Auburn’s new era comes with a familiar kind of pressure for Tim Banks.
The Tigers’ assistant is walking into his first season on the Plains with a safety room that looks far healthier than the one Auburn had a year ago, and that alone puts the spotlight on him. In his reunion with former Tennessee colleague Alex Golesh, Banks is joining a staff that doesn’t have CFP expectations in year one, but still has to do enough to get Auburn bowl-eligible by December.
That’s the balance here: no one is asking for a full overnight transformation into a playoff team, but the bar is still real. Auburn’s defense is expected to remain the backbone of the locker room, and Banks doesn’t have much room to hide if that side of the ball doesn’t hold up.
The encouraging part for Auburn is the condition of the safeties. AnQuon Fegans dealt with an undisclosed minor injury at the start of fall camp, but it hasn’t kept him out for long.
Kaleb Harris, who has been slowed by minor injuries in each of the last two years, is expected to increase his reps and his weight-room work as soon as possible. Champ Anthony, who looks set to spend more time at nickel but is a free safety by trade, is finally healthy after a pair of serious injuries in 2024 and 2025.
Sylvester Smith-Reed also appears to be in a better place health-wise, though he still isn’t fully taking part in contact drills.
Then there’s Eric Winters, who has no health concerns at all and is leaning into the leadership role during fall camp. He’s using his linebacker-like frame to bring a violent edge to the unit.
So the personnel is there. The question is whether Banks can get the most out of it.
That question follows him after a rough 2025 at Tennessee. The Vols fell all the way to No. 92 in scoring defense and allowed just under 29 points per game.
That was a stunning drop from 2024, when Tennessee finished No. 7 nationally in scoring defense and gave up only 16.1 points per game. That unit was a major reason quarterback Nico Iamaleava reached the CFP.
Maybe that season was just an outlier. Banks’ earlier years under Josh Heupel were shaped by Tennessee’s pace on offense, and the talent level in Knoxville during the early 2020s wasn’t what he has around him now at Auburn. But the reality is simple: if Auburn’s defense slips, Banks will be the one taking the heat.
He’ll also be measured against what came before him. T.
J. Rushing, now at Arkansas, handled Auburn’s safety group well last season.
And if Banks and defensive coordinator DJ Durkin don’t mesh the right way, the blame will land on Banks.
For Golesh, this hire needs to pay off. Banks was dismissed from Heupel’s staff at Tennessee, and now he has a chance to show that, with fewer duties as a position coach, he can lock in on what he does best and deliver with the players already in the room.
In Other News...
Auburns New Era Is Already Turning Heads Across The SEC
Alex Golesh has barely settled into his new job at Auburn, but the early signs of his reset are already drawing attention around the SEC. After a stretch of instability that saw the Tigers cycle through six head coaches across a run of losing seasons, Golesh arrives with the kind of conference background that gives his voice some instant credibility, and he is wasting little time trying to change the feel of the program.
One of the clearest examples has come during fall camp, where players are staying together in a hotel as part of Goleshs effort to build a different culture. SEC analyst Paul Finebaum has already signaled support for the approach, seeing it as a positive step for a program trying to steady itself. For Auburn, the real test is still ahead, but the new staffs message is being noticed well beyond Tuscaloosa and the Plains. [Read more 🡒]
Kodi Burns Is Changing What Auburn Demands From Its Receivers
Kodi Burns is back at Auburn, and his message to the wide receiver room has been plain from the start of fall camp: catching passes is only part of the job. The new wideouts coach is pushing a more physical, versatile standard for a group that figures to be deep in Alex Goleshs offense, where keeping tempo means leaning on a heavy rotation and asking plenty of players to be ready for meaningful snaps.
For Auburn, the shift matters because the role of a receiver is becoming about more than route running and production on the stat sheet. Burns has already drawn praise from players like Keshaun Singleton and DeShawn Spencer, who say his impact has shown up in their development on and off the field, and the broader challenge now is clear - earn trust by doing the dirty work, adapt to multiple assignments, and prove you can stay on the field when the tempo starts picking up. [Read more 🡒]
Former Auburn Staffer Just Surfaced Inside Alabamas Program
A familiar football family is showing up around Alabamas practices, with Dave Wommack and Dominic Studzinski both spending time around the program. Dave Wommack, a retired defensive coordinator, has been around as a resource at practices and games, while Studzinski has been helping in the weight room even though he is not listed on the staff directory.
The connection runs deep, stretching back to their shared coaching days at Ole Miss in 2012 and 2013, when the same circle of personnel worked together in the South. For Auburn fans, the name attached to Studzinski may stand out even more because of where he worked before, making his quiet presence in Tuscaloosa the kind of detail that tends to get noticed long before it gets officially explained. [Read more 🡒]