Auburn football: Forecasting the Tigers 2021 season

The 2021 Auburn football season was one of many writer Phil Steele forecasted in his annual college football preview. Former Boise State coach Bryan Harsin takes over the Tigers in 2021 after the firing of eight-year coach Gus Malzahn. He inherits a squad that finished 6-5 including a loss to Northwestern in the Citrus Bowl. They return 15 total starters from 2020, including stars, Bo Nix and Tank Bigsby.

Auburn was 1-4 against ranked opponents last season, compared to 5-1 against unranked teams. They’ll look to compete better with elite squads this year. Below is a summary of Steele’s predictions.

The Offense

Nix and Bigsby will headline the offense, along with six other returning starters.

Bigsby finished with 834 yards rushing as a freshman and enters 2021 as the second-best returning rusher in the SEC. He should make strides in his sophomore campaign with all five members of the Auburn offensive line back. Look for him to break into the national spotlight.

Nix returns as a junior after throwing for 2,415 yards and 12 touchdowns this past season. An Auburn fan growing up, he has a passion for the program that you want out of your leader.

Establishing reliable receivers will be key for the Tigers’ offense. Auburn’s top three returning pass-catchers combined for just 261 yards a year ago.

The Defense

Seven starters return on defense for Auburn football.

Linebackers Zakoby McClain and Owen Pappoe give the Tigers one of the best tandems in the SEC at that position. They combined for 206 tackles and seven sacks this past season.

They lose defensive linemen Big Kat Bryant and Daquan Newkirk to transfer. Safeties Jamien Sherwood and Jordyn Peters are also gone. These holes will be filled by transfers of their own, but they won’t be easy to fill.

If the Tigers want to be among the top defenses, it starts with those replacements.

The Forecast

A new era always brings uncertainties, and that is the case with Auburn football.

How the team responds to Harsin in his first season will be critical to their success. He has the returning talent to make a serious push in the SEC race if other players step into their new roles. The ceiling for the Tigers is a New Year’s Six bowl, but a nine or 10-win season would likely be satisfactory.

Malzahn directed Auburn to a national title appearance in his first season. Although certainly nobody expects that from Harsin in 2021, expectations are high with this team.