Five players who saw their stock fall vs UMass

Here are five Tigers who had their stock move following the win vs the Minutemen.

Author:
Auburn Daily Staff
Publish date:
Sep 3, 2023 3:19 PM EDT

In this story:

Auburn had a lot of great individual performances during the Tigers' 59-14 win over the UMass Minutemen.

However, there were some absences or inconsistent games from a handful of players that will need to be fixed heading into week two vs California.

Here are five players that saw their stock "fall" after playing the Minutemen.

Rivaldo Fairweather

Fairweather was expected to be a primary receiver for Payton Thorne and the Auburn offense. He had no targets, and finished with the second-worst PFF grade on the offense (37.8 grade).

We're not saying that Fairweather is bad, but rather two other things - first, it's week one, and it's going to take Auburn time to install their passing offense, which is clearly still a work in progress. Second, the Tigers may have just been hiding him, playing vanilla trying not to show what they really want to do with the passing attack.

Fairweather will get his. It just didn't happen this week.

Cam Riley

Riley finished the game with the second-worst PFF grade on defense (48.7). While he wasn't credited with any missed tackles, Riley's run defense was not up to standard against the Minutemen. To be fair, Auburn's run defense as a whole wasn't up to standard and it's not all Riley's fault.

We've seen Riley be extremely productive in the past, and while stats aren't everything, only having two tackles and grading out this low isn't what you want out of one of your primary linebackers.

Austin Keys did not grade well, either (53.4).

Payton Thorne

His stock did not drop significantly. Nobody's did. But Thorne and the passing game is going to take time to work. Freeze had a few moments on the sideline where he was clearly upset with Thorne's execution. There were some miscommunications that led to missed touchdowns. He was very accurate when he was on the same page with his receivers.

Thorne will get comfortable and Auburn will be fine with him at quarterback.

Kayin Lee

Nehemiah Pritchett was out, so true freshman Kayin Lee had to step in and start at cornerback for the Tigers. It was an unfair situation for such a young player.

Lee finished with a 52.5 PFF grade and a 57.1 coverage grade. Statistically, Lee wasn't bad, especially for a freshman - he was targeted the most out of any defender and only gave up 27 yards, he had a missed tackle but also played the third-most snaps on the defense. Problems are going to happen, and Lee has the potential to develop into a special corner. Give him time.

Shane Hooks

Hooks had two catches on six targets.

The only reason Hooks is here is because it's hard to criticize individuals on a team that won 59-14, and Hooks had a pair of jump balls he just couldn't bring them down.

A 33% catch rate will go up, considering how talented Hooks is.