Making a Case for the Auburn Tigers from SEC Media Days

Head coach Bryan Harsin had a rough ending to his first year on the Plains. However, 2021 started off with a bang. The 13th-ranked Tigers were 6-2 with their two losses coming against Penn State and Georgia. Then, the bottom fell out after losing their final five games of the season including two inexcusable Ls to South Carolina and Houston. Somehow, Auburn took Alabama to overtime in the Iron Bowl before dropping the game 24-22 in overtime. Late season struggles, an inquiry, and developmental inconsistencies brought on an offseason filled with intrigue and speculation for the Tigers.

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Case For

2022 brings on a new season with new hopes for head coach Bryan Harsin. Questions by far outweigh the answers when describing this team. One star that new offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau can count on is running back Tank Bigsby. The 6’0, 215-pound junior racked up 1,102 yards a season ago and returns to Auburn after flirting with the Portal. Bigsby will have a seasoned offensive line that features four returning starters many of which are of the six-year variety.

Auburn returns four offensive line starters, three of which are seniors. Center Nick Brahms is an actual airplane pilot and one of the best IOL in the league. Tackle Kilian Zierer and Keiondre Jones give the Tigers a great deal of experience up front. Sixth-year TE John Samuel Shenker had a record-breaking season in 2021. Luke Deal, Tyler Fromm, and Brandon Frazier make up one of the best tight end rooms in all of college football.

6’4, 256-pound Edge Derrick Hall recorded nine sacks a year ago and is back. He’s garnering All-American honors in the preseason and is joined by the ever-talented linebacker Owen Pappoe who has battled injuries but is being counted on to be a leader this season. When healthy, the 6’1, 225-pound senior has game-changing traits. His presence on the field will be of the utmost importance. Safety Zion Puckett is a talented deep third player. Oregon transfer Jayson Jones is expected to anchor the interior while defensive end Colby Woodson comes back and is the team’s top returning tackler after registering 61 stops last season.

Case Against

How hot is Bryan Harsin’s seat? The Auburn head coach’s first season was a doozy. Things can only go up from here, right? Will the critics be vocal in 2022? We’ll see. The Tigers host eight home games including five to start the season. Road contests are at Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Alabama. A week-three matchup against Penn State also looms large. A case can be made that Auburn has one of the most favorable schedules in the SEC West.

Who’s the quarterback? Auburn legacy signal caller Bo Nix left his beloved home and took his talents elsewhere. His departure could be perceived as an indication of how bad things got towards the end of the season. Texas A&M transfer Zach Calzada is the presumed favorite to win the job. He will compete with former LSU Tiger T.J. Finley and Oregon transfer Robby Ashford. Ashford has impressed and was named MVP of the Auburn spring game. Calzada’s consistency was in question in College Station. I’m not convinced he’ll be an upgrade at the position. With all that said, Auburn’s QB situation is dicey going into fall camp which makes folks on the Plains a little uneasy.

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Defensive coordinator Derek Mason left AU after one season and now calls plays at Oklahoma State. His one-year defensive results varied. However, the Tigers gave up 21.8 points per game which ranked fifth in the SEC. Harsin named Jeff Schmedding as Mason’s replacement after spending one season as the team’s linebacker coach. Schmedding’s defense returns four starters and must replace a load of talent from last year’s squad. Preseason All-American and All-SEC defensive lineman Derick Hall registered nine sacks last season and is back to shore up the edge. The Tigers’ defensive front is the most experienced and proven collective but it must replace secondary support.

The Tigers lost several close games last season. AU surrendered 246 pass yards per contest which was good, or bad enough to finish 12^th in the SEC. That’s far too much and must improve in 2022.

Verdict

Auburn is a proud and unique school with a distinctive athletic program. There seems to be a constant power struggle on the Plains. That dynamic has led to interesting coaching hires, fires, inquiries, and anecdotes. Harsin came from Boise State and was unfamiliar with the SEC’s landscape. He hired Derek Mason (Vanderbilt) and Mike Bobo (South Carolina/Georgia) to help. They are both gone. That leads to an unsteady feeling surrounding the Tigers’ trajectory coming off a season that saw over twelve players exit via the Portal. Not ideal.

War Eagle lost the last five games of the season in 2021. Add in the normal craziness that surrounds the AU leadership and you can see why the Tigers are expected by many to hover around or be slightly above .500 in 2022. Former Auburn center and a great friend to KSR, Cole Cubelic, projects this squad to an 8-4 record. I trust Cole; he’s the best in the business.

What Does All This Mean for Kentucky?

Nothing. Not on the schedule and little chance of a potential matchup in Atlanta.

Head Coach’s Best Quote

“Harsin discussed the February inquiry, “There was an inquiry. It was uncomfortable. It was unfounded. It presented an opportunity for people to personally attack me, my family, and also our program. And it didn’t work.
Right now our focus is on moving forward. What came out of that inquiry were a lot of positives. There was a silver lining in all of this. What I saw from our players and our coaches was leadership opportunities for them to step up, which is exactly what they did. You got a chance to see guys provide leadership. You got a chance to see coaches provide leadership.
What it did is it united our football team, our players, our staff, our football team. I’m really proud of our guys. I’m proud of what something like that that could be very challenging and difficult for a lot of people, how our guys stepped up and handled it.
We had coaches and players that could have went to different places, avoided all the adversity and challenges. They didn’t could that.
They’re here working extremely hard. They’re doing a fantastic job, in my opinion, getting themselves ready to go for this season. That will be the last I talk about that. There’s plenty of interviews on it. If you want any more information on it, just go Google it.”

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Check out the rest of Freddie’s “Making the Case For” SEC Media Days series: