Bryan Harsin, Auburn embrace chip on the shoulder mentality

Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers did not make the top 25 in the preseason poll for college football. And that had some in the media wondering whether or not their exclusion from the top 25 has put a chip on the team’s shoulder. Well, according to Harsin, it has, and he and the Tigers are embracing that mentality.

“I think that whole concept of the chip and all that, you kind of got it. I think that’s one thing, I really do,” said Harsin. “There are certain things that motivate you, and you can get upset about whatever. I think it’s really what we’re trying to teach our guys is how to just be that way, regardless. I think that is the whole idea of our football program is how to teach people in our football program, coaches and players, how to be that way on a day-to-day basis. How to go out there and really have that chip on your shoulder every day for whatever it is you’re trying to do. “

Auburn did not make the preseason top 25 after their turbulent 2021 season and 2022 offseason. After a promising start to the season, the Tigers stumbled late, dropping their last four games, including blowing a 10-0 lead against in-state rival Alabama. Then, in the offseason, there was a mass exodus of players and coaches disgruntled with Harsin and his coaching style. This led to questions about his status with the team despite hiring him less than a season ago. But the Tigers headman is teaching his team to use that noise as fuel for 2022 and not to buy into what is being said:

“It doesn’t matter what anybody says to me. All that stuff is just a drama that surrounds what we do, but that’s not what we talk about necessarily. We talk about what we have to do today, like what’s on that board. Those are things that we talk about; those are things that matter to us, and that’s the motivating factor.”

So that’s not a focus for us. In these walls, what we’re trying to do on a day-to-day basis, how we develop our players, how they improve, giving them a chance to go live their goals and dreams, and making sure that they’re doing things the right way, to the best of our ability. That stuff is what matters.”

What matters most of all for Auburn and their fans is for the team to have a successful 2022 campaign. It won’t matter where they start the year, as long as they finish strong and put together a much better performance than they did in 2021.