Bryan Harsin shares why bowl opt-outs can help Auburn

As Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers prepare for their Birmingham bowl matchup against the Houston Cougars, they are doing so without key contributors from this past season. With the increased of movement in the NCAA Transfer Portal and more players opting not to play in bowl games to preserve their current draft stock, the Tigers, and many other teams around college football are making adjustments to their bowl rosters.

But while some may think of this as a hindrance, Harsin sees the silver lining in the influx of bowl game opt-outs.

“… There’s that opportunity at the next level, but that’s just become part of college football, at the end of the year,” Harsin said. “With some bowl games and some guys make decisions not to play, for different reasons. I think that’s just, whether you agree with it or not, that that’s become a part of college football in the past several years, at the end of the year.
“We’re not the only team, you’ll see there’s going to be everything in the country that’s not gonna have guys playing. They’re good players that can help you win. So, you gotta have other guys, I think that’s one of the best things when you have some time in a bowl, you get some other guys ready.”

Harsin “it’s a chance.”

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin announced Thursday night the following players will not play in the upcoming Birmingham Bowl vs. Houston: defensive back Roger McCreary, linebacker Zakoby McClain, and right tackle Brodarious Hamm.

The news is obviously horrible news for the Tigers’ defense in the matchup. They’ll be facing a high-powered Houston offensive attack that put up just over 37 points per game in 2021. But for Harsin young Tigers, this is their time to shine.

“I also think it’s a chance for those guys to step up and play, take advantage of their opportunity in the bowl practices, and then the chance to go play in that game, which most of those guys that will play when they are replacing somebody are gonna come back,” the Auburn head coach said. “So, that kind of springboards those guys into the offseason. And you know they want to perform well, and you want to see them perform because you wanna win the game. At the end of the season, you wanna win you wanna finish with a win and you wanna play against a really good team. We got that off in this game to do that.”