepted the Auburn offensive coordinator job in December, comes to The Plains from Tulsa where he was the head coach for the last eight seasons.

His time at Tulsa might not have ended the way he had hoped, but Montgomery is proud of the work they did there. In eight seasons, he led the Golden Hurricane to four bowl games, including a 10-3 record in 2016 and back-to-back bowl appearances in 2020 and 2021. During his tenure, he coached 44 all-conference performers and three All-Americans.

More importantly, Montgomery got to do it with his family by his side … literally.

“We look back at our time there as a really positive thing,” he said. “We he some great years there, got to experience some things that not everybody would get to. My son played for me. My daughter was a college cheerleader and a flyer. That experience, to have all my kids on the field at the same time with me at a Division I level – that probably never happens.

“We had some really special times and special moments there. I think that has prepared us for this next chapter in our life, and we’re excited about that one.”

The next chapter for Montgomery is at Auburn, and his family is coming with him. His son, Cannon, is a graduate assistant coach on the football team.

The biggest adjustment for Montgomery will be transitioning back into the role of offensive coordinator after serving as a head coach since 2015. It’s an adjustment he’s looking forward to. Prior to becoming a head coach, he was one of the top offensive coordinators in college football. In 2013, while at Baylor, he was named a finalist for the Broyles Award.  

“I think the biggest draw for me was as the offensive coordinator, I get to really focus on ball and I get to focus on the offense,” Montgomery said. “As the head coach, you get pulled in a lot of different directions. As the offensive coordinator, you really put all your focus and your attention on that side of it, continuing to build our offense and build our players within that.

“And then for me, it allows me to go back to my roots and really focus on the part of the game that I love doing, which is just trying to be creative and play that chess match game as you get into it and give our guys an opportunity to go be successful. That’s always fun.”

First-year head coach Hugh Freeze has already announced that Montgomery will call the plays for Auburn’s offensive this coming season, which will be nothing new for the veteran coach. He’s always called plays, even as the head coach at Tulsa. It will be an adjustment for Freeze who, like Montgomery, has always called plays. But the two share similar philosophies on offense and have worked well together throughout the offseason. 

Ultimately, it was Freeze who convinced Montgomery to jump back into coaching after being let go at Tulsa. He could have taken a year off. He could have waited for another head coaching job to come open. But he chose to come to Auburn.

“It was a special opportunity,” Montgomery said. “After sitting down with Hugh and getting to visit with him and seeing his vision for this place, my wife and I felt like this was a great chance to get in on an opportunity to build a program back to where it’s traditionally been. That was exciting to us.”

Auburn wasn’t a hard sell either. For Montgomery, it’s a place that shares his same core values – faith, family and football.

Since he’s been here, Montgomery has experienced the Auburn Family firsthand. He’s seen the passion at basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and softball – everything was full. He’s had people in the community go out of their way to welcome him and his family.

“The people here at the university and in the community and all the alumni out there, there’s just a different feel and atmosphere to it all,” he said. “That family and that connection that happens here, we’ve already felt it. It is different. Until you get in the middle of it, you don’t really understand it. They’re passionate about their university. They’re passionate about all the things that encompass that.

“This is a place that they’re going to provide you the things you need to be successful. Now you’ve just got to go to work and make those things happen.”

[aubiefifty 18,259]

247sports.com

Transfer Rivaldo Fairweather 'fit right in' with veteran Auburn tight ends

Nathan King

4–5 minutes

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Hugh Freeze’s first-year staff spent the better part of its first two couple months at Auburn tirelessly evaluating and scouting prospective transfers to help replenish and rework multiple positions of need on the roster.

In the case of Rivaldo Fairweather, Freeze had some previous impressions to work with.

In his freshman season at FIU, Fairweather’s team opened the year against Freeze and Liberty. Fairweather only had one reception in the game, but Freeze recalls his defensive staff highlighting the 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end as a player they needed to keep in check.

“I do remember game-planning and then watching them and thinking, ‘Dang, that dude’s good,’” Freeze said Tuesday morning in a chat with local Auburn reporters, before his time on the stage on SEC Media Days. “So when he did go in the portal and we came here, we were on it in a hurry, because I think he’s a really talented kid.”

Cut to just over two years later, and Fairweather was Auburn’s first transfer pickup of the Freeze era, committing in December and reporting to campus for winter workouts and spring practices.

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. In three years at FIU, Fairweather caught 54 passes for 838 yards and five touchdowns. He’s coming off his best season in which he racked up 426 yards and three touchdowns, en route to All-Conference USA honors.

Rated as the No. 8 transfer tight end by 247Sports, Fairweather joins a position room at Auburn that’s arguably the most experienced group on the entire roster. Luke Deal and Tyler Fromm are both fifth-year seniors, while Brandon Frazier is entering his fourth year with the program.

“We have a really tight room, a really close room, a really mature room outside of football,” Deal said at SEC Media Days. “And he’s fit in right there with that. … When you’re joining a group that’s so close, you cannot be on the outside and just do your own thing. He’s working hard, and he’s fit right in with our group.”

Fairweather impressed in spring ball for the Tigers a few months back, with Freeze calling him the most consistent member of the passing game, regardless of position. It only took a few practices for him to become a fixture in the first-team offense.

“It's not even about my performance — it's about the team performance,” Fairweather said in the spring. “It's just our playbook, our offensive scheme and stuff, I really like it. I feel like there's a lot of ways the whole team can get involved. And I feel like this coaching staff puts us in positions to make plays for the team.”

Deal said Fairweather has the skill set to split out as a big slot receiver, similar to what Auburn deployed in small sample sizes from the now-departed Landen King over the past couple seasons.

“He’s explosive, and he’s got really good hands,” Deal said.

Freeze has a history of utilizing hybrid, big-bodied targets in the passing game, which Fairweather seems to fit the mold of. Most recently at Liberty, Johnny Huntley, who began his career as a wide receiver at Colorado, caught seven touchdowns across three seasons. Then there’s the prime example of a player like Evan Engram, a first-round draft pick, under Freeze at Ole Miss.

Between Fairweather, the 6-foot-6 Nick Mardner, 6-foot-4 Shane Hooks and 6-foot-3 Camden Brown, the Tigers hope their added size and athleticism — both in red-zone settings and down the field — will pay off in 2023.

“Well, for our offense, it’s vital,” Freeze said of finding playmakers in the passing game. “It just — it doesn’t work. If we’re truly going to be what we’ve always done, you’ve got to have guys that can win in one-on-one situations. Do we have that right now? I’m not sure. We’re going to find out soon. But I love the way that they’ve been working.”

*** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more ***

*** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

yahoo.com

 

How close is Auburn to ‘closing the gap’ in the SEC?

Taylor Jones

~3 minutes

---

Hugh Freeze has worked hard to prove that he is moving Auburn in the right direction, but how close is he to putting the program back on the map?

Freeze has reeled in talented, useful additions from the transfer portal, and has gotten off to a great start in high school recruiting. In his short time at Auburn, does Freeze feel that his roster is comparable to the conference’s elite such as Alabama, Georgia, and LSU? He shared his thoughts earlier this week at SEC Media Days.

He says that time will tell if Auburn is there or not.

“Do I think we’ve improved Auburn with the additions that we’ve had since I’ve been there? Yes,” Freeze said Tuesday. “Does that mean we close the gap at all? I have no clue.”

While he is not ready to say if his team can truly compete for a College Football Playoff bid or even an SEC Championship, but he is willing to say that Auburn could surprise people in year one.

“I do know we improved Auburn, and I hope that means that we somehow close the gap enough to — if we have a good game plan, to be in some of those games in the fourth quarter and have maybe a shot to pull an upset,” Freeze said. “It’s too early for me to really say, but I do know we improved our roster. But at the same time, they’re constantly improving theirs it seems like.”

If the gap has not been closed yet, when can Auburn fans expect to see the Tigers knock on the door of an SEC West title? Freeze also shared a timeline.

“I do think that the ’24 and ’25 recruiting cycle will tell a large portion of my story there,” Freeze said. “I believe that. Maybe ’26. We might get three cycles, but we’ve got to start closing the gap on the elite program in the conference, and when you add Texas and Oklahoma, that only increases the competition also. But, there is a lot of good players. They all can’t go to the same school.”

At the time of this post, Auburn is currently No. 38 in 247Sports 2024 recruiting rankings. Early signing day is set for Wednesday, Dec. 20.

More Football!

Dan Mullen discusses Hugh Freeze's offensive success

Tennessee's punishment and the 2023 Pac-12 preview on the 'College 12-Pack'

Auburn target Jaylen Heyward decommits from Georgia

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire