Why ESPN Classified Auburn Football As ‘On the Come Up’ Ahead of 2026 Season

For the Auburn Tigers, this year may stand as proof that it’s not about how many times you get knocked down; it’s how many times you can keep getting back up. After six straight failed seasons, two full-time head coaches and countless heartbreaking losses, the team finally seems to be back on the rails under Alex Golesh.

In fact, ESPN’s own David Hale recently broke down all 138 FBS teams into tiers, and though, of course, the Tigers did not make the ‘Safest Bets’ tier for 2026, they did make the ‘On the Come Up’ tier.

“Auburn, meanwhile, was 0-6 in one-possession games last year,” Hale wrote. “Now, it has a new head coach in Alex Golesh, who's running the Cignetti playbook by bringing a host of his former USF players with him, including QB Byrum Brown. They'll pair with one of last year's better defensive units that returns much of that talent and coordinator DJ Durkin.”

What makes this Tiger team so special? After all, they are noticeably worse on paper than last year’s team was at this point in that season.

It starts with a man that Hale has already mentioned: Byrum Brown, who is expected to be the cornerstone of a run-first offense in 2026. Brown rushed for over 1,000 yards last season, the most of any rusher on Auburn’s roster this year, and he should have the help of Auburn returner Jeremiah Cobb and others on his way to another dominant season.

The receiver room is, admittedly, where the 2025 and 2026 teams differ most, as Golesh has swapped Cam Coleman, Eric Singleton, Malcolm Simmons and a host of others for Keshaun Singleton, Jeremiah Koger, Chas Nimrod and others. The benefit of this group is their familiarity with Golesh’s system, though the new Tiger coach will almost certainly feel the losses of such talented wideouts.

The offensive line remains a question mark ahead of Auburn’s kick with Baylor less than two weeks from the time of this article’s writing, but one unit that will almost certainly not leave any room for questions is DJ Durkin’s powerful defense, which, despite a bit of churn in the offseason, appears to be at full strength once again in 2026.

So, though the Tigers have been one of college football’s most disappointing teams since 2020 (and the most overrated by the AP Poll, to boot), this year may be the year that things finally get back on the right track. Golesh seems to have his team there during fall camp, but can he keep them on the rails as the season drags on?

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