Auburn’s offense spent the early part of camp sorting out pre-snap issues, but head coach Alex Golesh says the Tigers have moved well beyond that rough opening stretch.
What bothered him after the first preseason scrimmage was real enough, even if those kinds of mistakes are common this time of year. The communication needed cleaning up, and that was true despite the fact that several players on the offense had already worked together at South Florida last season.
Three days before the opener against Baylor, though, the message around Auburn’s offense is a lot more upbeat. Some on the offensive line have gone so far as to call communication one of the unit’s biggest strengths.
“I’ve never been more proud of this group in terms of communication,” starting center Cole Best told reporters on Tuesday, “being on the same page and getting each other right.”
That kind of operation matters on both sides of the ball in a game like this. Offensively, it helps Auburn avoid penalties and stay clean before the snap. Defensively, Golesh said the challenge is being ready for the noise, with Saturday’s game expected to feel like a home crowd inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
A big reason for the offense’s progress is the familiarity between Best and quarterback Byrum Brown. The two were USF’s starting center and quarterback, respectively, in each of the last two seasons, and that connection shows up naturally in how they run the offense.
Golesh views them as the clear leaders on that side of the ball, and he’s made it clear that both are responsible when something goes wrong before the snap.
“When one gets his ass ripped, the other one does, too, if something’s wrong pre-snap,” Golesh said. “It’s been really comforting to know that both those guys have done it for so long together, understand each other, and then Byrum has all the trust in the world in Cole leading that front.”
The staff has also pushed the offense through game-like situations all camp long, building in crowd noise and messy looks from the defense so the Tigers could work through the mechanics before the real thing.
“We started it right from Day 1 in terms of introducing the ability to snap and motion and all these things with crowd noise, with chaotic looks up front on defense,” Golesh said. “Early on, it was just getting used to it, us growing through the mechanics of it.”
Golesh said the operation has “come a long way” since that first scrimmage, even if there’s only so much practice can simulate before the Tigers have to do it in an actual game.
“No matter how loud we make it out there, how crazy we make it, it’s still just a matter of guys settling in on a game day,” Golesh said. “But I would say we’re in a really good spot there.”
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