Auburn’s first step into the 2026 season comes Saturday in Atlanta, where the Tigers meet Baylor in the Aflac Kickoff Game at 2:30 p.m. on ABC. The matchup doubles as a clean early test for Auburn under a head coach making his debut on the sideline, and the program has generally liked this stage: the Tigers have won 18 of their last 20 season openers dating back to 2006, with nine straight opening wins since 2017. Auburn is also 20-12-1 with a first-time head coach, including 11-4 over the last 15 such games.
If Auburn is going to keep that roll going, the formula starts on the ground. Last year, in a 38-24 opening win over Baylor, the Tigers ran for 307 yards with Jeremiah Cobb and Damari Alston carrying the backfield load.
Cobb now enters the season as the clear starter, and Auburn has added more punch around him with transfers Bryson Washington from Baylor, Nykahi Davenport from USF and Tae Meadows from Troy. Rising sophomore Omar Mabson II also turned heads in preseason camp and is expected to be part of the mix.
“That’s where it all starts, and that’s the foundation of what we do offensively,” Auburn coach Alex Golesh said on Wednesday.
The other big assignment is slowing down DJ Lagway, the Baylor transfer quarterback who is back in his home state of Texas after two seasons at Florida. Auburn linebacker Xavier Atkins sounded more than ready for that challenge.
“I like that. I love when the quarterback runs.
They’re not used to playing linebackers like me, especially linebackers that can really run like a receiver. I love it when the quarterback thinks he’s going to run free all game.
It’s the best thing about it. It feels like an easy sack,” Atkins said on Tuesday.
Lagway has already seen Golesh’s defenses before. Against a Golesh-led South Florida team, he went 23-for-33 for 222 yards and a touchdown, though Florida still lost on a game-winning field goal.
Now he gets another crack at Golesh in Auburn’s opener. Baylor coach Dave Aranda said Lagway should be steady under the lights.
“He’s played a lot of football. He’s been in some big arenas and some bright lights, so I don’t think anything is going to faze him that way.
He’s got really good confidence. I know he likes the plan that (Jake Spavital) has for him, so getting a real energized and confident DJ is a plus for us,” Aranda said on Monday.
Lagway finished the 2025 season with 2,264 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions at Florida. Over his two years there, he threw 23 interceptions total.
And then there’s the area Auburn simply has to clean up: the red zone. Last season, too many drives inside the 20 ended with field goals instead of touchdowns. In eight SEC games, Auburn scored 10 touchdowns on 28 red-zone trips and finished 125th nationally in red-zone touchdown percentage.
Golesh said camp work was built around fixing that problem, especially in short-yardage settings.
“So, I like where we are from a size perspective down there,” Golesh said. “We’ve hammered home being able to run the football.
The red zone is an interesting spot for us, simply because of the tempo which we play a lot of the time. It all depends on how you got there, but a lot of the time it’s two tired line of scrimmage groups that it’s a battle of wills.
“But I like where we are size wise. I like where we’ve got to go with our plan.
And that offensive staff has done a good job of continuing to grow in terms of who we are and what we do from a red zone type zone perspective. I like where we are from a short yard perspective.”
In Other News...
Auburns Atlanta Opener Created A Tradeoff Fans Immediately Noticed
Moving Auburns season opener to Mercedes-Benz Stadium gave the program a different kind of stage for its Aflac Kickoff Game, and it came with a tradeoff fans noticed right away. The atmosphere was not what Jordan-Hare Stadium would have delivered, but Auburn still brought a strong contingent to Atlanta and made sure the place did not feel like a neutral site for long.
Athletics director John Cohen said the move was shaped in part by a lucrative NIL deal for players, which gave the decision a broader football-business context beyond the usual scheduling conversation. Some season ticket holders stayed home instead of making the trip, but Auburn still held the majority of fan support and carried a 10-7 halftime lead over Baylor, a sign the Tigers made the arrangement work even if the crowd size did not match a home opener. [Read more 🡒]
Former Auburn QB Is Finally Getting The Chance He Never Had
After a frustrating start to his college career, Hank Brown is finally getting the kind of opportunity that never quite came together at Auburn. The former Tigers quarterback, a 3-star recruit in the 2023 class, transferred to Iowa before the 2025 season and spent much of that first year waiting for a real opening while seeing limited action.
Brown stayed with the Hawkeyes into 2026, and the payoff arrived in Week 1 when he was named the starter against Northern Illinois. He rewarded that trust with a touchdown pass, a small but meaningful step for a quarterback whose path has been more about patience and persistence than instant results. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn's Offensive Line Battle May Be Smaller Than Fans Expected
Auburns offensive line competition has drawn plenty of attention this spring, but Alex Golesh made it sound like the picture is a little less crowded than some fans may have expected. The Tigers have eight linemen who have earned the right to play, yet Golesh said the staff is not looking to rotate bodies simply to keep people involved. If the group up front is holding up well, the starting five can stay put.
The spot still worth watching is left guard, where Auburn continues to evaluate options as camp moves along. Goleshs message was that the offensive line will be judged by performance and by the demands of each game, not by any preset plan to shuffle players in and out. For a unit trying to settle in, that leaves some room for competition, but not the kind of wholesale rotation some around the program may have been anticipating. [Read more 🡒]