5.14.24 Football Articles

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auburnwire.usatoday.com

Auburn football 'seperates themselves' with spring transfer portal additions

Taylor Jones

~2 minutes

Auburn football filled needs by adding several key players during the spring transfer portal window. Most media outlets feel that Auburn took a giant step forward this spring by landing players such as former Indiana defensive lineman Philip Blidi and former Penn State wide receiver KeAndre Lambert-Smith to its roster, including Kennington Smith of The Athletic.

Smith released his SEC spring recap over the weekend, which features several interesting aspects such as projected wins, coaching changes, and notable returners. Near the end of his review, he added the SEC’s top five transfer portal winners, including Auburn.

Smith was impressed with two of Auburn’s defensive additions, but adding another talented wide receiver to the mix blew him away.

The Tigers added a few defensive players this spring to bolster the defensive front: Keyron Crawford (Arkansas State) and Isaiah Raikes (USC), but the biggest win was nabbing (KeAndre) Lambert-Smith, one of the most sought-after players in the spring window.

The Athletic joins CBS Sports by tabbing Auburn a ‘transfer portal winner.’ CBS Sports placed Auburn at No. 2 of its national rankings and issued them a “B-” grade.

Auburn ranks No. 28 in 247Sports’ 2024 transfer portal rankings. The Tigers have landed 14 transfers from the portal since the final whistle of the 2023 season. Lambert-Smith is the top transfer, followed by former Maryland tight end rico walker, former Mississippi State tackle Percy Lewis, and ex-Georgia State wide receiver Robert Lewis following.

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si.com

Will Auburn Tight End Rivaldo Fairweather Have A Huge 2024 Season?

Brian Smith

~2 minutes

The Auburn Tigers possess one of college football’s best all-around offensive weapons.

Where will this versatile athlete line up, play-to-play? Auburn fans will be happy with flex tight end Rivaldo Fairweather returning for the 2024 season but the opposition will not.

It’s kind of like the old game, “Where’s Waldo?”

According to Pro Football Focus and from Fairweather’s 534 snaps last season, he split reps between four different positions. As a traditional inline tight end it's 167 snaps, in the backfield would be just seven snaps, playing the slot would be 274 more, and finally out wide would be 86 plays.

Regardless of where Fairweather lines up, he’s difficult to match up with. Of the 46 targets last season, 33 would end up as receptions. 16 of those catches would also result in first downs, and another six would be for touchdowns.

No matter where the 6-foot-4 and 251-pound playmaker lines up, he’s hard to handle. Going into his fifth-year on the Plains, his numbers could also go up because of incoming help.

Opposing defenses knew Hugh Freeze and his staff would want to place the football in Fairweather’s hands this past season but the wide receiver corps did not help him enough.

With Transfer Portal additions Robert Lewis from Georgia State, KeAndre Lambert-Smith from Penn State, and Sam Jackson V from California, experienced help is on the way. Additionally, do not forget about the exciting freshmen wide receivers like Perry Thompson and Cam Coleman.

Fairweather is already a household name for Auburn fans and his 2024 season should include more single coverage because of the help he’s getting. During his last season playing for Auburn, look for Fairweather to put up big numbers.

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al.com

Why did Auburn AD John Cohen sign an extension: ‘I don’t want to live anywhere else.’

Updated: May. 14, 2024, 8:19 a.m.|Published: May. 14, 2024, 6:34 a.m.

4–5 minutes

Athletics Director John Cohen during the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL on Sunday, Apr 23, 2023. Jamie Holt/Auburn TigersJamie Holt/Auburn Tigers

John Cohen will remain in Auburn at least through 2029, according to a contract extension signed on May 2 and obtained by AL.com through a public records request.

Cohen has full intentions of being at Auburn for the long term after leaving the athletic director position at Mississippi State, his alma mater, in late 2022. Cohen’s wife Nelle previously said the two Tuscaloosa natives had talked about retiring in Auburn long before Cohen became the athletic director here.

“When I turned 50 years old, Nelle and I are like, ‘Okay, we’re both from Tuscaloosa. When it’s all said and done, and hopefully it’s a long time from now, where would we retire,’” Cohen said in an interview with AL.com. “And I really thought about it, and I said, ‘How about Auburn?’ And she said, ‘Why Auburn?’ And I said, ‘Well the Atlanta airport is right there. The Gulf of Mexico is three-and-a-half hours away. It’s an easy drive. It’s a great town. It’s a great golfing community. They have a remarkable public school system, even when our kids are grown. It has always just stuck out to me as a wonderful place. We had talked about Auburn well before this opportunity to come available.”

Cohen added, “I don’t want to live anywhere else.”

Retirement is far off in the future. Cohen is just 57 years old now. But it’s a contract and commitment to Auburn about 18 months in the job.

In that time, Cohen has hired a new football head coach and women’s tennis head coach. He has overseen and directed a previously approved baseball stadium renovation while putting his own touches on it. He has made some of the most significant steps toward replacing the north endzone scoreboard at Jordan-Hare Stadium and helped negotiate Auburn’s new apparel deal with Nike.

Cohen described his first year at Auburn has if he were a freshman trying to figure out his way around town and what the school needed in his view. Now, he understandably feels to have a much stronger handle.

“I have had the great privilege of living in a lot of SEC cities, and I think Auburn is certainly at the at the very top,” Cohen said.

Long term goals Cohen still has included the expansion of premium seating options across Auburn’s athletic venues including a complete renovation of the Jordan-Hare Stadium north endzone stands into an expanded and enhanced mezzanine.

Throughout his first year at Auburn and into the beginning of his second, Cohen described the second year and beyond as being progressively more productive as he finds greater comfort with the framework of Auburn.

He’ll have time now. He isn’t going anywhere.

“I feel extremely privileged to be a part of Auburn,” Cohen said. “Very grateful for the for the embrace that I’ve gotten from all the stakeholders involved. And you know, we have a lot of work to do, fully aware of that, but excited about the direction.”

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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