Auburn’s latest reset comes with a familiar kind of pressure: make the Tigers matter again. After five straight losing seasons and six straight years with six wins or fewer, the program turned the page from Hugh Freeze and handed the job to Alex Golesh.
Golesh arrives after three seasons at South Florida, where he went 23-15 and posted his best mark last year at 9-3. Now he’s being asked to drag Auburn back toward the level it once reached when Cam Newton was the face of the program.
That bar is as high as it gets. Newton’s one season in Auburn produced 2,854 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns and seven interceptions, plus 1,473 rushing yards and 20 scores. He won the Heisman Trophy, pushed Auburn to a 14-0 record and delivered the Tigers’ last national championship.
For college football analyst David Pollack, that Auburn run is not just memorable - it’s unmatched. On "See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack," he didn’t hesitate when asked about the greatest player he’s ever seen.
"Cam Newton is the best I have ever seen with my eye balls," Pollack said. "He's the best college football player.
And the story I go back to by the way, is the story that Dan Mullen told us as a freshman Cam Newton vs Tim Tebow in tug of war, he drug Tebow like 10 yards on the ground. He said he walked him like a dog.
That is incredible."
Pollack’s point wasn’t just about production. It was about the kind of physical force Newton was, even before Auburn.
Newton and Tim Tebow were teammates at Florida, where Tebow was already a massive college football star. Newton later transferred to Blinn College before landing at Auburn and putting together one of the most overpowering seasons the sport has ever seen.
His blend of size, speed and arm strength made him a nightmare for defenses, and that 2010 campaign still stands as the clearest proof of why so many people put him at the top of the sport’s all-time list.
Auburn has been chasing that standard for more than a decade now. Golesh gets the next shot at changing the story, even if no one should expect another Cam Newton season to come along.
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Auburns Opening Week Offense Still Has Two Big Battles Left
Auburn has wrapped up its three-week preseason camp and now turns its attention to Week 1 against Baylor, with the offense finally starting to come into focus. The depth chart is beginning to settle after the scrimmages, and Byrum Brown appears positioned to open the season as the starter at quarterback while other spots across the unit have also started to sort themselves out.
Even so, this offense is not completely finished taking shape. Several projected starters and backups have emerged at the different positions, but the staff still has two notable battles to sort through before the Tigers run out for the opener, and those decisions will help define how this group looks early in the season. With transfers and returning players all in the mix, Auburn still has a little more work to do before the picture is fully clear. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Still Faces One Big Test Before Baylor Under Alex Golesh
Alex Golesh has already moved Auburn past the early-camp groundwork and into the part of August where details start to matter as much as effort. After spending the first stretch preaching tackling, physicality and the basic habits that can get lost in camp, the Tigers head coach said the group has made progress since its second scrimmage, enough that the conversation has shifted toward sharpening how the team handles game-like moments.
What comes next is the harder part for a new staff and a roster still learning each other: situational football. Golesh wants Auburn more aware, more controlled and better prepared for the specific decisions that shape a game, which makes the lead-up to Baylor less about raw intensity and more about whether the Tigers can translate that camp growth into clean execution when the opener finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Former Auburn Star Is Building Buzz For Something Bigger In Coaching
Sammie Coates has already given Columbia High School football a landmark moment, steering the program to its first victory since 2015 and ending a 101-game losing streak with a 41-14 win over Greensboro. The former Auburn star, now making his name on the sideline, said the turnaround has come from a better team culture, more players in the program and help from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, giving Columbia a foundation it has not had in years.
For Coates, the win is about more than one long-awaited result. His coaching background is starting to draw attention, and the next step in his career could depend on whether Columbia can keep building on this kind of progress. Auburn fans know the name from his playing days, but he is beginning to create a different kind of buzz now, with his future tied to how far he can push a once-struggling program forward. [Read more 🡒]