2023 Fall Camp Thread

[Mikey 16,781]

I expected Geriner to be the QB until Throne was signed late. I'm still rooting for Geriner but of course, we'll want to play the guy who gives us the best chance to win.

[W.E.D 11,071]

9 hours ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Mike G has it Holden, Robbie, peyton 

I like Mike G and the War Rapport guys.  Only pod cast I watch.  But he's got a massive blind spot for Robbie.

That was Thorne's first scrimmage.  He's barely been on campus and only has, what 6-8 practices in?  He was already running the 1s and apparently had multiple catches just miss or barely out of bounds.  We'll see what happens in #2, but that's timing/familiarity/etc.

Edited August 13, 2023 by W.E.D

[DAG 35,089]

1 minute ago, W.E.D said:

I like Mike G and the War Rapport guys.  Only pod cast I watch.  But he's got a massive blind spot for Robbie

Right? I can see Holden being first but with Robby inconsistency throwing , there is no way he is over Thorne. 

[W.E.D 11,071]

Just now, DAG said:

Right? I can see Holden being first but with Robby inconsistency throwing , there is no way he is over Thorne. 

Right.  All the reports were essentially exactly what we've always heard about Robbie.  Made 1 elite throw, everything else was "inconsistency" which is a nice way of saying he was bad

[DAG 35,089]

14 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Right.  All the reports were essentially exactly what we've always heard about Robbie.  Made 1 elite throw, everything else was "inconsistency" which is a nice way of saying he was bad

I think they consider his athleticism as a major feature to compensate , but I just don’t feel that way. I think he is a good athlete but not an elite one to the point where we could overlook some of his passing inconsistencies 

[NWALA Tiger 3,709]

17 minutes ago, W.E.D said:

Right.  All the reports were essentially exactly what we've always heard about Robbie.  Made 1 elite throw, everything else was "inconsistency" which is a nice way of saying he was bad

But, what made Freeze rethink his decision?

[DAG 35,089]

1 minute ago, NWALA Tiger said:

But, what made Freeze rethink his decision?

Probably how good HG looked. It is between Thorn and him. Robby is too inconsistent to be a full time starter. 

[aubiefifty 18,354]

11 hours ago, W.E.D said:

Throne, HG. Ashford

Don't get tricked by what Hugh says to the media. It is all calculated. Its motivation for guys.

throne? is thorne in the potty or have you already crowned him king? grins

[weagl1 1,812]

Looks like Geriner made a case for himself yesterday.  Freeze was ready to go with the most experienced option but HG is making him rethink that.  I believe he is going to have packages for Robbie to make the defenses have to account for the QB running the ball with the other two alternating the first 3 games to determine the starter.  

[Mikey 16,781]

16 minutes ago, weagl1 said:

Looks like Geriner made a case for himself yesterday.  Freeze was ready to go with the most experienced option but HG is making him rethink that.  I believe he is going to have packages for Robbie to make the defenses have to account for the QB running the ball with the other two alternating the first 3 games to determine the starter.  

In recent years, "have a package for..." has meant the guy rode the bench and the package, whatever it may have been, was never used.. Maybe this will be different, but I believe the QB competition is between Geriner and Thorne. Ashford has had accuracy problems since high school. He's now entering his 4th year as a college QB. It seems to me that if the accuracy problem was fixable it would have been fixed before now.

[NWALA Tiger 3,709]

1 hour ago, DAG said:

Probably how good HG looked. It is between Thorn and him. Robby is too inconsistent to be a full time starter. 

Prob so. I'm not a fan of having a package for a qb. To me, it messes with the rhythm of the game. Get inside the red zone, switch QBs And end up kicking a bunch of FG. Gustav used to drive me crazy doing that mess

Edited August 13, 2023 by NWALA Tiger

[weagl1 1,812]

5 minutes ago, Mikey said:

In recent years, "have a package for..." has meant the guy rode the bench and the package, whatever it may have been, was never used.. Maybe this will be different, but I believe the QB competition is between Geriner and Thorne. Ashford has had accuracy problems since high school. He's now entering his 4th year as a college QB. It seems to me that if the accuracy problem was fixable it would have been fixed before now.

Normally I would agree with that but his coaching has admittedly been terrible with the possible exception being his time at Oregon.  Now that we have some real QB coaches they may be able to fix his issues if he stays around long enough.  Many times the accuracy problems come from not properly setting your feet.  The extremely athletic guys seem to have the most trouble with this because they know they can take off running at any point.  There are a few that can get away with throwing off the wrong foot or without having their feet set, Patrick Mahomes being the most extreme example.  But Robbie obviously ain’t no Mahomes.  I hope the current coaching staff can either fix his accuracy issues or find a role for him where they take advantage of his athleticism.  That may not be at QB.  

[DAG 35,089]

10 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Prob so. I'm not a fan of having a package for a qb. To me, it messes with the rhythm of the game. Get inside the red zone, switch QBs And end up kicking a bunch of FG. Gustav used to drive me crazy doing that mess

I’m okay with it to an extent but overall I agree with you . It pretty much alerts the defense. I just think it’s a red flag to have packages for someone who has been playing QB forever now. At this point you can either be adequate at the position or not. For whatever reason auburn fans love these types for packages. 

[GreenTiger 1,062]

Sounds like the RBs will be the strength of the offense. An improved O line and WR group coupled with a competent QB and we could actually put up some points this season. 

[W.E.D 11,071]

3 hours ago, NWALA Tiger said:

But, what made Freeze rethink his decision?

Nothing. He's using the media to speak to his players.

[Hank2020 3,387]

4 hours ago, weagl1 said:

Normally I would agree with that but his coaching has admittedly been terrible with the possible exception being his time at Oregon.  Now that we have some real QB coaches they may be able to fix his issues if he stays around long enough.  Many times the accuracy problems come from not properly setting your feet.  The extremely athletic guys seem to have the most trouble with this because they know they can take off running at any point.  There are a few that can get away with throwing off the wrong foot or without having their feet set, Patrick Mahomes being the most extreme example.  But Robbie obviously ain’t no Mahomes.  I hope the current coaching staff can either fix his accuracy issues or find a role for him where they take advantage of his athleticism.  That may not be at QB.  

Bo Nix has built consistency, so can Robbie. Possible and probable are not the same.

[WFE12 9,351]

 

[aucanucktiger 1,896]

Still see Thorne starting game 1 and Geriner replacing him around game 7 or so. If Thorne looks dicey against Cal it could be sooner but I hope not - whoever's QB vs UGa will be in a fetal position after that one.

[Paladin 3,307]

Dillon Wade's improvement key for 'more confident' Auburn offensive line

The Tulsa transfer is one of several newcomers contributing to Auburn's offensive line this preseason

Nathan King

Dillon Wade is entering his fourth season of college football. But this year, he’s felt like a bright-eyed freshman at his new school.

One of Auburn’s most important transfer additions of the offseason has only tightened his grip on the starting left tackle job this preseason, after he was also present for spring practices. As the Tulsa transfer has grown more comfortable around his new teammates, he’s also starting to feel more at home on the Plains.

“The ‘War Eagle’ saying is my favorite, and I use it every day,” Wade said. “I love this facility. I love the coaches, of course. They’re building us not only as players, but as humans. I see myself developing as a man. I love my teammates, of course. I just met some of them but I feel like I’ve been knowing them since I’ve been born. We’ve all come together as one.”

As Auburn sorts through a couple competitions along the offensive line this preseason — namely at both guard spots — the consistency of Wade and starting right tackle Gunner Britton have simplified some things for first-year position coach Jake Thornton.

The immediate impact from Wade isn’t a surprise, considering he was ranked as the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 247Sports transfer rankings this cycle. Despite starting just one season on the Group of Five level, he displayed significant growth in each of his two college seasons in which he saw the field — first in a few appearances at right tackle in 2021, then a starting role at left tackle last season — and his film was highly respected once he hit the transfer portal. Wade garnered offers from Auburn, USC, Ohio State, Oklahoma, TCU, Ole Miss and Colorado, among others.

But the 6-foot-3, 307-pound Wade realized he needed to make some tweaks to his game once he arrived on Auburn’s campus in January. At Tulsa, he admitted he often tried to overpower defensive linemen and win with his natural athleticism. Thornton and Auburn’s coaches have helped him focus on the technicalities of being an SEC-caliber left tackle.

“The summer, I was a little raw,” Wade said. “I tried to play with athleticism. Now, in fall camp, we’re focusing more on technique. My technique has definitely improved. Learning how to stay lateral and square. Coach Thornton is doing a good job teaching us all to stay square and not give up our edge. And just play football.”

While names like Jaden Muskrat and Dylan Senda — the former of whom played under Auburn offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery when he was the head coach at Tulsa — are new to the team since the spring, most of Auburn’s two-deep along the offensive line has been together for the entirety of the calendar year. That includes the transfer trio of Wade, Britton and center Avery Jones, who almost immediately grabbed starting jobs in the spring and have continued to improve since.

“I'd say we're pretty ingrained,” Britton said this preseason. “Obviously everything's open for competition, but it's a lot easier when you're doing installs and you've already kind of seen it once before. It makes it a lot easier. We’ve got Avery and Dillon Wade. Dillon Wade's been in this offense for a couple of years. So has Jaden Muskrat; he's played in this offense a couple years. Some of the terminology might be a little different, but for those guys, it's kind of like going back to it.”

Wade concurred: “Spring, it was a little rough. Fall camp? We’ve come together quite lovely, I’ll say that. We’re almost there. Like a little bit more. A little bit more communication, a little bit more technique and we’re almost there.”

For an Auburn offensive line that has struggled to find consistency for the better part of the past five seasons, developing chemistry as a unit has been almost as important this preseason as the results on the practice field.

And Auburn’s third-year starting defensive tackle has noticed improvement in that department from across the line of scrimmage — even just from the spring to now.

“Those guys just buying in together and getting closer during the offseason has been nothing but amazing — because I see the jumps they made from the spring to the first day of fall camp,” Marcus Harris said. “And those guys are just so much more confident, and they communicate loud. That’s a big difference.”

As excited as Auburn’s staff has been about its offensive line upgrades — which returns only one player (right guard Kameron Stutts) with significant starting experience — it is, at the end of the day, a new-look group that needs to gel properly in order to succeed in 2023. A starting five of Wade, Tate Johnson, Jones, Stutts and Britton would only have 15 combined SEC starts.

In reality, though, there aren’t many areas Auburn could get much worse at on the offensive line from last season. And newcomers like Wade hope the competition they face on a daily basis in practice is adequate preparation for the SEC.

“I feel like football is football no matter how you put it in the trenches,” Wade said. “SEC football is going to have different athletes from different places, but at the end of the day, it’s just football.”

[WFE12 9,351]

 

[JuscAUse! 1,699]

23 hours ago, DAG said:

I’m okay with it to an extent but overall I agree with you . It pretty much alerts the defense. I just think it’s a red flag to have packages for someone who has been playing QB forever now. At this point you can either be adequate at the position or not. For whatever reason auburn fans love these types for packages. 

The only time I would trot Robbie out , assuming he hasn't improved in his accuracy , is when we have an obvious advantage in the trenches and need to run clock. IF he has improved his passing enough to gain the coaches confidence, it could be a game changer inside the RedZone. For a game or two anyway. Let the D stack the line and toss it to that huge TE or one of the 6'3" receivers. 

[W.E.D 11,071]

"Packages" for QBs rarely ever works.  It almost always results inside the offense getting out of sync.

The only time I feel like they are successful is inside the 5 or 10yd line.  Redzone read options.

[woodford 3,752]

On 8/13/2023 at 9:37 AM, Mikey said:

In recent years, "have a package for..." has meant the guy rode the bench and the package, whatever it may have been, was never used.. Maybe this will be different, but I believe the QB competition is between Geriner and Thorne. Ashford has had accuracy problems since high school. He's now entering his 4th year as a college QB. It seems to me that if the accuracy problem was fixable it would have been fixed before now.

If I were RA, the day Payton Thorne arrived at Auburn, I would've gone to CHF and said "I want to learn how to run routes and catch passes, I'm the fastest person on the team and you need me on the field for every play." 

 

He's not a passer but he's just too good to sit on the bench.

[AUINSY 2,285]

44 minutes ago, woodford said:

If I were RA, the day Payton Thorne arrived at Auburn, I would've gone to CHF and said "I want to learn how to run routes and catch passes, I'm the fastest person on the team and you need me on the field for every play." 

 

He's not a passer but he's just too good to sit on the bench.

this x 1000. I've always thought RA could be a great Auburn version of Kedarius Toney / Percy Harvin-type player. In my opinion, that's the only way he's going to make it to the NFL, that or convert into a defensive back or safety or something 

[toddc 13,197]

Jason Caldwell's Monday morning quarterback column

Thoughts on Auburn football and Auburn baseball in this week's MMQB.

Jason Caldwell5 hrs

Improvement at offensive tackle

There was never a question about what was needed on the offensive line when Hugh Freeze and this staff came onboard in December. It was going to take almost an entire rebuild of the offensive line for the Tigers to be successful this season and in the future. So far the work they’ve done looks like it was the right move with the 10 newcomers providing not only starting options but players that could be quality reserves for the Tigers right away.

Brought in to compete at left tackle for the spring, Tulsa transfer Dillon Wade showed in the spring that he was going to have a chance to be a good player for Auburn this fall. He’s done nothing to change that opinion so far during preseason practices after having another strong showing during Saturday’s scrimmage. A player that the coaches felt like was a future NFL guy when they signed him, Wade has lived up to advance billing so far.

Maybe the most interesting offensive line news of the camp has been the continued development of junior college tackle Izavion Miller. A player that coach Jake Thornton had committed at Ole Miss before he made the move to Auburn to work with Freeze, Miller has completely changed his body since the spring and it has shown up in his play. Not only is Miller improving every day on the field, he’s making a legitimate push for the right tackle job with Western Kentucky transfer Gunner Britton because of the way he’s played over the last week. Throw in Tulsa transfer Jaden Muskrat and Northwestern transfer Dylan Senda and the position is light years ahead of where it was when the Tigers walked off the field in Tuscaloosa to end the 2022 season.

Future kicking game in good hands

With Oscar Chapman and Alex McPherson handling the punting and kicking duties heading into the 2023 season, Auburn’s kicking game should be one of the strongest in the Southeastern Conference. The future looks pretty good too with true freshman Gabe Russo from Montgomery Catholic having a strong start to his career this preseason. Already the backup punter behind Chapman, Russo is doing some kicking as well and has an extremely strong leg. It has been quite a few years since Auburn had someone that handled both duties, but Russo is a guy that could have that chance down the road in his career.