12.26.23 Football Articles

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si.com

 

Auburn Tigers Snap Counts: 2023 Recruiting Class

Brian Smith

2–3 minutes

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Snap counts for each 2023 Auburn Tigers football recruit

Here are the year-long snap counts for the Auburn Tigers' freshmen class. Each player's information comes from the Pro Football Focus database.

Eligibility Notice: Any college player who plays four or fewer games can preserve a redshirt year. There is an extra point about that number as well. 

Bowl games do not count against a freshman's eligibility. More specifically, even if a Tigers freshman plays against the Terrapins and already has seen action in four contests, the fifth game against Maryland allows that Auburn player to hold his redshirt.

Quarterback Hank Brown: 0 (redshirt preserved)

Running Back Jeremiah Cobb: 249

Center Connor Lew: 365

Offensive Tackle Izavion Miller (Junior - JC recruit): 574

Offensive Tackle Tyler Johnson: 41 (redshirt preserved)

Offensive Guard Clay Wedin: 0 (redshirt preserved)

Offensive Guard Bradyn Joiner: 0 (redshirt preserved)

Defensive End Keldric Faulk: 437

Defensive Tackle Darron Reed, Jr.: 0 (redshirt preserved)

Defensive Lineman Wilky Denaud (in the Transfer Portal): 0 (redshirt preserved)

Defensive Lineman Brenton Williams: 14 (redshirt preserved)

Defensive Tackle Quientrail Jamison-Travis (Junior - JC recruit): 21 (redshirt preserved)

Defensive Tackle Stephen Johnson (in the Transfer Portal): 0 (redshirt preserved)

Cornerback Kayin Lee: 401

Cornerback Colton Hood: 15 (redshirt preserved)

Cornerback JC Hart: 36 (redshirt preserved)

Cornerback Champ Anthony (Sophomore - JC recruit): 260

Safety Tyler Scott: 17 (redshirt preserved)

Nickel/Safety Sylvester Smith: 51

Safety Terrance Love: 160

Safety C.J. Johnson: 0 (redshirt preserved)

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247sports.com

Whats on Auburns transfer wish list this Christmas

Nathan King

9–11 minutes

Auburn’s coaching staff has a much-deserved Christmas break, but after the bowl game, Hugh Freeze and crew will refocus on the transfer portal.

Freeze admitted he put more of his time and effort since the end of the regular season toward securing an elite 2024 class, and it paid off in the form of the No. 7 class in the country after last week’s early signing period.

Auburn’s brought in three transfers so far — Duke linebacker Dorian Mausi, Kansas defensive tackle Gage Keys and Georgia State receiver Robert Lewis — but still have at least a few positions of need.

The portal is open until Jan. 3, and that ensuing weekend will end the visit dead period (for transfers only), giving schools an opportunity to get last-minute transfer targets on campus, committed and enrolled before the start of the spring semester — so they can participate in spring practices. Classes start back at Auburn that following Wednesday, Jan. 10.

So what did Freeze and his staff put on their transfer wish list this Christmas? Let’s break down some of Auburn’s biggest needs when the staff redirects their attention to the portal soon.

GOOD FORTUNE ON THE O-LINE

Auburn thought it had its two offensive line transfers lined up a couple weeks ago.

Freeze said last week that Auburn’s two biggest offensive line targets committed elsewhere before visiting the Plains, and they obviously never made it to campus for their previous scheduled trip after that point. He was referencing Toledo guard Vinny Sciury and San Jose State offensive tackle Fernando Carmona. Offensive line coach Jake Thornton had heavily targeted both, even making multiple in-home visits to see Carmona, but they had other visits set up before Auburn. So Texas Tech and Arkansas, respectively, were able to land them, so the Tigers went into the holiday break without any O-line transfers.

It’s not as if Auburn is scrambling for help up front, though. The staff made sure that wouldn’t be the case last year when they brought in 10 newcomers on the offensive line. Seth Wilfred, the No. 4 offensive tackle in the JUCO ranks, will also enroll for spring practices within the next few weeks, and Auburn believes he could contend for a starting job at tackle right away.

Dillon Wade will likely move from left tackle to guard, so the true vacancies in terms of 2023 starters will likely be at left tackle and right guard. And Auburn still has players like Jaden Muskrat, Jeremiah Wright, Tyler Johnson and Dylan Senda that will be eyeing starting jobs in 2024. Johnson, a rising sophomore, could be a sleeper candidate at left tackle, while Muskrat was a versatile backup this season who can play tackle or guard.

In short, Auburn isn’t panicking about its transfer outlook on the offensive line, but it does hope to get some good fortune soon. The Tigers targeted Georgia transfer Joshua Miller within the last week, but he committed to Syracuse. With the winter transfer window open for another nine days, Freeze and Thornton hope there will be a few options available for them to get on campus for an early January visit, so they can be with the team before spring ball, but even if Auburn has to wait until after the spring, it won’t be in a bad spot at the position.

“Hopefully there’ll be a few that go in the portal that we can try to get in on,” Freeze said last week. “There’s no question, that one position has been the biggest challenge for me to try to figure out and for Jake to try to figure out. We’re still trying to figure that one out, truthfully.”

MORE EXPERIENCE AT RECEIVER

Both numbers- and production-wise, no position group has been hit harder for Auburn in the portal than wide receiver.

Three of the Tigers’ four entries didn’t make much impact, as Malcolm Johnson Jr., Jyaire Shorter and Omari Kelly combined for only nine receptions this season. But when Ja'Varrius Johnson entered the portal, it served as Auburn’s biggest transfer loss of the cycle by far, as the fifth-year senior led the receiving corps in yards and touchdowns this season. Auburn is now left with seven scholarship receivers in the bowl game.

Of course, Auburn not only has one transfer receiver on board in Georgia State’s Robert Lewis, but it also just signed the highest-rated receiver haul in the 2024 class. The goal is for that group’s immense talent to catalyze a success facelift for the passing game. But that may not be right away in 2024; they’ll just be true freshmen, after all. So Auburn is still keeping its eyes peeled for another transfer to take some pressure off those youngsters; quarterback Payton Thorne said himself last week that the team is still doing so.

FAU transfer Lajohntay Wester is the big fish right now, after he had nearly 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns this season.

Much like the offensive line, Auburn doesn’t feel like it’s under pressure to get another receiver in the portal, and rolling with the current group in 2024 wouldn’t change much of the offensive staff’s plans — especially if that player can’t arrive until the summer, and freshmen like Cam Coleman and Bryce Cain will be early enrollees.

ANOTHER PIECE FOR THE D-LINE

Here’s the top of Freeze’s list to Santa. Auburn needs at least one more difference-maker on the interior defensive line — especially if starting nose tackle Justin Rogers decides to head to the NFL after the bowl game.

With first team All-SEC pick Marcus Harris off to the draft, there is a significant void of experience for next season. Flipping top-50 overall recruit Amaris Williams from Florida was a big step in the right direction, but in terms of returning players at defensive tackle, Auburn is thin on production right now.

Lawrence Johnson is out of eligibility, so when excluding the nose tackles, the only returning pieces on the interior are Darron Reed Jr. and Quientrail Jamison-Travis, with the former not appearing in a game this season, and Jamison-Travis only playing two games in mop-up duty. Keys comes over from Kansas after posting 21 tackles and 13 QB pressures this season.

Standout true freshman Keldric Faulk should be even more capable of kicking inside with another full offseason bulking up in the strength program, but he’s also the team’s best returning defensive end.

Auburn’s lone transfer visitor along the defensive line was Michigan State’s Derrick Harmon two weekends ago. He then visited Oregon and Ohio State before the end of the dead period, and there’s since been steam that an NIL push from Michigan State could pull him out of the portal and bring him back to the Spartans.

As is the case at most transfer positions for Auburn after the dead period, this feels like a spot where the Tigers will be resetting their board with upcoming transfer entries. At least one addition will be needed for position coach Jeremy Garrett’s group.

BRIDGING THE SECONDARY GAP

Auburn has an army of young and talented defensive backs on the roster, now with eight 247Sports Composite 4-star signees over the past two cycles — and that doesn’t even include 3-star safety Laquan Robinson, the No. 1 JUCO safety in the 2024 class whom Auburn’s staff thinks can compete for one of the two starting vacancies at safety right away.

The most-utilized youngsters in the secondary this season were cornerback Kayin Lee, who started three games at the beginning of the season due to an injury and Nehemiah Pritchett, and held down the No. 3 cornerback job for the rest of the season, and safety Terrance Love, who played in five games and was one of the team’s highest-graded defenders despite limited snaps.

But with Pritchett, fellow cornerback starter D.J. James, and starting safeties Jaylin Simpson and Zion Puckett all off to the NFL, Auburn knows it shouldn’t start from scratch at all four spots. Keionte Scott’s upcoming move from nickel to outside cornerback solves a big piece of the puzzle, giving Lee an experienced, NFL talent as his starting counterpart, plus Donovan Kaufman will be entering his fourth season at Auburn and has plenty of experience playing and starting at nickel.

Still, some of Auburn’s most common transfer targets in the early stages of the winter window were corners and safeties. The most popular name right now is Georgia’s A.J. Harris, a former 5-star recruit from right down the road in Phenix City who visited Auburn last weekend just two days after entering the portal.

Caleb Wooden and Robinson would likely be the starters at safety if the season began today, but Auburn would prefer to add some experience into that competition via the portal. The Tigers kicked the tires on some of the top safeties in the portal, like Liberty’s Preston Hodge and Oregon State’s Akili Arnold, but weren’t able to lock in any visits or commitments. Auburn’s staff will be looking closely at some of the top defensive back transfer entries over the next few weeks.

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al.com

 

Auburn football got itself a Christmas gift this year: Bowl practices.

Published: Dec. 25, 2023, 6:58 a.m.

5–7 minutes

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Auburn's Hugh Freeze previews Music City Bowl against Maryland

Okay, Auburn isn’t actually practicing today. It is Christmas, after all. The whole team began heading home Friday and won’t return to Auburn until tomorrow when it will travel together to Nashville for the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30.

So, Auburn’s football team already opened up most of its Christmas gift for this year. With six wins, they bought it for themselves. They got extra practices in advance of the bowl game.

It’s a gift like socks. Not exactly flashy, but always important. And always needed.

Auburn has a developing team going through an offseason of roster turnover. Had Auburn not gotten to the six-win mark and thus a bowl game, the team would have dispersed following the Iron Bowl and not convened to practice again until spring ball.

Head coach Hugh Freeze is only having a handful of practices before the Music City Bowl as to not exhaust his players. But as Freeze said himself, that extra practice time is invaluable. It’s why before he even clinched bowl eligibility, he was already thinking about it.

“Number one, you want to do it for your seniors. Number two, you want to do it for your fans,” Freeze said after beating Vanderbilt on Nov. 4, the fifth win of the year. “But number three, you want the extra practices and another chance to compete for Auburn and to put our kids in that scenario of playing another quality opponent in a bowl game. I did kind of go away and I made it clear that is a goal of ours in Year 1.”

Most of those practices have come and gone now. Auburn opened up bowl practices on Dec. 16. Practices were held throughout the ensuing week until the team broke for the holiday weekend. Once Auburn gets to Nashville, it will hold at least two practices at Vanderbilt before playing the Music City Bowl itself.

The transfer portal and NFL opt-outs have meant for some thing positions on Auburn’s roster and some tired players as a result of the extra practice repetitions.

That’s especially the case among Auburn’s secondary and pass catchers. Both starting cornerbacks DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett have opted out of the bowl game as they pursue their NFL futures. Nickel cornerback Keionte Scott said Monday that he plans to move into an outside cornerback role and will start for the bowl game. True freshman Kayin Lee figures to slide into the second outside cornerback back spot. He had the most experience playing outside this season on Auburn’s roster outside of James and Pritchett.

On offense, Auburn has lost four wide receivers — Omari Kelly, Jyaire Shorter, Malcolm Johnson Jr. and Ja’Varrius Johnson — to the transfer portal. Tight end Tyler Fromm has also left.

Outside of Ja’Varrius Johnson who has been Auburn’s leading receiver over the last two seasons, Auburn is not losing much production with anyone in that group. But losing that many players will thin out what is left to put on the field.

In the short term, it means coaches have to adjust their depth charts for the bowl game itself.

In the long term, it means expanded responsibility and time for those who may not have had it previously. Largely, that is looking at the younger players on the roster. And for an Auburn team that is still in a developmental stage for the long term, the bowl practices are greatly beneficial for those inexperienced players.

“I just told these young guys, they’re going to get thrown in there,” Freeze said on Auburn’s first day of bowl practices. “Truthfully, you’re going to get those young corners in for sure. It will be good to see how they prepare for a game and then go play a very talented football team. Up front we are a little thin now with Mosiah being out and Marcus choosing not to play. It’s next man up. We’ve got to get some of these young guys in there.”

Freeze mentioned freshman defensive lineman DJ Reed and junior college transfer defensive lineman Quientrail Jamison-Travis as players who he’s focusing on due to the opt-out of NFL-bound DL Marcus Harris and the season-ending injury to former starter Mosiah Nasili-Kite. True freshman Keldric Faulk stepped into Nasili-Kite’s spot over the latter half of the season and continues to improve.

On offense, Freeze noted how thin his wide receivers are. He’s looking for big steps forward from sophomores Jay Fair and Camden Brown. And, in their final college games, Freeze is hoping for good days from Nick Mardner and Shane Hooks.

Veteran Auburn players like tight end Luke Deal, offensive lineman Kam Stutts and Scott all mentioned young players in their position groups who they saw improvement from.

That’s not an improvement that will necessarily shine through in the bowl game. Bowl practices can be the type of Christmas gift that just gets better with age.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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247sports.com

 

Whats on Auburns transfer wish list this Christmas

Nathan King

9–11 minutes

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Auburn’s coaching staff has a much-deserved Christmas break, but after the bowl game, Hugh Freeze and crew will refocus on the transfer portal.

Freeze admitted he put more of his time and effort since the end of the regular season toward securing an elite 2024 class, and it paid off in the form of the No. 7 class in the country after last week’s early signing period.

Auburn’s brought in three transfers so far — Duke linebacker Dorian Mausi, Kansas defensive tackle Gage Keys and Georgia State receiver Robert Lewis — but still have at least a few positions of need.

The portal is open until Jan. 3, and that ensuing weekend will end the visit dead period (for transfers only), giving schools an opportunity to get last-minute transfer targets on campus, committed and enrolled before the start of the spring semester — so they can participate in spring practices. Classes start back at Auburn that following Wednesday, Jan. 10.

So what did Freeze and his staff put on their transfer wish list this Christmas? Let’s break down some of Auburn’s biggest needs when the staff redirects their attention to the portal soon.

GOOD FORTUNE ON THE O-LINE

Auburn thought it had its two offensive line transfers lined up a couple weeks ago.

Freeze said last week that Auburn’s two biggest offensive line targets committed elsewhere before visiting the Plains, and they obviously never made it to campus for their previous scheduled trip after that point. He was referencing Toledo guard Vinny Sciury and San Jose State offensive tackle Fernando Carmona. Offensive line coach Jake Thornton had heavily targeted both, even making multiple in-home visits to see Carmona, but they had other visits set up before Auburn. So Texas Tech and Arkansas, respectively, were able to land them, so the Tigers went into the holiday break without any O-line transfers.

It’s not as if Auburn is scrambling for help up front, though. The staff made sure that wouldn’t be the case last year when they brought in 10 newcomers on the offensive line. Seth Wilfred, the No. 4 offensive tackle in the JUCO ranks, will also enroll for spring practices within the next few weeks, and Auburn believes he could contend for a starting job at tackle right away.

Dillon Wade will likely move from left tackle to guard, so the true vacancies in terms of 2023 starters will likely be at left tackle and right guard. And Auburn still has players like Jaden Muskrat, Jeremiah Wright, Tyler Johnson and Dylan Senda that will be eyeing starting jobs in 2024. Johnson, a rising sophomore, could be a sleeper candidate at left tackle, while Muskrat was a versatile backup this season who can play tackle or guard.

In short, Auburn isn’t panicking about its transfer outlook on the offensive line, but it does hope to get some good fortune soon. The Tigers targeted Georgia transfer Joshua Miller within the last week, but he committed to Syracuse. With the winter transfer window open for another nine days, Freeze and Thornton hope there will be a few options available for them to get on campus for an early January visit, so they can be with the team before spring ball, but even if Auburn has to wait until after the spring, it won’t be in a bad spot at the position.

“Hopefully there’ll be a few that go in the portal that we can try to get in on,” Freeze said last week. “There’s no question, that one position has been the biggest challenge for me to try to figure out and for Jake to try to figure out. We’re still trying to figure that one out, truthfully.”

MORE EXPERIENCE AT RECEIVER

Both numbers- and production-wise, no position group has been hit harder for Auburn in the portal than wide receiver.

Three of the Tigers’ four entries didn’t make much impact, as Malcolm Johnson Jr., Jyaire Shorter and Omari Kelly combined for only nine receptions this season. But when Ja'Varrius Johnson entered the portal, it served as Auburn’s biggest transfer loss of the cycle by far, as the fifth-year senior led the receiving corps in yards and touchdowns this season. Auburn is now left with seven scholarship receivers in the bowl game.

Of course, Auburn not only has one transfer receiver on board in Georgia State’s Robert Lewis, but it also just signed the highest-rated receiver haul in the 2024 class. The goal is for that group’s immense talent to catalyze a success facelift for the passing game. But that may not be right away in 2024; they’ll just be true freshmen, after all. So Auburn is still keeping its eyes peeled for another transfer to take some pressure off those youngsters; quarterback Payton Thorne said himself last week that the team is still doing so.

FAU transfer Lajohntay Wester is the big fish right now, after he had nearly 1,200 yards and eight touchdowns this season.

Much like the offensive line, Auburn doesn’t feel like it’s under pressure to get another receiver in the portal, and rolling with the current group in 2024 wouldn’t change much of the offensive staff’s plans — especially if that player can’t arrive until the summer, and freshmen like Cam Coleman and Bryce Cain will be early enrollees.

ANOTHER PIECE FOR THE D-LINE

Here’s the top of Freeze’s list to Santa. Auburn needs at least one more difference-maker on the interior defensive line — especially if starting nose tackle Justin Rogers decides to head to the NFL after the bowl game.

With first team All-SEC pick Marcus Harris off to the draft, there is a significant void of experience for next season. Flipping top-50 overall recruit Amaris Williams from Florida was a big step in the right direction, but in terms of returning players at defensive tackle, Auburn is thin on production right now.

Lawrence Johnson is out of eligibility, so when excluding the nose tackles, the only returning pieces on the interior are Darron Reed Jr. and Quientrail Jamison-Travis, with the former not appearing in a game this season, and Jamison-Travis only playing two games in mop-up duty. Keys comes over from Kansas after posting 21 tackles and 13 QB pressures this season.

Standout true freshman Keldric Faulk should be even more capable of kicking inside with another full offseason bulking up in the strength program, but he’s also the team’s best returning defensive end.

Auburn’s lone transfer visitor along the defensive line was Michigan State’s Derrick Harmon two weekends ago. He then visited Oregon and Ohio State before the end of the dead period, and there’s since been steam that an NIL push from Michigan State could pull him out of the portal and bring him back to the Spartans.

As is the case at most transfer positions for Auburn after the dead period, this feels like a spot where the Tigers will be resetting their board with upcoming transfer entries. At least one addition will be needed for position coach Jeremy Garrett’s group.

BRIDGING THE SECONDARY GAP

Auburn has an army of young and talented defensive backs on the roster, now with eight 247Sports Composite 4-star signees over the past two cycles — and that doesn’t even include 3-star safety Laquan Robinson, the No. 1 JUCO safety in the 2024 class whom Auburn’s staff thinks can compete for one of the two starting vacancies at safety right away.

The most-utilized youngsters in the secondary this season were cornerback Kayin Lee, who started three games at the beginning of the season due to an injury and Nehemiah Pritchett, and held down the No. 3 cornerback job for the rest of the season, and safety Terrance Love, who played in five games and was one of the team’s highest-graded defenders despite limited snaps.

But with Pritchett, fellow cornerback starter D.J. James, and starting safeties Jaylin Simpson and Zion Puckett all off to the NFL, Auburn knows it shouldn’t start from scratch at all four spots. Keionte Scott’s upcoming move from nickel to outside cornerback solves a big piece of the puzzle, giving Lee an experienced, NFL talent as his starting counterpart, plus Donovan Kaufman will be entering his fourth season at Auburn and has plenty of experience playing and starting at nickel.

Still, some of Auburn’s most common transfer targets in the early stages of the winter window were corners and safeties. The most popular name right now is Georgia’s A.J. Harris, a former 5-star recruit from right down the road in Phenix City who visited Auburn last weekend just two days after entering the portal.

Caleb Wooden and Robinson would likely be the starters at safety if the season began today, but Auburn would prefer to add some experience into that competition via the portal. The Tigers kicked the tires on some of the top safeties in the portal, like Liberty’s Preston Hodge and Oregon State’s Akili Arnold, but weren’t able to lock in any visits or commitments. Auburn’s staff will be looking closely at some of the top defensive back transfer entries over the next few weeks.

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auburntigers.com

 

‘Never lose faith’: Fairweather looks forward to first bowl game

Auburn University Athletics

7–9 minutes

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AUBURN, Ala. – On Monday, it marked one year to the day that Rivaldo Fairweather announced he was transferring to Auburn. He played his first three seasons at Florida International, winning a total of five games in that span, and he entered the transfer portal with the hopes of elevating his game to another level. 

Fairweather found that at Auburn. The 6-foot-4, 251-pound tight end led the Tigers in receptions (33), receiving yards (349) and receiving touchdowns (6) in 2023 and was voted Second Team All-SEC by the league's coaches earlier this month. 

"A year ago, I was in the portal," Fairweather said. "Coming here and being a part of Auburn and being a part of this Auburn Family, it's just a blessing. I'm thankful. It just shows all the hard work you put in in the offseason and you put in during the season, it's going to pay off. You just have to trust God and know that it's God's timing and never lose faith. 

"Next year, I'm going to go come back 10 times harder and be First Team All-SEC and be the No. 1 tight end in the nation."

1️⃣3️⃣ is BACK 🙌⚡️@rivaldo_f13 pic.twitter.com/c4NnDOuGEd

— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) December 18, 2023

Fairweather made it official Tuesday, announcing his intentions to return to Auburn for the 2024 season. He's looking forward to having a full offseason to work with Payton Thorne, something the Auburn quarterback is looking forward to as well. 

"He's been vital to our offense," Thorne said. "He's come down with some big plays for us this year and been a good target on third down as well. I'm excited to get a full offseason with him. I thought we got a lot of work in during the summer, but having a full offseason with him is going to help a lot. We're going to work on some things together, and we should be even sharper next year. Valdo is a great guy. I love playing with him. His future is bright."

First up, however, is the bowl game. Auburn has been practicing all week and getting ready to face Maryland in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Ironically, Maryland was one of the other main schools who recruited Fairweather while he was in the portal. 

For Fairweather, it will be the first bowl game of his college career. 

"I'm really excited to go out there in Nashville and have my family there and have fun," he said. "But the main thing is just getting the win."

There have been a lot of firsts this year for Fairweather. First game at Auburn. First SEC game. First Iron Bowl. With a little help from fellow tight end Luke Deal, who has also announced he's returning next year, Fairweather has taken it all in stride. 

"It's just like how our season goes," Deal said. "You open up with a game, the home crowd is there. He never experienced that at FIU. That was a huge step for him, getting in front of that big crowd. And then you go first SEC game, first Iron Bowl. I feel like each time we talked about, 'OK, this is going to be a little bit different for you.' You could tell he was shocked at first, but he lived in the moment and performed better and better each time. 

"Now he's kind of seen it all except for a bowl game. I've been very pleased to see how he's grown from spring ball to fall camp to now."

The last time Auburn played in Nashville, a road game at Vanderbilt earlier this season, Fairweather hauled in a 53-yard touchdown reception. The Tigers won 31-15 in front of a pro-Auburn crowd at Vanderbilt's FirstBank Stadium. 

This time, the Tigers will get to play in Nissan Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titans, and Fairweather knows the Auburn Family will once again show up. 

"I expect greatness from the Auburn Family," he said. "A couple days ago I went to the basketball game. We're not even in school and just seeing the stadium being packed out and having all the students there and having all the fans there, it was amazing to me.  

"I thank the Auburn Family for always showing up. It's just different. I've never been a part of this big fan base. Me being here is just great. It's a blessing from God. The fans are amazing. I know they're not going to disappoint. The tickets are already sold out. I already know it's going to be an Auburn home game for us."

Auburn and Maryland will kick off at 1 p.m. CT on Dec. 30. Tickets are still available through SeatGeek. The game will be televised on ABC.

Players Mentioned

#86 Luke Deal

TE 6' 5" Senior Education

#13 Rivaldo Fairweather

TE 6' 4" Junior Liberal Arts

#1 Payton Thorne

QB 6' 2" Junior Education

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[aubiefifty 16,793]

Auburn updates depth chart for Music City Bowl after departures

JD McCarthy

Tue, December 26, 2023 at 9:30 AM CST·2 min read

 

 

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It is nearly time for Auburn football to return to action in the Music City Bowl against the Maryland Terrapins.

The Auburn team will look quite differently after several players have entered the transfer portal and are no longer with the team. The biggest losses are on the defensive side where starting cornerbacks D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett and starting defensive tackle Marcus Harris have all opted-out of the game as they prepare for the NFL draft.

The wide receiver position has been hit particularly hard with four players, including the leading wide receiver Ja'Varrius Johnson, entering the transfer portal. The group is down to just seven scholarship wideouts. Here is a look at the new depth chart after all of the departures.

Quarterback

 

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

 

Starter: Payton Thorne

Backup: Holden Geriner

Running Back

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Jarquez Hunter

Backups: Damari Alston, Brian Battie, Jeremiah Cobb

Tight End

 

(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Starter: Rivaldo Fairweather OR Luke Deal

Backups: Brandon Frazier, Micah Riley

Wide Receiver

 

Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Caleb Burton III OR Jay Fair

Wide Receiver

 

(Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Starter: Camden Brown OR Shane Hooks

Backups: Koy Moore, Nick Mardner

Left Tackle

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Dillon Wade

Backup: Jaden Muskrat

Left Guard

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Gunner Britton

Backup: Tate Johnson

Center

 

Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics

Starter: Avery Jones OR Connor Lew

Right Guard

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Kam Stutts

Backup: Jeremiah Wright OR Jalil Irvin

Right Tackle

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Izavion Miller

Backup: Jaden Muskrat

Defensive End

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Keldric Faulk

Backups: Zykevious Walker

Nose Tackle

 

Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Justin Rogers

Backup: Quientrail Jamison-Travis

Defensive Tackle

 

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Jayson Jones

Backup: Lawrence Johnson

Jack

 

 

(Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Starter: Jalen McLeod

Backups: Elijah McAllister

Middle Linebacker

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Austin Keys

Backups: Larry Nixon III, Wesley Steiner

Weakside Linebacker

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Eugene Asante

Backup: Cam Riley

Fieldside Cornerback

 

 

Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Starter: Kayin Lee

Backup: Colton Hood

Boundary Cornerback

 

Photo by Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Keionte Scott

Backup: J.D. Rhym

Star

 

(AP Photo/Stew Milne)

Starter: Donovan Kaufman

Backup: Champ Anthony

Field Safety

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Caleb Wooden

Backup: Griffin Speaks

Weakside Safety

 

(AP Photo/Stew Milne)

Starter: Zion Puckett

Backups: Terrance Love

Punt Returner

 

Photo by Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers

Starter: Keionte Scott

Backup: Koy Moore

Kick Returner

 

Photo by Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

Starters: Brian Battie, Jarquez Hunter

Specialist

 

Maria Lysaker-USA TODAY Sports

Punter: Oscar Chapman

Place Kicker: Alex McPherson

Holder: Oscar Chapman

Long Snapper: Jacob Quattlebaum OR Reed Hughes 

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire