บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Game Week Depth Chart

Everyone thought that Jared Curtis, the hotshot five star freshman, One's gonna start. Blaze something is starting for Vanderbilt. I mean, that's a massive question mark. Tennessee, massive question mark at the QB position. And Auburn has a weird thing where it's a question mark, but it doesn't feel like it's a question mark of will this guy be good? It's will he be one of the best in the conference or will he be, you know, a more of a middle-of-the-pack type guy? But if you look at re realistically, would you rather have Byron Brown or Arch Manning? Arch. Okay. Trinidad Chamberless. Trinidad, but I think he's the best quarterback in the SEC. Okay. John Matteir. Hmm. I think John Matir starts to get into the category of I want to roll the dice with Byram. Okay, Sam Levitt. I think that with Auburn's current roster I'd probably rather have Byram. Okay. Lenora Sellers. Can I say they're the same person? I mean they do they do have a very similar style. I feel like they have a similar style. I feel like they're both fast but not quick. They're more power guys and throwing it gets there, but you kinda wonder you watch the game and it doesn't feel like they threw for that many yards and then you look at the stat sheet at the end and you're like, ⁓ they did a lot more than it seemed like they did. I is I mean a toss up for you. again goes back into the same thing of the John Matthew and the Sam Levitt. It's kind of that all right, here's you know what you got in Lenoris. And you don't know you have in Byron. But so you you're fine rolling the dice with Byron on it. I'd I'd roll the dice on Byron. Marcel Reed. ⁓ Byron. Okay. Marcel Reed would lose so many games at Auburn. And then last one, Keelon Russell. ⁓ I guess I'd go by them just again again because you'd rather have somebody who has more experience. So in in your mind, Byron Brown is comfortably in the top five, competing to be a maybe a top maybe a top three maybe a top but a but a firmly a top five guy. I think that I think that Trinidad is far and away the best. I think that Gunnar Stockton is the second best. Really? I'm not a big or I don't don't buy into the Gunnar Stockton hype as much. I I think he is a serviceable, good quarterback for what Georgia does. But if you ask me, would I rather have I I would rather have quite a few SEC quarterbacks on my roster over Gunnar Stockton. You know what Gunnar Stockton does not do? Lose the game. Lose the game. That's true. And do you know what a lot of those quarterbacks You know what Marcel you know what Marcel Reid will do? They will win the game. Marcel Reed will lose you. Here here's the thing. He lost the playoffs. In the past couple years. Auburn has needed a quarterback that will not lose the game. Last year, if Auburn had Gunnar Stockton, I I truly do think that the season goes very differently. This year, that's not the case. Auburn is a guy that can win the game. And and for what Auburn is doing and what Auburn's roster looks like, you can't just have a guy that doesn't lose because the team will lose. Last year, how many times did we say, man, the defense played good enough to win? The offense, like all these people played good enough to win. Yeah. But you didn't win this year you're not gonna have a lot of games where a lot of positions play good enough to win if the quarterback is not I think that Gunnar might be one of those guys though, not to just love on Gunnar Sargon. I think he might be a guy who if he was at a less talented team and he needed to go and win the game, could be a guy who could go and make a lot more special plays. game. It asked the quarterback to make the right decision. That's that's literally what the offense is. That that it them asking him to win the game is run the offense. You know never forget At one point, it seemed like Auburn was a lock for Gunnar Stockton. When Mike Bobo left South Carolina to be the offensive coordinator at Auburn under Brian Harson, and Gunnar Stockton, who was a five-star at the time, decommits from South Carolina, and everyone thinks, man, this guy, he's gonna come to Auburn. Mike Bobo's gonna bring the five-star commit. And it's crazy to think that recruiting battles from week one of Brian Harson or from year one of Brian Harson are who we're still talking about on this podcast. It really is just crazy how. College football really just it's all interconnected, you know, and that's always an interesting thing. But so it's also interesting that if you have good players, they might still be at your team instead of the entire class being gone after two years. That is true. Anyways, so Byron Brown ultimately you feel you feel like this is going to be the the best quarterback Auburn has been since who? Bo Nex. Do you think that he will be better in an Auburn uniform than Bonex was? Hm. No. You don't? I don't think so. Do you think that the majority of Auburn fans? I think the majority of Auburn fans think of Bonic's pre Bo Nix's last year at Auburn he was really good. He was r he was a really solid quarterback. He was really good. He he had some pretty bad showings even in that twenty twenty one year. I mean Auburn versus Texas A and ⁓ I mean if you win that Texas A and ⁓ game, you are talking about we are going to the playoffs. Okay, how about what if I say this? What if I say I think that Byron will be like what Bo Nix was without having his head case games? Okay. I don't think that's I don't think that Byron's gonna go on the road and get shook. Bo had a tendency to get shook on the road. That is true. That Florida game, he was shook. That takes the AM game. But he also would go on the road. LLG game. Yeah. Wasn't shook at all. So I mean, hats off, I mean, I'd be shook. If I was a if I was an SEC quarterback, just knowing me, I'd be shook. It's no shame in the game, but I mean Just s stating what what the problem was, he got shook. Right. So Byron Brown seems to be in Byron yeah, Byron doesn't have that same air that Bo

does. Now also Byron Brown has has not played A game that his team was expected to win in a raucous environment. Cause even when you are USF and you go into the swamp at eleven AM, it's not it's just not the same. You know? It it's not the same, but if you go in for an upset, it's not that same feel of the fans are ready, they're inviting an SEC team, it's a big on big matchup. So it is a little different. But I do agree that from what we've seen of Byron, it doesn't seem it seems like he is going to be pretty pretty even keel in home and away games. That and I mean I and I think that Bo Nick's even admitted this. I think when you grow up your entire life and it means just a little bit too much to you, it makes it worse. Bigger than it even has to be. Right. Whereas Byron, I think Byram, you know, is enjoying his time at Auburn. He enjoys the bag he's getting. If we win a lot this year, he's gonna love coming back to homecoming. He has never dreamed of being an Auburn football player before. Byron didn't think about Auburn that much till Right. Nine months ago. And maybe and maybe that's a good thing. So to him, he's playing football. Yeah. Just like he was playing football at USF. The only difference is it's louder and more people Yeah. More people are watching. But w also when you're when you're twenty four, it's different than when you're I how old was Bo Bo was eighteen? Eighteen or nineteen, yeah. So your childhood dream is coming true and you're eighteen is a lot different than I mean I'm getting paid either way. Playing in a stadium that your dad is famous for having a last second touchdown pass. I there was a lot on the there was a lot on the line for him and I can see exactly why it unfolded the way that it did. I don't foresee Byram having that problem. What is Byram's problem going to be to you? I think it's going to be throwing the football. Yeah. I don't know if it's going to be he throws a little bit more interceptions than he did. I don't know if it's going to be he's a little less accurate. I don't know if it's going to be he holds onto the ball too long. And then I'm just gonna say this. Our critique of Byron is not the throwing motion. I don't care about the throwing motion. I don't care if you throw it between your legs. Yeah. If it I I'm not a am not a good enough quarterback evaluator to look at somebody's throwing motion and say that's bad. And realistically I I have seen guys be successful in college football that did not have the best throwing motion. In the NFL, it matters when that half a second means that much more. In college football, yes, it matters, but I think sometimes people do overblow how perfect you have to be in college football. I also was encouraged this weekend when I saw Ashen and Jackson playing, and they played the exact same. They l they looked like the same players. They were the exact same. And it made me feel better that the transition from high level group of you know, group of six to SEC, there's

a transition. From a quarterbacking perspective though, I don't know if it's as steep as, say, an offensive line perspective. I don't know that the guys are that much faster. I think your difference is how long do I have in the pocket? I mean that that's your biggest difference. But if you're a running quarterback, that's also something that you're gonna be more used to. I I don't know. I maybe I'm just being optimistic, but I feel like a lot of guys are able to make the transition from smaller schools up in quarterback. I mean, look at Cam Ward. Yeah, I mean Cam Well, I Cam Ward might be an exception. I mean the guy was playing it incarnate word to start his college career and goes to Washington State. It seems like if some if somebody's dealing at Washington I don't think that Washington State is a pre if you told me that somebody came from Washington State versus South Florida, with who Washington State plays right now, are you more excited about the Washington State guy? I I mean Yes. ⁓ well, right now No, when Cam Ward was playing for Washington State. But I don't think it's a ⁓ it's not as appreciable as if someone's going from incarnate word to the SEC. No, So so I I do agree with what you're saying. I think Byron's gonna be fine. I truly I don't think that he is going to be the weak point of the team at all. I'm very interested to see just how good he is, 'cause I do believe I agree with you, he was Do we know that after Baylor? No. I don't think we know that really. until after maybe Vanderbilt. 'Cause I here here's the thing. I think that if Byron Brown shows out against Baylor, okay, we we've established throwing the ball. Yeah, and throwing the ball, but we don't think Baylor's that good. So it's also different. Okay, is he hitting a lot of deep balls to guys that are open? Is he throwing a lot of screens and guys are breaking tackles? Is he throwing a lot of intermediate routes? Is he hitting a lot of slant routes? What does that game actually look like against what will probably be a bad defense? Southern Miss, I don't think you're gonna learn a whole lot. And then Florida's just such a weird one because it goes back to, yeah, it it could show that Byron Brown's really good, but also you could start the season 3-0 and still have the eight best defenses. That you're to play ahead of you. So I think if if you get four games into the season and Byron doesn't look like he's making any mistakes and he's looks like the part of who we think he's going to be, I think he's going to be perfectly fine against those other teams. The scary thing is if he shows out against Baylor, shows out against Southern Miss, struggles against Florida, struggles against Vanderbilt, and even if those games still win, because I think that talent-wise, you can still win without Byron being phenomenal against Florida and Vanderbilt, but you can against Georgia. Miss and LSU and Tennessee. So that's where I sit with Byron, I think. I think if he throws well against Baylor, I'm all in. I mean it's if if the entire knock against Byron is he's had great productivity, but we don't know if he can do it at this level. I mean Baylor's athletic ability is different than the SEC. You but if he's dealing against a big twelve team, I'm like, all right, he's not just gonna be terrible against SEC competition. I agree. So I mean Jackson Jackson Arnold was exactly what we expected after the Baylor game. Yeah, ⁓ true. We we said he ⁓ he runs the ball a lot. He doesn't throw the ball very well. We know you're not gonna be able to run the ball. If Byram throws for over three hundred yards against Baylor, I think that that leads to thr again, skill position, it's not the same. If Byram runs for two fifty against Baylor, I'm not expecting Byram to run for two fifty against Florida. Right. That's just not gonna happen. I agree. So we feel comfortable with Byron. I don't think that we'll see Tristan Tahia really at all unless Byrum goes down. Now he seems to me like the inverse of Byrum. Like He's the gunslinger. Yeah, I mean he's gonna sit he's gonna sit in the pocket, he's gonna throw. He has a nice arm, made some throws at eight A that, you know, were were pretty solid. Seems like he's throwing a little bit more interceptions in in fall camp, which is fine, you know, and you you think he is with the twos, a much less talented group than what you could say last year, what the twos were going against the ones. He's going up against the starting defense in the SEC. So you do cut him some slack there, but I I think that if Byron g if Byron Brown was not on this team, I I would be very low on Alban football this year. Like if Tristan was the starting quarterback if he was the starting quarterback and we're riding with this guy, I don't think he is ready to be a starting quarterback in the SEC. To be fair though, he wouldn't I mean Yeah, he's not expect yeah, he's not expecting Auburn wouldn't have brought him he is clearly a bac for right now. He's brought in to be a backup and maybe be a starter in the future. I agree. So that's the quarterback position. You look at the running backs. You have a returning guy in Jeremiah Cobb. We all know him. I you know, I think he might even take a step forward just from junior to senior. I I don't think that there are any concerns about Jeremiah Cobb's game. And putting on a little weight, which I think is is gonna be big towards the end of the year. 'Cause I think being able to wear on teams throughout a game is an important aspect that he might have been missing in his game just a little bit. And I probably agree with that. Behind him you have Omar Mabson, gonna be a sophomore, I believe he is still eighteen. He was seventeen playing last year, might j' just turned nineteen, still a young guy, had some moments last year that were good, had some really bad really just had one really bad moment against Alabama that, you know, really was a I mean, almost you know, cost you the game.

Yeah, it was one of many plays that calls you the game, I if that play doesn't happen, that's probably an Iron Bowl win. Omar Mabson was really good when he had the ball in his hands. You know? I thought that running the ball he was good. Beating out Bryson Washington for a running back too, I think everyone's been saying, ⁓ Bryson Washington didn't show up in shape. He has some things that he's got to work on in his game. Regardless, that guy ran for over a thousand yards twice in the Big Twelve, and Omar Mabson's an eighteen year old kid who passed him. And and it it wasn't very close. So do do you look at this and it looks like Bryson Washington has emerged past Davenport to Be the running back three. What do you think the the splits on the carries are gonna look from those three guys? And do you think that Omar Madsen might be the story of this team? Of man, this guy's this guy might be the next the next great Auburn running back right after Cobb. Yeah, I mean I think that you couldn't we watched him last year early in the year, and some guys you see carry the ball and you say that dude has it. Jeremiah Cobb was that way as a freshman. He would come in and run exclusively jet sweeps. He wasn't even really playing running back. He was almost playing like slot receiver. And you see the pop that somebody has, and even if they're not ready to play every play, you say, that dude has it. Not a knock on Demari Austin. He would come into the game. He didn't ha like he was a good solid running back. He didn't have that pop. There's that SEC like that's what playing in the SEC is. Is that you have guys who if you're like a low tier solid SEC player, that's the same as the Big Twelve in my opinion. Yeah. You're just a good college football player. There is another tier that is quote unquote SEC running back. Mabson has that other tier of SEC running back. To me, the way that I really see this breaking down actually is I see that Cobb and Washington are almost playing one type of running back and then Mabson is kind of the starting his kind of running back, if that makes any sense. Whereas Cobb and Washington are more your first down, your third down. Mabson's more your specialty back towards end of game scenario. Think, ⁓ trying to think of who a Cameron Artis Payne before he was the starting back. Where he is so Well we thought Cameron Artis Payne was going to be Maybe maybe in twenty thirteen. Yeah. You know, before he was you know, what what we thought this guy's gonna be a solid number two. Yeah. And he'll be the guy in the future. He'll be the guy in the future, but right now he is the solid number two who is a hefty load to take down. So you have the Trey Mason type, and I'm not, you know, Trey Mason and Jeremiah Cobb not the exact same, but I'm saying kinda you have that type of yeah. Fastball, every down back, thick enough to wear you down Thin enough that you're really running and then you have Mabson who's more bowling ball kinda come in in your jumbo package. And probably honestly when you need to pass. I mean it it seems like I would want somebody of Mabson's structure to come in and block. Well yeah, and I think that that's another thing is when we look when teams are getting worn down, is it is it Mabson that breaks a play, is it Byrum that makes a play? Is it is it Cobb that now that he's got some solid guys behind him that take away some of the carries in the first and second quarters, that he gets that pop in the in the fourth quarter. So I do think that we have a lot of running the the running game can wear you down if the safeties have to stay up. And I will say this Jeremiah Cobb, to his credit, is not one of those running backs who really has to get going. No, yeah. I mean Jark Wes and Tank both had a little bit of the we gotta have a couple of things go our way to really get going. Cobb's one of those guys. It he's fine. I mean, he could bust one on the first play, he could bust one on the last play. Like he is that guy. On every single play, you know exactly what you're gonna get out of him. I'm really high on Jeremiah Cobb. I honestly think that the reason a lot of people aren't as high on him, he's not a huge personality. You know, and he doesn't have a cool you know, I you you think Think about you have a guy whose nickname is Tank, right? I mean, that just gonna get people excited. Then you have Jark Wiz who's wearing his cowboy boots, and there's the video of him squatting whatever ungodly amount of yeah, and he's got his cowboy boots, and like you had big brands that made these running backs feel like they were bigger than maybe they actually were. Whereas Cobb is the opposite of that, where he doesn't really have a brand, but I think just football wise, like I think Jeremiah Cobb. Has a better NFL career ahead of than Jar Quez Hunter does. Yeah, I think Jar Quez was just such a he was such a unique player in athletically. He was so, so gifted. But in my opinion, Jeremiah Cobb has better vision. Jar Quez probably has the better just big play if he can get into the second level because he was so athletically gifted. But that's not to say that Jeremiah Cobb isn't that good. Yeah, but Jar Quez is an athlete. Jeremiah Cobb's running back. Yeah, yeah, and I think that that's fair. I think that Jar Quez. Athletically is so gifted and is a I mean obviously he's a he's a solid running back. He's gonna be in the NFL for you know I think that he is going to have ⁓ a normal career in the NFL bounce around teams, which actually you know he's traded a couple days ago. But where'd he go? Well he got traded to the Dolphins and then they released him. So I think he'll he'll get he'll get signed somewhere. Did you just say that he's gonna have a solid career in the NFL the day after he got released? Well he was playing, he was playing for the Rams. He's gonna be fine. He's gonna be fine. Trust me, trust me. Anyways, anyways just trust me, guys, he's not on a team. He's gonna be

really solid for that team. Just wait, just wait. Put him on your fantasy waivers just in case. Who can say? Anyways, you feel confident about Jeremiah Cobb. Bryson Washington might be a guy by the end of the year that starts getting some carries. I I think that that'll be an interesting battle to watch as the season progresses. Usually you're not playing three running backs a ton. by November, but also usually your third running back hasn't had multiple thousand yard seasons at a major college. I can also tell you this you've got to be a whole lot better than the guy in front of you if the guy in front of you was on the team last year, is on your leadership council and is known for busting it every day and you show up out of shape. Right. Yeah. I mean you better be a whole you better be ahead every other way. Than that guy. Because especially if you're Alex Gullish and you're talking about culture. I mean, if there's not a huge, if there is not a notable difference, if you are two of the same guys and you make the same mistakes, you ain't going on the field. Right. Moving to tight ends, okay? You have Jake Johnson, transfer, Arles Boardingham, transfer, Jonathan Eccles transfer, and Xavier Newsom transfer. All those guys are listed. Realistically, I feel like Jake Johnson is definitely going to be the The starting tight end in everyone's mind. They're all listed as or I think that's kind of ridiculous. I think Arles Boardingham seems to have really solid hands, has been a major program before, and then you have Jonathan Eccles, USF guy, Xavier Newsome, Howard guy brought in by Larry Scott. Whether do you expect the tight ends to be A position group of consequence for Auburn football this season. ⁓ yeah. A hundred percent. I think that they may be one of the most consequential. I think all four of those guys play. I think they're we've talked about, you know, Tristan hopefully is not playing very much. I think that you look the reason that they all said or or or or it's not that any of it's not that it's not that they're saying that all four of them are the same. Yeah. It's saying all four of all four it's almost like a defensive line. Where you're like, okay, so these guys run out there first. They may not even play the most snaps in the game. Like the guys who come in on third down of the first drive may end up playing way more snapshot. They're all starting defensive linemen. Yeah, they're they're all starting defensive linemen. And that's the thing about starter, is like in today's personnel packages, you're subbing on and off the entire time. But at the same time, I still think it's almost like a defensive line where I don't think it really changes too too much what you run. I think that you have options with whoever is the fresh. I think that the tight ends will get played like running backs this year. Yeah. Constantly rotating, playing the hot hand, play in, that type of thing, as opposed to purely schematic. I agree, and I think an interesting thing to watch is how does a guy like Boardingham look? You know, how does a guy like Eccles look running routes? You know, and do you feel almost better with that guy matchup wise than maybe you do on your fourth wide receiver? against some personnel packages, do you run a lot of things out of you know single back formation? Like what does that really look like? And I think that'll be interesting to see. You know, Alex Golish does like to use tight ends. And it would not surprise me if Jake Johnson had a role similar to Shinker the year that he I think it was 2021, the year that he really popped. broke pretty much every tight end record in the book and I don't think anyone would say that John Samuel Schenker is the talent wise the best tight end Auburn's ever had. But when you look at s you know, the receptions and the yards, he he was used a lot It's not allotted history. I mean he was yeah, no it's not. But he was utilized a lot. And I I wonder how Jake Johnson specifically might be utilized in that way. The veteran guy has played a lot of high level football. That's a guy that I'm really interested to see how he looks in an Auburn uniform. I will say this though. None of these tight ends are Brock Bauer. No. No. ⁓ not the but what I'm saying of. None of these guys are tied ins that you want to be kind of your reliable receiver. Kinda like when John Samuel was the kind of the leading target. That's not good for the offense. Yeah. But but see I think he was short handed and he really did. He helped the offense keep the offense going. It is not a good indication for your passing game. I from your receivers. It is a it is an indictment on your receivers. If any of these four guys are your go to target Obviously you don't want one of these guys being a go to target. But what I mean is you don't want one of these guys to be Preston Howard. You want the guy that when you draw something up for the tight end to go on a three yard out route and you draw it up of this tight end is going to be open because this is how we're running it and these this defense does not cover a tight end, that he's open, he catches the ball. You want them to be good because They're good, not because the defense schemes it up for you to throw it to that person. But I think with tight ends especially, you're going to see that a lot. When you have a tight end that's going to feign a block, chip a guy, and run a four-yard hooker out for a first down. That's what a tight end is for. Yeah. That is what it's for. And it's not that the NFL has ruined it because there's five tight ends, and this is true in college football every year. There's five tight ends that are better than everybody else. And the guys that go to the NFL and become like Travis Kelsey and become like Rob Grinkrowski and become like George Kittle, those guys are insane. They're yeah, like but that's what you saw Brock Bowers at Georgia and you're like, This guy's insane. This is not how the tight end

position is meant to be played. Because there just aren't that many guys that can block like a lineman, can run like a receiver, and you just can't. You just don't have guys that can cover ⁓ Shout out to the guy sitting behind me at the Georgia game that got mad at the defense and said, This guy Is just not that good. I don't know why y'all keep letting him catch the ball. I'm like, this is literally what it's Generational tight ends. This is the best tight end that's ever played at this stadium, genuinely. So, anyways, the tight ends are a really interesting position group, and I'm I'm really interested to see how how they get used. Moving on to the offensive line. Okay, five new faces. All right. You have Stanton Rammel at right tackle. Cole Skinner is gonna be the starting. I always thought it was Rammel. Might be Ramil. I think you're wrong. Hey, maybe I am. I think you're rambling on. Well, Cole Skinner, right guard. All right. You have Cole Best and Cole Skinner are both USF transfers. Jacob Strand at left guard and then Joe Simmons at left tackle. Looks like Derek Plaz, the transfer from Miami, is going to be number six. Maybe Jacoby Ward, number seven, as offensive linemen that are always going to play. Yeah, you' as an offensive line, you're typically going to play seven or eight guys. An offensive lineman's always gonna get hurt, even if it's just ⁓ you know, they're they're banged up. The way that happens, you're always gonna lose an offensive lineman for a game or two. Those are probably gonna be the guys that slot in. We'll be interesting to see how that's handled in game one. Usually an offensive line isn't fully set. You know, last year you had a lot of shuffling at the guard position. I think we will see that maybe moving some tackles around, you know, having having guys that are coming off of injury, and you might move strand out to right tackle and have Plaza play a little. bit at at left yard, but how do you feel about this offensive line as a group and do you think performance wise what they will be on the field better or worse than last year? So I think that the highs of last year are gonna be better. What was terrible about last year's offensive line was won the penalties excessive amount of penalties which we saw continued into Florida State. ⁓ followed by just desperate gaps. I mean the communication between the offensive line, whether it was confusing schematically or just lack of communication because one of the people couldn't hear, it was there was a lot of bus. There was more bus than you want to see. And I mean, I I think that great offensive line play is both. I think that this team talent wise is probably not as good, but I'm hoping that communication wise and knowing what the calls are wise is gonna be better. I also think half of the year last year, I mean we had the guy who's now the backup right guard playing center as a true freshman. It's really hard to come in as a true freshman and make the calls. I think.

Yeah, I mean that that was Because physically and mentally it's just it's a ton on you. And to do that and then to go to, you know, Cole Best who has been in this offense, he knows what the calls are. So it I feel like What you're looking at here is at least the right call will be made, whether or not they physically are able to pick it up. I still think an athletic quarterback can get away from an offensive lineman getting beat better than he can from a free rusher. Mm-hmm. And that was the problem with like Jackson Arnold, I'm trying to th the Oklahoma game, how many free rushers A lot. Just a lot. Came up. Same thing with Texas A and ⁓ I mean I vividly rema I mean, they would just gap it up perfectly. It must have been the most either they didn't know what the calls were or the calls were so simple. That the defensive coordinator just knew knew exactly where the gap was gonna be. Yeah. And and that was that was something that was so frustrating with last year. And I do think that this unit, talent wise, is a s bit of a step down from last year. But if this unit gets every call right then they will be better on the field. And you have a lot you have a lot of chemistry. Quarterback and center have been playing together a lot. Everyone in Fall Camp has been talking about how Colbest and Colescanner are helping everybody with the calls. They're they're going. And that was when Coleskinner was fighting for a starting job. You know, and I I do think that that shows you a little bit about the culture in that offensive line room. They want to win and they're helping guys out even if, hey, this guy might start over me, you know, in in week one. So I do think that that's exciting to see. And I truly do believe, even in a pessimistic mindset, I think that this offensive line will be better than last year. However, last year was a bottom ten or you know, outside the top ten offensive lines in the SEC. Will this group be average? If they're average, I think that that's all the best you can hope for, in my opinion. Move Yeah, I mean I I think that I I would take average. Yeah. I mean Auburn has not had an average offensive line in in probably five years. I'd say twenty twenty one was the last time we had an average offensive line. Twenty seventeen was the last time an offensive line was good. Even then, twenty seventeen's offensive line was pretty bad in September, you know, became pretty good. And then I'd say twenty fourteen was the last time, just an objectively man, that's one of the better offensive lines in the SEC. So it's been it's been twelve years. It's been a long it's been a long, long time. It's a long time. Moving on, wide receivers. In my opinion, one of the most intriguing groups on the field for Auburn football. Top three guys look like it's going to be the three-headed monster at USF, Jeremiah Coger, Chaz Nimrod, Kayshawn Singleton. Behind them you have some more interesting guys, you know, a lot more question marks. Christian Neptune, another USF transfer, Brian Williams, true freshman. You have Deshaun Spencer, the standout from Sarland, Sam Turner, a guy that's been in the been in the program for a couple years. What do you think about this offensive or about this this wide receiver group? It seems to me Kaishawn Singleton last year was the guy for USF. Now, Chess Nimrod got hurt pretty early in the season. If you watch the early games, I mean Nimrod was unstoppable. Nobody could cover him, and that includes Florida and Miami. I mean, multiple times he's playing against Miami, and you're watching that man that he's got a step on a team that went to the national championships defense. So what do you think about this wide receiver group and it seems to me that it's very top heavy that I think that the starters I don't have as much concerns that a guy like Singleton or Nimrod can translate to the SEC but once you get down the list you do have a lot more questions. Yeah I mean I this receiving core reminds me of KLS and Horatio Fields. I mean at receiver everybody can run You know that these guys can run routes. I mean, I I think that this is again another one that translates super well. I think that this is just like Horatio and KLS, where it's gonna be plug and play. I'm not concerned about Chas Number Odd being able to get open. I I mean, I think you have less potential for just spectacular plays out of these people, but what I mean by it's KLS and ⁓ Horatio is they're going to make the plays that make the game go. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They're gonna they're gonna catch curls, they're gonna catch slants, they're gonna run the routes that they're supposed to run and they're gonna catch the ball with it. Are they going to moss somebody in the corner of the end zone like Cam Coleman did against Vanderbilt? Probably not. Probably not. But but realistically But realistically, how often do you need that versus how much more would you rather Cam Coleman catch a pass and we not throw a pick on the next play? Yeah. Let me let me let's walk through some of the best teams that Auburn has had in the past long time, okay? Two thousand and four. Best receiver. Courtney Taylor. Courtney Taylor. Was Courtney Ta Courtney Taylor was a good receiver. Did he just have an unbelievable high highlight reel? No, but we really didn't throw the ball that year. ⁓ seven. Again, didn't really throw the ball a lot. Twenty ten. You threw the ball a little bit more. You have a guy like Darvin Adams, you know, almost had a thousand yards receiving two years straight. Emory Blake. Yeah, but but Darvin Adams. Not NFL guys. Darvin Adams had some good moments, but ⁓ no one's looking at Darvin Adams of man, this was one of the best receivers the SEC's ever seen. Twenty thirteen, Sammy Coates. Pretty I mean, he was a solid SEC receiver, had a couple years in the NFL as a wide receiver three on a good NFL team. But but not Just unreal. Sammy Coates didn't I mean when you think of Sammy Coates, what play

comes to your mind? ⁓ the the slam. The Texas A and ⁓ when he slams the corner down. And the touchdown and the arm. Yeah, it's like okay he picked up okay, so on one play he picked up fifteen yards and yeah, he threw a corner down, that was cool. And then the touchdown, the iron bowl, he was kind of uncovered 'cause the corner thinks it's a run play. So yeah, Sammy Coates was a great receiver, but he wasn't just Hey, shout out, better coach. Yeah, obviously. Into the end of the street. Yeah, I mean, who knows? Maybe in ten years he might be at Auburn. But you look at okay, then again, a guy like Darius Slayton, Will Hastings, Ryan Davis on those really solid Gus Melson teams, like Darius Slayton has carved out a rotational role as a solid receiver in the NFL. I don't think we need to put Will Hastings and Darius Slayton on the same team. No, but but my thing is you look at twenty seventeen and Darius Slayton was on that team. No. And Will Hastings was a very common deep threat on that team. So I just think you look at I think Sean Spencer, though, has the potential to actually be nasty. Yeah, I I think so too, especially 'cause he's you know put on twenty five pounds since high school, which, you know, when we landed him it's like, Okay, this guy seems pretty undersized. But hey, even then, yeah, who's the Bamba Juju who plays for the Eagles now? ⁓ god. Devonta Smith. Devontae Smith. Buddy is still as big as a Swiffer mock. I mean Right, but I I do think that, you know, you don't land a recruit thinking this is going to be Devonta Smith. This is Devontae Smith. But but I do think when you look at a guy like Chaz and Emrod, it doesn't have to be flashy. If you run the route correctly and you're fast, it's fine. KLS. You'll yeah, you'll be there for a deep ball. And I mean, even KLS, like he had some contested catchability that he didn't necessarily need because he would the ball would just be overthrown or underthrown a lot. If your receiver are solid, you'll be totally fine if your quarterback is good. Now, good receivers, elite receivers, are big for a quarterback that struggles. I feel like that's the offense. That is definitely the offense. We spend a lot of time on the offense. You know why? Because you're a flashy person. You don't respect defense. I you are you're a Debbie Downer who wants to talk for an hour and a half about offensive football. I want to talk about the real guys. I enjoy talking about Auburn football. Let's start with the defensive line. Alright. So now you're trying to make up for it. So what are you well we're done with the offensive line? Who do you want to talk about? You want to talk about the specialists? You want to talk about the kickers and the Punners? Yeah. You w you want to talk about the specialists before the defense? Alright, give us your thoughts, Wheeler. Give us your thoughts on the special team situation at Auburn University this year. I'm concerned about our punter. Hudson Cock was not good last year. Nobody talks about that. He was objectively not a good punter. Okay, no, but on a serious note. He would shank the ball regularly. On a serious note, I I agree. I don't think that the punter is exactly on par with a guy like, you know, Stephen Clark. Yes, or Oscar Chapman. Stephen Cork is the best punter of our generation. I mean, Auburn, truly, Auburn has had some solid punters because we've had to watch them a lot. I mean, Oscar Chapman, truly, his last year at Auburn. He was phenomenal. He was absolutely phenomenal as a butter. Who was who was the Aussie that we had? Aaron Sippos, who declared for the NFL draft. Declared for the draft. I remember I was walking through Haley Center when I got the text. Aaron Sippos has decided to forego his senior season and enter the NFL draft. And I said, Butter? Did we just have a butter leave early? He said, I'm out. But ⁓ Did he make it in the NFL? Is he still in the NFL? I don't know if he's still in the NFL. He was the Eagles starting punter for for a little while. I don't know if he was the starting punter on the Super Bowl team, but I I think he may have I I'm not I'm not totally positive, but I know he was he was starting for the Eagles for a while. But when we move towards, you know, the the punting situation, you're hoping that you're not talking about your punter a ton. You know, I mean that's that's the hope. Of a good team, you're really not sitting there talking about how good the punter was. You don't wanna be sitting there saying, Well man, at least the the punter was out there eight times and he was pretty solid each time. I'm looking at Aaron on on LinkedIn right now, just checking in on where SIPOS is nowadays. We can go to the defense now. He ⁓ he appears to be back in ⁓ Australia and ⁓ he is a coach. So he did have a couple years in the NFL. Now he's now he's coaching. ⁓ on a serious note, what do you think if Alex McPherson is totally healthy, like we think that he will be, how does that change this offense? ⁓ it wildly changes the offense. I mean if you have the ability to actually score points after you've what, crossed the forty yard line. I mean that that changes your decision making. Again though I would hope that we're not having to attempt a lot of fifty plus yard field goals, but having the ability to score points is how you win the game. So whenever you have a threat to score points, that is a good thing. I totally agree. Moving on to the defensive side of the ball. Thank goodness. Looking at the D line, all right, you have on the inside Dallas Walker, Cody Siegler seem to be the the top two guys. Getting Dallas Walker back, I think, is a very underrated thing from this season. Just getting another veteran player on that defensive line. Behind them, you have Walter Mathis transferred from LSU. Darion Smith played a little bit last year as a true freshman. Malik Autry, another sophomore, and then Jordan Crawford, another sophomore. Just looking at the interior defensive line,

guys, seems to be a little less consistent from what we've seen last year. Have some talent in that room. You really like Malik Autry if he is fully healthy. He's been a little banged up in fall camp, but that's a guy that I really think could be special. Special for Auburn. Look at the DNs. Chris Murray, Darion Smith, and Nate Johnson transferred from Missouri. And then at the buck position, Deshaun Womack, Jared Smith, and Joe Phillips. What what are you thinking about Auburn's defensive line? Where are their strengths? Where are their weaknesses? I would say there's probably a step back from last year. Definitely. ⁓ in terms of You you had two guys last year that were super unique with Kieron and Keldrick who really could slide inside out and I think you've lost that this year. So th I guess the big question though is gonna be is it better to have a guy like Keldrick playing defensive tackle a and is kind of a hybrid guy where he's f he's a quick edge He can rush the passer, but he's not an uber fast edge because he's really large enough to also play interior. Or is it better to really have these guys like Deshaun Womack and Jared Smith who they're not going to tackle. Like you're not gonna put Jared Smith at tackle that much. And but but they can hum off the edge. You know what I'm saying? It's like Yeah, I think it's better to have the first round NFL draft pick. That's what I think. I think it is better to have a first round draft pick. The thing about it though is Keldrick was one of those, ⁓ one of those Auburn players who was good while he was at Auburn. But he is getting drafted more on his body and more on what he could do than what he did at Auburn. To me. I don't think that he was as productive as you would hope your first round NFL draft pick defensive lineman to be. I think that he played every snap very well. I think he played hard on every snap. I think I agree. I think that Kieron Crawford, if if I could add a guy, I'd probably be leaning towards Keeron Crawford a little bit more than Kildrick Falk. Now granted, Keeron Crawford was also a a solid pick in the NF Like they wanted third round. Yeah, they're yeah, but I mean if you have a third round edge rusher, like that's a that's a good a good player. So I do I do think I agree with that. But that's w that's what I'm saying is I don't know the I you lose versatility, but in terms of actual productivity, how much actual productivity did you lose versus talent? And I think that that is the the defensive line is honestly the theme of this entire Auburn team. Is you lost talent, but the talent that you lost did not produce what they should for their talent. And so the question is going to be how much production did you lose when you lost the talent? I I I I agree to an extent. I do think that the defensive line has definitely taken a step down. Now, I do also think that the starting defensive line can be a very productive group in the SEC. In my opinion, last year, Auburn was the deepest defensive line in college football. In my opinion. I you had Amaris Williams being your third option as an edge rusher. I mean, that's absolutely insane. Now, this team, you have to pray that there are no more injuries. You already lost to Caleb Falk. I mean, that's a that's a big, a big miss as a guy that was going to play a good amount. Okay. So you need Darion Smith to step up and be healthy. You need Jared Smith and Deshaun Woymack. They cannot get hurt. I I think that those might be next to Byron Brown the most important players for Auburn football because if those guys go down, your ability to get to the quarterback seems to diminish greatly and puts a lot more strain on the next group of guys we're going to talk about, the cornerbacks. And you lose a lot of guys from Jay Crawford, you lose Kayon Lee. What what you don't you don't want to move on from the line. I've just I've never seen someone go D line to corner. What a weird transition. I mean it made the most sense, you know, going from the the edge rushers to the guys that rely on the No, that doesn't that doesn't make any sense at all. Everyone was expecting us to talk about linebacker next. Okay, do you want to ⁓ talk about linebackers, Wheeler, fine. Talk about linebackers. You know, we should get Aaron Ziposs on. I think we should get Ziposs on the pod later this year. Anyway, let's talk about the deepest part of this team. I would say that the linebackers this year are deeper than the defensive line was last year. I think that you could potentially, potentially have the best linebacker room that Auburn's had in the past twenty years. Top to bottom as a room. I mean I anybody of the top four, so Elijah Melinda as Bryce D's. Xavier Atkins to Marcus Riddick could be your starting linebacker at Auburn in any other year and you're not saying that it's a down year for the linebackers. Yeah, I mean I obviously there there's not much to talk about. Xavier Atkins was an all American. You expect him to still be just as good. Elijah Melendez was phenomenal. I I I I truly don't think there's anything to talk about the linebackers. We talked about him a lot last last week. I think the biggest thing is how much those guys blitz and how good they can be in the pass rush game. Xavier Atkins had what, like seven or eight sacks last year. Now, do you expect your middle linebacker to have seven or eight sacks again? Probably not. Especially when you take a step down the defensive line and you don't have as many guys that, you know, are drawing double teams. Did not have the productivity that you expect out of the talent. Okay, well part of part of that though if if Kieran Crawford draws a double team and it helps Xavier Atkins get to the quarterback, Kieron Crawford's doing that it's being productive. So I I I I think that the linebackers are going to be what we've thought the linebackers are going to be. Unless you start getting a lot of injuries in that group, I think that they will be the

best unit on this team. And I don't think it's particularly close. Now let's talk about Are we ready to talk are we can talk about the corners now? I I don't know if you wanted to go keep going back, go to safeties or or anything. You ready to? That would be a nice logical next step. So you want to keep on going back and talking about safety? Okay. We l wants to talk about the D Bs as a whole. I think we should be pleasant and talk about the D Bs. Pleasant and talk about the cornerbacks. Specifically. No, just the D B's as a whole. Okay. Well your play on words was a corner. So the fans thought that you were going to corners. Now they're confused. They've just been con really confused the past five minutes. Anyways. You're really getting angry. This W Downer this W Downer personality is kind of an angry personality. Going to the defensive backs as a whole, you're meeting in the middle. You have a guy, Eric Winters, you Champ Anthony, Anquan Fagans, and Caleb Harris appear to be the top four guys at the safety position, maybe with Sylvester Smith Reed being added in. You don't really know how he's gonna look from the star nickel position to safety. I think that's really the the case for a lot of those guys. Is what is does champ play more corner? Does he play more safety? Does Fagans play more nickel? Does he play more safety? This is the group that I really don't have in. any I don't want to say any concerns with, but I'm I'm supremely confident in this group. I think that if nobody had transferred and you still had every single player, you still had Jay Crawford, you still had Ken Lee, I I don't know if you really would have gone to the portal to try to get a guy that would have started over any of these guys. Yeah, I mean it feels like this is this is who you had last year. You have Winners and Fagans a step step further. Winners was phenomenal last year and I think that he's a guy that hasn't been getting talked about a lot. I I think Winners is going to be one of the better players on this defense. So I I'm really, really excited about what these safeties can do. I think Fagans is an incredibly talented player. And ultimately I think that something that DJ Durkin I don't know if it will happen. I think it might need to happen, is this defense needs to create more turnovers. Because last year they were good enough to be bend on break and just not give up a lot of points. I I really think that you can help your offense out and you can win some games that you're not supposed to. if you play aggressive and try to get turnovers. Now part of that you're gonna give up more explosive plays. But I think that with the the skill set of this defense that you might look to to be a little bit more aggressive with with ball hawks and guys like that. And to me it seems like you you did that by keeping the safeties. Because the safeties were more your ball hawk guys last year. I mean Especially I mean champ are kind of your guys that you think of as your ball

hawks. And honestly From the D B perspective, Ray Shawn had a lot of picks compared to anybody else. I mean, no i you know, Kn and ⁓ Jay and I mean yeah, th Jay Jay and K their their goal is I don't want anyone to throw the ball towards me. Yeah, they were more that Carlton Davis vibe. Yeah. Lock just a lockdown vibe. Yeah, whereas Ray Shon was more I'm gonna go get a pick. Yeah. And and it seems like they shifted, you know, they kinda let let KN and ⁓ Crawford walk just so that they could shift the vibe. I don't think that there's been a steep step down at DB. My only concern is how much in all the scrimmages they talk about big pop plays out of the receivers. And you just don't want to hear a ton of those. You don't want to hear about a bunch of chunk plays. And I feel like we've heard a lot about chunk plays, and that's how I think Baylor's gonna score their most of their points. It's gonna be chunk. place. I don't see them driving down the field on this defense. I really see busting coverage because we've been shifting people all over. I think that the the D Bs will struggle early in the season while they're still getting used to everybody playing in whatever position they finally settled on. Because similar to the defensive line last year, you don't have a bunch of specialists. You have a bunch of guys who could play any of the positions in the defensive backfield. Corner, safety, Strong side, weak side. Any they could literally be anywhere. And eventually you just gotta pick where they're gonna be and they have to learn those calls. Yeah, but I mean also you got some you have some length on on those corners. I mean you've got I mean Andre Jordan's six one, Gavin Jenkins six two. I mean that's that's kinda tall to be a corner in in college football. Usually it's the five eleven, six foot range that you see. So so I really do think that it's gonna be interesting. The the corners, I don't feel like we have a cornerback one. Really, it seems like Andre Jordan and Ray Sean Pleasant are both really solid cornerback two threes. Last year, you had two cornerback ones. So I do think it'll be a step down just in the corner perspective from last year. But that doesn't necessarily mean per se that they're gonna be a weak group. But I I do agree with you. I think that they are going to be a lot more prone to giving up big plays. And so that that's gonna be the thing of can they counteract those big plays with turnovers? in big games is the other team gonna execute on those big plays. That was Auburn's problem last year is you would have, you know, a guy with a busted coverage and he's running wide open and he drops the ball. So th th there's a lot more to to giving up big plays than just your part of it, but All right, give me your Baylor prediction. I I I think I I really don't I really don't love much about Baylor. I think Auburn wins I think Auburn tries to to run the score up as much as possible. I think forty-two to seventeen, Auburn wins. Forty two to seventeen. We put up thirty-eight last year. Wow. What do you think? I'm gonna go thirty five twenty one. Okay, so you think it do you think that it will feel like a two score game or do you think that Auburn will hand handily win the game? I I think it'll feel closer. I think Auburn gets a cheap one late. Really? Okay. I I think that it's gonna feel like a close game going into the fourth quarter. I I suspect one of those vibes of maybe we make a stop early in the fourth quarter and kinda hit that knockout second score blow with ten or eleven minutes. Ten or eleven minutes left in the fourth quarter where you feel good about it but you're still kinda sitting on the edge of your seat the rest of the game. Okay. Well we're we're gonna find out. Coming on Saturday. We are, I mean, we're almost there. Sitting here on Monday night. And it's it's here. You know, we made it through another offseason, made it through. We're gonna find out what this Auburn football team is made of. And we'll be back with this podcast next week. And as always, thank you guys so much for listening. And we're eagle. We're eagle.