Exit Survey: What we learned from spring practice

[aubiefifty 16,766]

Late Kick Blitz: Thoughts on Auburn's A-Day game

 

Despite a muck of injuries, Auburn got plenty of valuable information on its 2022 squad over the past month-plus of spring practice, which reached the finish line Saturday with the 15th and final practice in the form of the A-Day spring game.

Bryan Harsin and his staff now have approximately three months away from the players on the practice field before reconvening for preseason camp, where a number of intriguing position competitions — not the least of which, obviously, is quarterback — will continue to heat up.

Our team of football reporters — Jason Caldwell, Mark Murphy and Nathan King — give some brief, final thoughts about Auburn's second spring under Harsin, including standout players, surprises and areas of concern, in this Auburn Undercover Exit Survey.

Jason: For my offensive helmet sticker I would probably go with running back Tank Bigsby. He continues to put in the work and physically he looks as good as ever. On defense the choice is easy. Derick Hall works his tail off and is one of the leaders for the Tigers.

Mark: I will go with walk-on Sean Jackson on offense and Colby Wooden on defense. Both were good last year and both guys improved in the spring.

Nathan: On offense, let's give some love to Kilian Zierer. Working next a handful of what will be backups when the season starts, Zierer was steady throughout the spring and solidified his spot as Auburn's starting left tackle. For the defensive helmet sticker, I'll tab freshman safety Caleb Wooden. He was around the ball every practice, with multiple takeaways against the starting offense, and attacked his opportunity at first-team safety head on.

Jason: It was probably the play of the true freshman safety Wooden. He made a huge impact in his first spring with the Tigers after graduating high school early and has put himself in a great position heading into the summer.

Mark: Robby Ashford threw the football better than I expected. His athletic ability is no surprise.

Nathan: How about Ashford closing out spring with a bang? Like Mark referenced, he's been a remarkable athlete for years, dating back to his dual-sport efforts at Hoover High School and at Oregon. But the former blue-chip recruit seemed to pick up on the passing game nicely and put himself in position to be evenly matched with T.J. Finley heading into the preseason.

Jason: It would have to be the tight end position for me. When you have the luxury of moving Landen King to wide receiver to help out that spot, it means you’re in pretty good shape.

Mark: I would put the tight ends at the top of the list by a good margin.

Nathan: Any time five of your six players have found a significant role within the offense in spring, that's a great sign for a position group. Brad Bedell's tight ends will be a relied-upon asset for Auburn's quarterbacks and run game alike in the fall.

Jason: There are a few spots where Auburn in thin, but the wide receiver group has some serious work to do before the fall. That starts in the transfer portal. The Tigers need some help at wide receiver before next season to find a true No. 1 guy.

Mark: The wide receivers were a weak link last year and they are still lagging behind other groups on the 2022 roster.

Nathan: One glaring group on each side of the ball: edge rusher, which has only three scholarship players and is expecting a redshirt freshman to compete against SEC offensive lines every game; and receiver, where there are encouraging contributors but no true alpha for the QBs to rely on.

Jason: I really like all of the new guys, but I would probably go with Christian Robinson. I think he’s done a very good job with Auburn’s linebackers since arriving on campus. I thought the group played well on Saturday.

Mark: Jimmy Brumbaugh’s defensive line group looked like it improved this spring, which is good news for the Tigers.

Nathan: I enjoyed hearing Robinson's approach not only in molding his linebacking corps into an effective group for the defense, but also how he plans to sell Auburn on the recruiting trail – by tapping into his Georgia background and recalling how fun it was to play inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, even as a rival. He seems positioned to be one of the staff's best recruiters and did good work in the spring with a room that was missing its best player.

Jason: I think the biggest impact it had was to show that Ashford had put his name into the hat in a competition that will go into August before it’s decided. Ashford had a strong spring and finished well in the A-Day game.

Mark: My take is it made the competition more interesting with Ashford making a move, Zach Calzada throwing the ball well and early grad Holden Geriner getting off to a good start, are also interesting developments.

Nathan: He wasn't presented with the greatest of circumstances, but Finley still didn't move the needle in spring ball, opening the door for Ashford to scramble his way into the starting QB competition this fall. With Calzada likely to start on solid ground in preseason camp because of his SEC experience, it's truly a wide-open battle under center, which should make for an exciting August.

Jason: To this point it hasn’t changed my opinion much on the 2022 team. It’s a group that has some pieces, but also some holes that need some immediate help with from the transfer portal.

Mark: Not much. I thought the QBs threw the ball well, but when those guys are off limits to contact it makes it more difficult for an accurate evaluation.

Nathan: There's talent at every position on this roster, but certain depth issues are going to force the coaching staff to maximize that talent if Auburn wants to flirt with a successful record in 2022. Spring also showed me that the Tigers can't afford to have the currently injured players be rusty in preseason camp. Groups like the offensive line have to hit the ground running when they get all their starters back.

Jason: I think it was just the different feel from the program coming off last season. We had more access this spring than we’ve had in quite a while and it was good to be able to sit down with coaches and players again to get a feel for the program.

Mark: Talking to Zierer about how he got interested in American football and found his way to this country to compete in the sport he is becoming very good at playing.

Nathan: Echoing Jason's answer here: It was overwhelmingly refreshing to get back in the building this spring; we'd been covering Auburn football almost exclusively over Zoom since 2020. Getting to know the team — assistants, players and even Harsin — is immensely easier and more enjoyable when you can interact naturally, rather than behind a screen. It's great that we're at a point that Auburn has deemed things safe enough to resume that.

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[JerryAU 1,659]

Thanks for posting 50. 

[japantiger 4,051]

Was traveling for the last 10 days...what was the game format and is there a good article with Stats you guys  would recommend?  Did ESPN carry it?

[toddc 13,194]

1 hour ago, japantiger said:

Was traveling for the last 10 days...what was the game format and is there a good article with Stats you guys  would recommend?  Did ESPN carry it?

ESPN plus has replays of the game 

[Mikey 16,578]

17 hours ago, japantiger said:

Was traveling for the last 10 days...what was the game format and is there a good article with Stats you guys  would recommend?  Did ESPN carry it?

The SEC network has shown it at least three times. Don't know about future times, if any.