How Auburn's Offense Will Look Under Alex Golesh

One of the best offensive minds in college football, Alex Golesh will hope to reenergize a dormant Auburn offense.

Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh enters his first season with the program. | Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh brings his expertise as he works to energize the team. With multiple player and commit departures, Golesh will need to attack the portal while retaining existing talent to establish the team's identity for next season and the future.

Although he uses a wide range of concepts—centered on the veer and shoot—he does not rely on a fixed set of specific plays. Instead, there are three main principles he uses to shape his offense.

Before discussing the details, it's important to examine the origins of Golesh's offensive system.

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Elements

While Golesh was the offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee under head coach Josh Heupel, the Vols used this system to push offensive football into uncharted territory. Tennessee averaged 42.8 points per game.

Hendon Hooker will be remembered for a long time pic.twitter.com/fDPHH7Qlt7

— CHANNEL TN (@CHANNEL_TN_) December 14, 2022

Notably, the veer and shoot with Heupel and Golesh helped Tennessee gain 567 yards and score 52 points against Alabama. Spacing is a key factor, as Golesh wants his team to use every inch of the field to stress the defense.

However, as Golesh mentioned at his introductory press conference, he also emphasizes the running game.

“The foundation of it is everything starts with the run," he said. "We find ways to run the football. We find ways to create matchups in the running game. The run game, it sets up everything downfield in the pass game."

Pacing

People often confuse playing with pace and simply speeding up the game. Any team can hurry to the line after a play, but playing with pace means having a plan for each drive.

Everyone, from linemen to receivers, needs to know their role and execute it quickly and accurately, avoiding mistakes like false starts, illegal motion, and other penalties caused by carelessness. Auburn will be prepared to keep defenses off-balance.

How many early timeouts were needed last season due to poor planning?

RPO

Byrum Brown became the prototype for Golesh's ideal quarterback: someone agile enough to force defensive ends to decide between moving inside or setting the edge. Even slight hesitation by defenders can result in big plays. Defenses also start to question whether the quarterback will keep the ball or hand it off to the running back.

Ideally, Auburn's quarterback—possibly Deuce Knight—will master the techniques that mislead defenders. Football relies on vision and instinct, and quarterbacks who run the RPO without giving clues force defenders to second-guess their moves.

BYRUM 👏 BROWN 👏

📺: @ESPNCFB pic.twitter.com/nS7I1VUV68

— USF Football (@USFFootball) October 25, 2025

Vertical Throws

At Tennessee, players like Hendon Hooker and Joe Milton relied less on running, instead using their arm strength to convert in long yardage situations. Brown achieved similar results at USF. Golesh prefers a dual-threat quarterback who can throw deep passes.

1. Stacking receivers that far outside should be illegal
2. Byrum Brown...hello pic.twitter.com/WgKJ99trvg

— JP Acosta (@acosta32_jp) May 13, 2024

By combining this technique with spacing that stretches the defense, especially the safeties who must cover the deep third, Auburn can create big-play opportunities. Retaining Cam Coleman is crucial. While Coleman excels in the red zone and in the middle of the field, his next area of growth will be consistently catching deep passes.

Bottom Line

No offense is perfect, and Golesh's system will have its flaws. However, what stands out is the ability to adjust quickly. This adaptable approach should be a welcome change for Auburn fans.