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Observations from Auburn’s last day of spring football


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Observations from Auburn’s last day of spring football

By Nubyjas Wilborn | nwilborn@al.com
6-7 minutes

Auburn A-Day 2022

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin addresses his team after the Tiger's Spring game at Jordan-Hare (Patrick Greenfield | AL.com)

Bryan Harsin completed his second spring on the Plains Saturday at Jordan-Hare with the A-Day game. An announced crowd of 29,346 sat inside Jordan-Hare on a cold and windy day that didn’t feel like spring. Auburn had 15 practices that culminated with a scrimmage that at times resembled a typical football game.

Auburn completed its spring session of 15 practices making Saturday the last time the Tigers practice until fall camp before the season opener against Mercer.

“I’ve been proud of our guys. I think they’ve worked hard. I think they’ve taken advantage of the opportunities to go out there and get better at their position and to get better as a team,” Harsin said. That needs to continue. To me, the physical part of it is something that we’re all going to be doing together that the strength staff and coaches are handling, but it’s the mentality and the mental side of the game. What are they going to do from now until summer, and how much better can we get before we step out there and play so that we can play fast?”

Read More Auburn Football: What Bryan Harsin said about A-Day, Auburn’s quarterback competition

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Let’s get into a few observations from A-Day at Jordan-Hare.

-- One of the highlight moments was the last play of the contest, where Team Tigers defeated Team Auburn 10-9 after four quarters of action. Freshman Holden Geriner had wrapped up an 80-yard 15 play drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Landen King to bring his squad within one point of Team Tigers.

Nobody wants a tie or overtime in a spring scrimmage, so Geriner went for two, and the Auburn defense broke up the pass attempt in the end zone. Harsin enjoyed giving his squad one last chance to compete.

“It was fun to have the opportunity to end that way. It kind of ties into the theme of what spring ball has been, which is competitive,” Harsin told reporters. So, with a two-point conversion and that last drive, Holden (Geriner) made a throw, and Landen (King) made the catch there to give their team a chance to win the game.

“That’s been the theme of spring. It’s just been competition. We talked about leadership. We talked about chemistry, all those things like that, just competing. Now, moving forward, it’s going to be about execution and making sure that what we learned from spring and what we’re doing moving forward is for us to execute when it’s time for us to go out there and play and win a football game.

-- Runningbacks Tank Bigsby and Sean Jackson combined for 15 yards on six carries for Team Tigers. Sean Jackson had 23 yards on six carries, and Jordon Ingram had 14 yards on four touches for Team Auburn. Bigsby also 3 catches for 28 yards out of the backfield. Getting Bigsby the ball is imperative for an Auburn team looking for playmakers. Seeing catch passes is a positive sign despite the lack of yards on the ground.

“I can do a lot of things. Coach Harsin got me everywhere,” Bigsby said. You know, got me in the slot receiver, running back—he got me just doing everything. He wants to get me the ball in the open field and do what I have to do.”

-- It’s important to remember that starting offensive linemen Austin Troxell, Brandon Council, Keiondre Jones, and Nick Brahms were all out with injuries when evaluating the run game. The defensive line did play well, but not having four of the five starting linemen is limiting.

“I think our d-line, linebackers, those guys have been playing well. So, it’s just that back and forth. But what I would look at is say, ‘Alright, we got some short-yardage runs in there,” Our defense stopped the offense on the short-yardage play at fourth down. We also got some. So, those critical moments where you’ve got to get those yards, I think there’s probably 50-50 in those situations.

-- Punter Oscar Chapman might be Auburn’s best player at his position. The Australian native had three punts for a 45-yard average for Team Tigers and landed two inside the 20-yard-line. He had two punts for a 37.5 yard average for Team Auburn. The punts for Team Auburn were into a swirling 16 mph wind.

“Oscar makes it wonderful because he’s going to put the ball right where we need to put it. If we need to put it in that back corner, that’s where it’s going,” Auburn defensive end Colby Wooden said. Defense, we can go out there and not let them get out of that corner. He’s just tremendous.”

-- Harsin also showed love to Chapman.

I’m a big fan of Oscar. I know we want to score every single time, but you’re going to flip the field when you’ve got an elite punter, and I think Oscar is one of the best in the country,” Harsin said. And I say that because I’ve seen him. He’s a phenomenal young man. Awesome leader. I think he executes at a high level, every time in practice, when it’s his opportunity to go out there and do what he has to do. So, yeah, that helps us with field position—if we can, teams that can win the field position battle, that’s a big part of it. So he helps us there.”

-- Colby and Caleb Wooden have a unique opportunity to become the first set of biological brothers to share the field for Auburn since Kameron and Derrick Brown played together for the 2019 season. Caleb is a burgeoning talent at safety. Colby is a veteran on the defensive line.

“Watching him growing up from when he was younger, playing plays at safety and running back and all that stuff, now it’s just exciting to be on the same field with him,” Wooden said. He’s got a couple of things to tidy up, but I always tell him that. It’s cool to see him out there. I’m like, ‘That’s my brother out there.’ He’s on the field making plays. It was just incredible. Hopefully, this fall, we’ve got two Woodens on the field at the same time.”

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