Is the sky falling for Auburn’s wide receivers?
Earlier this week, ESPN’s senior college football writer, Heather Dinich, stopped at Auburn on her tour of Spring practices around football. She toured the amazing facilities and enjoyed full access to the coaching staff and practice field. While perusing Auburn’s practice she made an interesting observation:
As they so often do, her tweet took off like verbal wildfire. Auburn fans, fans from other fan bases, and even current Auburn players were quick to react to her statement. These things tend to have a life of their own. She was doing her job. She does it well. The question is: Was she wrong?
In a word, no. Experts become experts by having access, knowledge, experience, and talent. In this instance, she was incredibly accurate in her assessment. I, for one, commend her for it. However, I would add how long Auburn fans are going to have to be patient with their receiving corps: exactly one hundred and fifty-seven days.
Auburn is installing an entirely new offensive scheme. That process often looks, especially this early in the Spring, awful to the eye test. One of the main storylines coming out of camp thus far has been about the inconsistency of the various Auburn quarterbacks. There have been massive amounts of speculation that the starting QB for Auburn’s 2023 version isn’t even on the roster yet. That is a whole story in and of itself. However, for the purposes of this consideration, let’s just say it’s really, really hard to catch a football when it isn’t thrown anywhere near you. Whether that is from inaccuracies from the quarterback, inaccuracies on spacing of the wide receivers, or an overall lack of communication is anyone’s guess. It could possibly be all three of those things and a few more. So, with all that in mind, why should there be confidence in these receivers being capable of being tremendously productive come September?
Offensive line play. Not one receiver that has ever played the game could consistently be a threat if their quarterback is running for his life less than two seconds after a ball is snapped. This is a sight Auburn fans know all too well. By all accounts, and it is a bit surprising, Auburn’s offensive line is all of a sudden one of the strengths of this football team. The projected starting five has received rave reviews from anyone that has seen them gel in Spring camp. Add in a Freshman phenom (Conner Lew) and possibly some depth in the May portal, and Auburn’s offense is in business.
A lethal running game. Auburn has a stunning running back room. Add in a stable of proven and battle-tested running backs with the aforementioned offensive line and the pressure on the passing game goes way down. It is a lot easier to whip defensive backs when their eyes are in the backfield because they have had to chase tailbacks all over the field.
Iron sharpens iron. Auburn has one of the best defensive back rooms in the country. Going against that every day will get you going or get you gone. If Auburn receivers can learn to get loose from these defensive backs, there will be few others that will be able to run with them.
Mediocre to good quarterback play. No one that is writing or commenting on Auburn right now knows who is going to be the starting quarterback for Auburn in 2023. It appears the coaches who will make that choice aren’t any closer to making that decision than they were when Spring practices started. However, by the Summer there will be an inkling. That will lead to reps. By the end of Fall camp, there will most likely be a QB1. There will be more reps. This coaching staff will find a way to have, at minimum, a serviceable quarterback and a backup one as well. Whoever that is, will have pass protection, a running game, quality tight ends, and a more than capable option of receivers.
Lastly, comfort in the offense. There is no doubt Auburn’s receiving room, as it currently stands, has a ton of talent. If anything, there is too much talent there. There is no way all those guys get playing time. Auburn will lose a few to the portal as well as add a few recruits for the future. Current Auburn receiver standouts Nick Mardner, Koy Moore, Ja'Varrius Johnson, and Camden Brown could start for any SEC team. By the time the season rolls around they all will have some time in this system and a better understanding of how they will be utilized in the RPO (read/pass option) offense that Head Coach Freeze and Offensive Coordinator Philip Montgomery are installing. They should be past the thinking stage and into the playing fast stage. They will know how to read defenses better and know where they should be on the field. They will attack and stretch defenses with reckless abandon. It will be a new day for Auburn.
So, yes, Auburn fans will have to be patient for a long one hundred and fifty-seven days with these receivers. As will every other fan in the country waiting for their finished product to be on the field this Autumn. How can we be sure of this? Coach Freeze has a proven track record in this department. The sky is, in fact, not falling. If anything, the ceiling is rising.
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