'We just need him out there'

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AUBURN, Alabama — On the official roster, Landen King is a tight end. But ask King, and he’ll tell you he’s a wideout; just look at his social medias, which include “wide receiver at Auburn” in his bio.

And this spring, the athletic sophomore has been made to embrace his hybrid abilities more so than ever before, spending extended time practicing in the receivers room, as well as his original position group.

Bryan Harsin still hasn’t devised a name for King’s specific role within the offense. All he knows is, whatever position King is playing, Auburn is better with him as a pass-catching option.

“Yeah, I'm not sure what to call him yet,” Harsin said Saturday, after the team’s second spring scrimmage. “... We've gone back and forth. We just need him out there.”

The former three-star recruit from Texas was given an opportunity midseason because of his playmaking ability on the scout team — during a time when Auburn’s receivers were struggling with drops. King had two catches against Georgia and remained a rotational piece in the passing game for the rest of the season.

But is he still a tight end? He played 88.6% of his snaps last season split out, and last week in spring practice, he began to work at both tight end and in the receivers room under position coach Ike Hilliard.

“He's long, he's smart, he can run,” Harsin said. “We're working to find a role for him. … We're going to be able to put him out there and let him play some receiver.”

At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, King is one of the most athletic players on the roster, and Auburn had toyed with the idea of fully converting him to a big-slot receiver since last season. He made one of the top plays of the season for Auburn when he one-handed a touchdown from T.J. Finley to extend the game in overtime against Alabama.

“We're going to do everything we can with Landen,” tight ends coach Brad Bedell said. “Look at what he did last year — so young. … That's the one thing with Landen is that he comes with maturity. There's an understanding of when you get here and step into the stadiums as a young kid, you're like, oh, okay. He did that, and now he's successful. His confidence is higher; his maturity has grown.”

Injuries to a couple Auburn receivers this spring created even more reason for King to split time there, Harsin said. Starter Ja'Varrius Johnson tweaked his hamstring and missed all of Auburn’s second week of spring practices, though he’s back now, and reserve J.J. Evans is out until the summer after undergoing a knee procedure.

Harsin knows it can be taxing to ask a young player like King, in only his second season with the program, to devote his time to two different position groups, all while remaining the playmaker Auburn knows he can be.

But what Harsin and the coaching staff have seen, as a result, is that the pressure has brought out the best in King and his competitiveness, and will, Auburn hopes, ultimately result in him becoming a better player for it, regardless of where he lines up within the offense.

“He'll jump from that meeting to that meeting, and he's learning,” Harsin said. “For him, it can be frustrating sometimes because we're asking him to do a lot. And it's a lot. But what I see is that he's getting overall better as a football player. … Landen is really competitive, that's the one thing. He wants to go out there and he wants to do well. He wants to be successful every time he steps on the field. I appreciate that about him, and now it's about honing all those skills he's learning right now.

“We have to help him with that, too. We have to make some decisions; we have to help him. What we're asking him to do, he's done a good job with it.”

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