9.19.23 Football Articles

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Auburn announces depth chart ahead of matchup with Texas A&M

JD McCarthy

Tue, September 19, 2023 at 9:00 AM CDT·3 min read

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For the second week in a row, Auburn has made some changes to its official depth chart. The Tigers unveiled their depth chart for their Week 4 showdown with Texas A&M on Monday and there is a change on offense and on special teams.

With primary punt returner Keionte Scott expected to miss “considerable time,” Jaylin Simpson has been named the new starter. Simpson has returned one punt in his time at Auburn, back in 2021 he had a return of -1 yards.

The other change to the depth chart was the addition of freshman running back Jeremiah Cobb. He has looked impressive in the first three weeks of the season and has earned more playing time in a crowded backfield.

Here is a look at the full depth chart ahead of their game against Texas A&M Saturday in College Station.

Quarterback

 

 

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Starter: Payton Thorne

 

Backups: Robby Ashford OR Holden Geriner

Running Back

 

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Starter: Jarquez Hunter

Backups: Damari Alston, Brian Battie, Jeremiah Cobb

Tight End

 

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Starter: Rivaldo Fairweather OR Luke Deal

Backups: Tyler Fromm OR Brandon Frazier, Micah Riley

Wide Receiver

 

Photo by Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Jyaire Shorter OR Omari Kelly

Backups: Koy Moore

Wide Receiver

 

(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Starter: Jay Fair OR Ja’Varrius Johnson

Backups: Caleb Burton III

Wide Receiver

 

 

(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Starter: Shane Hooks

Backups: Camden Brown OR Nick Mardner

Left Tackle

 

John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Dillon Wade

Backup: Jaden Muskrat

Left Guard

 

Photo By Austin Perryman

Starter: Jeremiah Wright

Backup: Tate Johnson

Center

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Avery Jones

Backup: Connor Lew

Right Guard

 

AU/Athletics

Starter: Kam Stutts

Backup: Jalil Irvin

Right Tackle

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Gunner Britton

Backup: Izavion Miller

Defensive End

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Mosiah Nasili-Kite

Backups: Keldric Faulk OR Zykevious Walker

Nose Tackle

 

Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Jayson Jones

Backup: Justin Rogers

Defensive Tackle

 

AU/Athletics

Starter: Marcus Harris

Backup: Lawrence Johnson

Jack

 

Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Jalen McLeod

Backups: Elijah McAllister, Stephen Sings V

Middle Linebacker

 

 

Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Larry Nixon III

Backup: Wesley Steiner

Weakside Linebacker

 

Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Eugene Asante

Backup: Cam Riley

Fieldside Cornerback

 

Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: D.J. James

Backups: Kayin Lee OR Colton Hood

Star

 

Austin Perryman/Auburn Athletics

Starter: Keionte Scott

Backup: Donovan Kaufman

Field Safety

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Jaylin Simpson

Backup: Griffin Speaks

Weak Safety

 

Zach Bland/AU Athletics

Starter: Zion Puckett

Backups: Marquise Gilbert, Terrance Love

Boundary Cornerback

 

 

Mickey Welsh / Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK

Starter: Nehemiah Pritchett

Backups: Champ Anthony OR J.D. Rhym

Punt Returner

 

Photo by Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Jaylin Simpson

Backups: Keionte Scott

Kick Returner

 

(AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Starters: Brian Battie, Jarquez Hunter

Special Teams

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Punter: Oscar Chapman

Place Kicker: Alex McPherson

Holder: Oscar Chapman

Long Snapper: Reed Hughes

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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247sports.com

 

Preview Texas AM passing game vs Auburn pass defense

Jeff Tarpley

24–30 minutes

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Everything Jimbo Fisher said about Conner Weigman, preparing for Auburn

Here is a look at everything Jimbo Fisher said about facing Auburn, his impressions recruiting Conner Weigman.

VIDEO: Decision date looming for 5-Star ATH Terry Bussey | College Football Recruiting Show

Texas A&M is getting set to open SEC play on Saturday against Auburn inside Kyle Field at 11 a.m CT.

The Aggies (2-1, 0-0 SEC) and Tigers (3-0, 0-0 SEC) are both coming off comfortable victories this past weekend over ULM and Sanford respectively. The stakes get a little higher this weekend as both look to get off to a good start in SEC play.

Head coach Jimbo Fisher met with the media to look ahead to the game as well as his past experience coaching against Hugh Freeze.  He also talked about some aspects of his own team including the play of sophomore quarterback Conner Weigman. Fisher shared what his early impressions were when he first started recruiting Weigman and how his baseball background has impacted the way he plays quarterback.

The former five-star has been very efficient through his first three games as the starter completing over 70 percent of his passes with eight touchdown passes and just two interceptions.

Here is a look at everything Fisher had to say about Weigman’s development and taking on Auburn.

 

Opening statement…

 

"Happy with the guys and performance on Saturday. Come out very focused, great intent. What I was happy about they executed throughout the ball game. Did not say once, played to a really good standard and played well, but then didn't let up. Stayed focused. And the guys that came in the game that came off the bench who don't get as many reps did the same thing. Was happy with their performance. Move the football on offense and made plays on defense. Special team guys did a really good job. As I said, I thought special teams wise, we kicked the ball very well in the game. Our field goals were very good. Our kickoffs were good, our coverages were good. The one punt we had did a great job. He stuck a wedge, I guess, right at the one and made that thing. If he could do that with the golf ball, he'd be in the wrong sport. I mean, he stuck that one. But we did a good job in that aspect. Defensively, I thought we played well, covered well, tackled well. They got a couple of plays early. They made plays and made good throws with nothing wrong with what we were doing.

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They're right there, but they responded back. I was very proud of Deuce Harmon. That's the first time he's played and the way he's been banged up. Been through a lot since he's been here with some surgeries. It was great to see him on the field, Deuce Harmon. Like I said, gave up, was in really good position on a play and turned around and made three great plays after that. Never let it affect him, which is important for guys that haven't played tons of football. If you give up a play, how you come back. Very proud of that. The way he did it. Up front did a good job of getting some pressure and their RPO, which is hard, you know you're playing run and transition but we got a couple sacks, got a couple holding calls out of that. Thought offensively, very efficient. I think Mark Nabou stepped in, did a great job at center. Like I said, he'd played the whole camp at center, most of it. Did a great job in there making calls and blocking and him and Kam stayed in there the whole time in at guard and played well. Trey [Zuhn] played well. Guys did a good job.

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I thought Conner utilized the people. I mean, got the ball to the tight end, got the ball to the backs got the ball to the receivers. When the shots were there down the field, he got them there. When he didn't, he dumped it off. I mean, a good distribution and we ran the ball well. We ran the ball very efficiently. All guys had eight or more carries but transitioned well and all caught balls. All caught balls out of the backfield. Blitzes picked up, got recognitions and played a very solid game. But the thing I was happy and like I said, they stayed that way all the way through the game, kept playing that way all the way through the game, kept a good standard, and we're going to have to this week. We're playing a very good Auburn team. Auburn's 3-0, very physical, as always. Auburn is always a physical football team. Defensively, up front inside. They're big, man, Jalil Irvin and them inside guys are physical, really strong big guys. Hard to move once you get their guys down inside. And like I said, Jayson Jones and Jalil Irvin are great big guys. Linebackers, Eugene Asante can run like heck.

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I know Austin Keys broke a thumb. I don't know if he'll be back or not, but he'll play. The transfer Larry Nixon does a great job. Secondary, D.J James, the corner, is a really good player. The nickel Keionte Scott, the nickel Donovan Kaufman, those guys stand out. Safeties, tackle well. Nehemiah Pritchett, he hasn't played all year, but the other corners, along with him, Lee and those guys man, they're all really good players, and he's played, and they get those guys back. So they'll be good in the secondary. Constant pressures, mixing coverages, different coverages in the secondary. On offense the quarterback Payton Thorne played a lot of football at Michigan State. Was a starter, two or three year starter, I believe. Had a great week last week. Rushed for, I think, 127 yards,threw for 260 or 270 or whatever it was. Can throw the football. Ashford behind him is athletic, big, strong. They use him in the red zone, tight zone when he runs the football and mixes things, different packages. But the quarterback is a really good player. Back, Jarquez Hunter is strong, other backs are fast, athletic. Like I say, Jay Fair, the receiver we knew, he's from Texas. We recruited him.

Slot does a great job for them. The big guy, Shane Hooks from Jackson State, very good player, tight end, athletic, Rivaldo Fairweather, can catch and run and vert. Tackles are big and physical. Punter, about a 42-43 yard average with a 4.2 hang, does a great job. Returners are good. The kickoff guy and their field goal guy, McPherson and his brother is the one in the NFL. We recruited this guy as a really good player. So, I mean, they're sound all the way across. Hugh Freeze is a great coach. Going to have to play well, play in the SEC, get the season started and play here and we need to play well. Got to play well in all facets and be physical in the game and compete in the game very well and it'll be a battle."

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On matchup problems Rivaldo Fairweather presents…

 

"Well, it just depends if you're zone or man or how you're playing and what your other schemes are, what you're trying to stop by them. He's long, he's athletic, he can get vertical. The verticality in tight ends is how I measure those guys. Those guys that can get vertical and catch the ball down the field, which he can, great ball skills, man. It becomes a hard matchup and they make you play the middle of the field. If you don't have to respect the middle of the field defensively, if you can be, I say, light there, you can double your guys outside and play. But when you can't do that and the things he brings in the middle of the field, it makes it very tough. Then the different schemes they use, they do a good job on offense, but he's a good player, man, athletic."

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On running back by committee approach, how carries are decided…

 

"No, you get series and how the play call goes. You're going to get the first two series and see how that goes. If you're hot, you go. If not, we're going to put you in the game. We keep rotation, keep guys going, and then you try to wear people down. You got to wear your defenses down. You got to remember, this is a long haul. You got 12 regular season games and the physicality of this league, the pounding. You look in the NFL, everybody's by committee, I mean, there's very few guys and very few teams, even the great players, have a guy that comes in and goes with them because that's a long season and the brutality and the physicality of a running back in this game, you see him run the ball when he gets hit. But how about when he's chipping a guy? How about when he's pass blocking a guy? How about when he's coming through on a fake and they're taking shots at him. Those guys, you got to have a great diversity of guys and we try to keep them by rotation in series, and then as games go, who's hot, who's whatever. Then also by play, I mean there may be certain things that one does stronger than the other, and you'll play them by play or by call."

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On play of linebackers so far…

 

(Photo: Matt Bush, USA TODAY Sports)

"I mean, a lot more consistent in fits. I think our eyes are better, we're fitting things, we're getting downhill better, in my opinion, and triggering on things. I think having a great front helps. I mean, you got those guys that can do it, but as a backer you still, no matter what, you got to trigger and get those double teams off of you when those things happen. I think their maturity and I think like I say it's the old, be quick, but don't hurry. I think they're seeing things better and they're playing with better eyes. At the end of the day, obviously you hear me talk all the time, eye violations and eye discipline. It's No. 1 thing as a player. Your eyes are the number one thing you have. If you can't see it, you can't make the play. You can't catch the ball, you can't make a read, can't run. So where you're looking and triggering and processing information, they're doing a much better job of that."

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On Shemar Turner’s team-high three sacks and if he’s surprised at all…

 

"It doesn't surprise me. Listen, I said this, there's nobody on our football team that loves football more than Shemar Turner. That guy loves to play, he loves to practice, he loves to work out, he loves to run. He loves to do everything that's associated with football. That doesn't always happen. I mean, plays with passion and energy in everything he does. He's an inside guy, he's an outside guy. He has versatility. I love everything about what he does and the intensity he brings and the competitiveness he brings on a daily, not just a game basis, on a practice. I mean, every play in practice to him is like the national championship and that's what you want."

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On first impressions of Conner Weigman during recruitment…

 

"I think the diversity and the naturalness when you watch guys do things and you've ever watched somebody do something say, you know, something that looks natural, the old term, he looks natural doing that looks like he belongs doing it. Conner looks like he belongs playing quarterback. What I mean by that is he has such great skills, but he's very comfortable. You see guys with great arms that can run and even still look awkward at times or not always. Everything he does about the game, he fits in the game. The game makes sense to him. It's natural to him. He's competitive, he's tough, he's athletic, he can throw, he can do all the things. But the processing of the things around him, the feel of the pocket, how he moves and how he naturally will slide and not panic but then take off, I mean, just there's a naturalness to playing that position because you're having to process so much information playing quarterback. There's no other position in any sport like it. The decision making and everything's scrutinized and when you watch a guy that can just get it right, say, not all the time, say 95% of the time or whatever it is, but the way they do it, it's like they're in slow motion."

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Everybody around them is going 100 miles an hour, but they can't ever get caught or they can't ever get grabbed or they can't ever not make the play. They have the great sense and feel around. That's when I first watched him, that was my first impression. Just he looks like he belongs doing what he's doing. Then when you get to know him, he's very intelligent, he's very charismatic. He's not quiet, but he's not loud. He's just very confident in himself, you know what I'm saying? He brings confidence, and he exudes confidence, and he gets it to people and how he communicates with people. Then great hands, his speed up, and then to play baseball. Listen, baseball players and quarterbacks have always related. When you're a great baseball player, man, you go back in the history of it and you're a baseball player, right? Yes, sir. What's the number one thing when you're hitting? What do you got to have great.

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What did you hate with guys that pitch? They could see it and speed those hands up and slow them down. You'd fool them, you see they'd be sitting change up, and all of a sudden they'd speed it up and foul it off or you'd get them out on that front foot and they'd keep those hands back. What I'm saying is, those baseball guys and he was a great hitter. If you watch him play quarterback, he's in the pocket, alright, here comes a rush. He can speed those hands up and get it out and still then put a little bit, throw it early, put a little bit of air on it that waits. Sometimes I'm waiting for the cut and I drive it, but then there's times I got to let it go because the rush dictates and the route's not there. So you got to have that feel to speed your hands up, but then take off a little bit and put a little bit more air. Or sometimes the receiver cut the route short on you sometimes, and all of a sudden it's there, and you got to speed it up and put juice on it.

When you go back and watch a lot of your great quarterbacks, a lot of them are great baseball players. Why? They were great hitters. They could speed those hands up, slow them down, and they could process what they saw, like seeing the spin on a baseball, processing what's happening. It's a lot of naturalness in what he does that way. Then the footwork, when you're playing middle infield, it's like playing quarterback. You always got to have your feet up under you. Then when you do have to bring the sidearm throw or that, he'll do that. Sometimes I get on him about sometimes I tell him well, I tell him sometimes when you play shortstop and we play middle infield, sometimes you'll get it and you know you got plenty of time, and you watch them in the pros, they'll just make that throw. Well, when you're playing quarterback, you can't make that throw, you know what I mean? I said you can't play quarterback like you play shortstop as far as you got to play, like it's going to be a close play. Now all of a sudden, it's a close play and you see those guns come across. When you play quarterback, he's so good with his hands. He knows what's going on. Sometimes he'll get lazy and sidearm it. But that's the difference in football? Alright I'm throwing that drag route. It's behind me here, the guy gets tackled. Instead of putting it a foot in front where he can accelerate through it and make a run. That makes a big difference at times. That's something he does. We joke about that all the time. They all do it. You can do it when you have to. You don't do it till you have to because you don't do it all the time. I mean, Aaron Rodgers, all those great ones can do it, but when they're sound, they throw it the right way, you know what I'm saying? But, I mean, he has a lot of those other tools, though, that can get you the things that you can't teach the guys that can drop down and do those different arm angles and things. Listen he's got a lot of work to do. He's still a young.

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He's only played seven-eight games. He's got a lot of football to go. We got an SEC schedule to go. We got a lot of things to do. But love where he's at, love his demeanor. But I like his psyche, and I also like his disposition. It's competitive, it's natural, it's learning. He don't mind getting coached. He don't mind getting coached hard. When he makes mistakes, he admits to them. He's very competitive. He's got the right DNA, so hopefully we can keep doing the right things."

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On Weigman coming from right down the road…

 

"It makes it a heck of a lot easier, man. Sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not. You know what I mean? And that has interest, you know what I mean? That's the other thing. Do have interest in you. Sometimes guys want to go different places. That's the world today and that was great. And him being here and being local, man, makes a big difference."

On when is the right time for off platform throws…

"Well, it's a feel. Here's the right time, when you can't make the normal throw. If you can make the normal throw, you should always do it the right way. There's nothing, get your feet right, get your arm right, be over the top, make your throws, do what you can. It's when you're ad libbing and reacting, there's no time to coach that. What the good ones can do. They're really not making that throw with their hands. They're making them with their feet. And what I'm saying is when they get just moved off their spot and they can get that one foot back in the ground to get a little bit of power to generate that arm angle and get those hands out. Also where you carry the ball, I mean, where you're carrying those things you get in habits of carrying that thing really low. Your arm drags just like a pitcher. When you drag that arm, you don't want to drag. You got to loop and get on top, and you get it back. But keeping that ball up and where you displace it and keeping two hands on the ball, I mean, you get guys that separate their hands a lot, they have a hard time generating those throws.

So there's a lot of mechanics that go with it and a lot of teaching goes with it. But he does it, and at the end of the day, listen, they can either do it or they can't. You can teach until you're blue in the face, and you can give them all the mechanics, and then there's a part of it you can either do it or you can't. He can do it."

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On Jake Johnson emerging as security blanket for Conner Weigman…

 

"Yeah, I hope so. I mean, there's a guy, a 6-6 guy and he's got verticality. You know, those guys are open when they're covered, and he's got really good ball skills. So I love the way Jake's development is coming, and the more you can get a guy like that, the better it is. Also, Max had two nice catches in the game. I think we had what, eight catches between tight ends. Max had two and he had six. I mean, that's big bodies, and it helps."

On who is the better blocker between Johnson and Max Wright…

"I can't tell everything, dagum. I can't tell you everything [laughing]. I can't tell you, but listen, they're in there on all those plays. They're all in there blocking on all those plays, so they all have to do it all. I mean, that's one thing about a tight end, man. You're going to be exploited in some part of your game at some point if you're not all the way through."

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Injury updates on players that sat out last week’s game and Noah Thomas…

 

"Should be good, hopefully. We'll find out this week. We'll see as we go."

On dropping edge rushers into coverage and teams throwing their way as a result…

"Good. Because they'll get killed because he's right on top of them. Now you got a 260 pound guy and also, you got to remember, those guys are rerouting. They're playing zone. They're not in, man, so you're re-routing. I'm going to tell you, the hardest guy I ever went against in my life in college football is a guy named Mark Herzlich who played at Boston College. Remember, it was 6-foot-5, 265-pounds. I would take 20 defensive backs, I could name guys that are in the NFL right now that would be in the slot that we would rather run routes by than he would get in the slot and reroute our guys with his length, wingspan and play leverage on. Because when they would reroute them, they go from the hash to the numbers. You know what I mean? You're rerouting guys. You're bringing different guys and then you'll bring packages and you're trying to play you bring pressures from the other side because, I mean, you understand something. An offensive lineman, what do you know on the offensive line. Alright that's a big guy out there, right?

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So if you account for him with a back, he can walk in and do what? Blitz. So now I got to count for him on the back. So I'm sliding two linemen this way. Now what does that open up on blitz possibilities on the other side because it's personnel mismatches. See, I can think, okay, he's going to drop him, but what if he doesn't? If I account for somebody else and slide to protect the other way, then I got a 260 pound guy rushing on a 200-pound back. I got a mismatch. What you see this week may be something set up for next week. What maybe you see here, it creates the mismatches by how they play it.  How they slide line or what they do and everybody does it. I mean, if you go look at everybody in football right now, it's what everybody's doing. You're going from three down to four down within the same personnel, which cause offenses a lot of thinking, a lot of problems, because how you match that and how you slide protections can match up. Do they blitz them or do they not blitz them and do they reroute?

I mean, those big guys are 260 pounds and can sit there and know, listen, all I got to do is cover this box and you got to run by me. All we're trying to do is what? Buy time for him to reroute, get out in another zone, different things like that. So there's different principles when you do that totally to different things. This game has become a very intricate game, a lot more than it ever was before I promise."

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On how A&M goes about preparing for Auburn staff with only three games to go off of…

 

"I think you go back to their history and past histories, too. I mean, guys don't ever deviate very far. I mean, you're not going to say guys don't go from running the wishbone to the run and shoot, you know what I'm saying? Now how they use their players. That's the thing you got to be who their featured guy is. What are they trying to do different? How are they trying to, they're probably still learning their guys too, a little bit and certain talents to how to feature guys to get them the ball or different things, but it stays relatively similar. But then again, that's why you got to teach. When you teach offense and defense, you're teaching concepts and everything you do has a rule based off if its a three man group, a four man surface, a two man surface, a four man side, a three man side, a two man side. So how your rules apply? So if there is different things that happen which there always are in a game, you have rules that apply to, you know, that's part of the early season things in which you go. That's why you got to teach conceptually and not just you're not memorizing exactly what they do all the time."

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On area he wants to see the most improvement…

 

"I always say this. I always go back to the trenches. I really do because I think the game is you don't understand how the game is won and lost there based on everything you do, how we fit the runs, how we want to pressure the quarterback, getting pressure and how you're making your calls in your protection schemes and blocking schemes in the run pass. I always think because the intricacies of the offensive line, defensive line, I don't think people give the true credit for how complicated and tough it truly is and understand how the game is truly won and lost there. We get so enamored by the skill guys in space. But the greatness is really measured by the guys with the hand. So I always think in the lines of scrimmage, I think you're always trying to improve in every way, shape, or form. Then I always think the play of a quarterback, I mean, all the little things and the more experience you can always put in a guy, and not that our guy's not playing really good. I'm not saying that, but, I mean, there's never enough, as I call saddle time for those guys and experiences and scenarios for them to go through."

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On response defensively after Miami game and if they've fixed everything…

 

"We'll see. We weren't playing the same kind of opponent, but again, I said this, we got beat physically in the Miami game. There weren't guys running scott free. We got beat on physical. Guy got beat on a one-on-one or things like that. So hopefully we'll continue to do that and we'll go against good guys in practice. Listen their receivers. Last week, they had two or three guys have a shot at being really good players. So I think we played a lot better there. So I think there's always things that way. You're trying to improve and do better. I mean, it's not like you're blowing coverages. It's not like you're doing different things. You got to win those one-on-one battles, and then you got to help with technique and then other pressures and do different things in which we can do. But hopefully we'll see the step up this week as the level of competition steps up in the SEC. Hopefully we'll find out. But I like what we did. I thought we played well, thought we practiced. We gave up four first downs until what, the last drive? And I don't care.

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That's hard to do on anything. That's also a team that just beat a really good Army team who beat a really good UTSA team here. ULM had some good players, man. They had some really good players. So it's not like and I'm not saying it's just you had good competition. Now we'll find out, we step up another level and hopefully will carry over this week."

On coaching against Hugh Freeze…

"Listen Hugh is going to be open. He's going to be wide open. He's going to be aggressive on offense. He's going to be dynamic. He's going to create things on special teams. Not afraid to call a fake, not afraid to do things, very good. Coach going to have his guys motivated, ready to play. Hugh isa good guy and a very good football coach."

[aubiefifty 18,259]

saturdaydownsouth.com

Auburn football: Are the stars lining up for the Tigers again?

Glenn Sattell | 7 hours ago

4–5 minutes

Auburn opens SEC play at noon ET on Saturday in College Station.

Texas A&M is the opponent, a program some believe whose time has come to take its spot atop the SEC West.

Winning on the road in the SEC is challenging enough, but against a quality opponent like the Aggies it will certainly be a test for the Tigers and head coach Hugh Freeze in his 1st season on The Plains. Needless to say, a victory on Saturday would be huge for Auburn.

The Tigers are looking to improve to 4-0 on the season. They haven’t done that since the 2019 season, when a 5-0 start preceded a 9-win season and a No. 12 ranking in the final College Football Playoff poll.

But fast starts aren’t terribly uncommon at Auburn.

Who can forget that in his 1st season as Auburn head coach, Gus Malzahn’s 2013 team made it all the way to the BCS Championship Game. Then, in just his 2nd season as head coach of the Tigers, Gene Chizik’s 2010 team won the national championship with a perfect 14-0 record.

It’s far too early to be thinking such thoughts in the middle of September. But could the stars be aligning 1 more time at Auburn? They certainly seem to be falling into place.

One would have to admit that the SEC West is down this year compared to the past decade or so. With Alabama, LSU and Texas A&M all stumbling out of the gate, suffering embarrassing nonconference losses, it seems the door has been opened for someone else — perhaps Auburn — to walk through and take the title.

Could Freeze follow in the footsteps of Chizik and Malzahn with their early success at Auburn? Would that be so far-fetched? Just looking at the numbers, 2 stats give an indication that the Tigers might just have a puncher’s chance at contending this year.

The 1st is defense. And, in particular, pass defense. Through the 1st 3 games of the 2023 season, the Tigers lead the SEC in defending the pass. Auburn is giving up just 155 yards per game through the air.

Granted, the Tigers haven’t faced a passing attack like the one they’ll see on Saturday in Aggies quarterback Conner Weigman and that group of talented receivers. But so far, the Tigers have yielded just 2 TD passes in 3 games and have picked off 5 throws while allowing the opposition (UMass, California and Samford) to complete just 56.8% of their passes.

The encouraging aspect of those stats is that it hasn’t been a 1- or 2-man show but an overall team effort. A total of 10 different players have recorded at least 1 quarterback hurry, and 7 different Tigers have broken up at least 1 pass this season.

In addition, the Tigers have been able to get home on defense in passing situations. They’ve already accumulated 8 sacks over the 1st 3 games. Eugene Asante and Marcus Harris lead the group with 2 sacks each.

The other statistical category of interest is rushing offense, where once again the Tigers lead the SEC in the early stages of the 2023 season. Auburn is averaging a league-best 215.67 rushing yards per game.

The big surprise there is that quarterback Payton Thorne leads the team in rushing. Thought to be the passing quarterback in Auburn’s 2-QB system with dual threat Robby Ashford suited more for the run-option scheme, Thorne is averaging 6.36 yards per carry and has already scored 2 rushing TDs.

Don’t expect that trend to continue but do expect Jarquez Hunter to get more touches and eventually lead the way. Damari Alston has also proven he can get the job done, averaging right at 5 yards per carry on a team-high 24 attempts this season.

A solid running game, coupled with a defense that limits opposing high-flying offenses sounds like a formula for success.

So far, for Freeze and the Auburn Tigers, it has been.

Now we’re going to find out how well it travels as Auburn heads into the meat of the 2023 schedule.

That’s where we’ll find out if this indeed turns out to be another one of those magical seasons on The Plains.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

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Auburn's defense has been excellent on third down this season

Andrew Stefaniak

~3 minutes

Auburn's defense has been getting stops on third down this season.

One interesting stat from Auburn's football season thus far is how good the Tigers have been on third down. 

Auburn is currently fourth in football in defensive third down conversion percentage. Opponents so far this season are ten for 41, converting third downs for a .244 percentage against Auburn. 

This is the fourth-best percentage in college football, but the funny thing is that Auburn's next opponent, Texas A&M, is third in this metric. 

Opponents are only getting first down on .206% of third downs against the Texas A&M Aggies. 

This means that this upcoming football game on Saturday will be won by which offense is able to pick up a big-time third down conversions. 

Let's take a look at the numbers on third down for Auburn against their opponents this season. 

UMass was 1-9 on third down, Cal was 4-18, and Samford was 5-14.

If Auburn can continue this trend and slow the Aggie's solid offense on third down, they can win this game on the road. However, Payton Thorne and company will need to be successful in picking up first downs if Auburn wants to score a lot. 

This is going to be a fun football game that has a real opportunity to shake up the West if Auburn can leave the Lone Star State with the victory.