Auburn’s first fall camp scrimmage left Alex Golesh with plenty to clean up, but the second one brought a much different tone.
After last weekend’s opener, the new head coach made it clear he wasn’t pleased with the tackling. Golesh told his players to humble themselves and said the team needed to focus more on that part of the game, a sharp assessment after Auburn’s first full-pad scrimmage since the spring. The situation came with some built-in context, too: several defensive players were held out because of injury.
On Wednesday, though, Golesh said the Tigers answered in a big way.
“Some really, really good stuff came out of today on both sides,” Golesh said, per Auburn 247. “Tackled so much better.
Man, I was really proud of the way we tackled. There was some violent, violent intent.
Defensively, some really good situations came up.”
Golesh also liked what Auburn got out of the day in terms of work that felt closer to real game conditions. He said the Tigers spent time in long, extended drives, something he viewed as valuable for an offense that wants to play fast under offensive coordinator Joel Gordon. The heat was part of the test, too.
“Some long, long drives - which was good for both sides to work,” Golesh said. “Especially with the heat the way it was - and I'm talking offensive football here - with coaches off the field and truly long drives.
And what does that really feel like to go eight, 10, 12, 14, 15 plays in a drive at the tempo that we play? There's nothing like actually doing it.
You can try to replicate it all you want, but there's nothing like actually doing it. I thought there was some really, really positive there.”
Auburn will practice again on Friday and Saturday before moving into what Golesh has called a mock game week to close fall camp.
The next real step comes in two weeks, when the Alex Golesh Era officially starts at the Aflac Kickoff Game in Atlanta against Baylor at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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