Auburn’s offensive line remains the biggest puzzle piece in the middle of this early-season build, and Alex Golesh isn’t hiding from it.
The Tigers are sitting at the halfway point between their 17-16 season-opening win over Baylor and their next game against Southern Mississippi, and the work around the program has been nonstop as they get ready for the Golden Eagles. What Auburn learned against Baylor was clear enough: the interior of the offensive line still needs sorting out.
That was especially obvious in the guards. Auburn rotated three players at both guard spots in that game while testing different looks and blocking schemes, and the constant shuffling came at a cost. The group never really settled in, and the run game suffered because of it.
Still, Golesh said Wednesday he believes the group is taking to the coaching and putting in the work.
“We gotta get better there,” Golesh said. “They’re working their tails off, that whole o-line group.
They know it starts and ends with that group… they certainly take a lot of pride in what they do. They’ve responded.
They’ll continue to respond.”
Auburn’s official depth chart, released Monday in the game notes, shows senior Jo Simmons at left tackle and junior Stanton Ramil at right tackle. In between, the Tigers are still mixing and matching: senior Jacob Strand, sophomore Deryc Plazz and senior Jack Leyrer are listed in a rotation at left guard, while senior Cole Best is at center and senior Cole Skinner, sophomore Kail Ellis and sophomore Jacobe’ Ward are rotating at right guard.
Even with the uncertainty, a couple of linemen have already made their mark. Jack Leyrer had a key block on Byrum Brown’s touchdown run with running back Jeremiah Cobb, a strong moment for the Stanford transfer. Ellis, meanwhile, has been a fan favorite thanks to his steady production.
Auburn still has work to do up front if it wants to line up with teams like Georgia and Alabama and hold its own in the trenches. The talent is there. The question now is whether that group can come together when it matters most.
In Other News...
Auburn Fans Just Got A Reminder What Saraland Keeps Producing
SEC Media Days gave Auburn fans one more reminder of the talent pipeline coming out of Saraland, where Alabama wide receiver Ryan Coleman-Williams took time to praise former teammate DeShawn Spencer and credit the work ethic that developed during their high school days. It was the kind of comment that fits neatly with what Saraland has built under coach Jeff Kelly, a program that has turned itself into a steady source of college and pro players and takes obvious pride in that lineage.
Kelly folded Coleman-Williams words into Saralands pregame video, which already features highlights of former Spartans now playing in college and the NFL. The video, produced by Saraland graduate Jeremy Haney, plays before home games and serves as another reminder of how tightly the school ties its current team to the players who came before it, with Spencer and Coleman-Williams just the latest names to keep that reputation alive. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Tried To Ease One Big Fear About Losing A Home Game
Auburns decision to shift its 2026 football season opener against Baylor from Jordan-Hare Stadium to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta raised a familiar worry around town: what happens when a home date disappears from the fall calendar? The move, part of the Aflac Kickoff, leaves the Tigers with six home games, and it immediately prompted questions about the economic ripple effect for a city that leans heavily on game-day traffic.
Auburn athletics has since tried to ease that concern by pointing to a broader picture of how the city benefits when big events come to town. The school released a report comparing the impact of the Baylor game change with past football dates, and city officials have already cited the international soccer friendly between Argentina and Iceland in Auburn as proof that the local economy can absorb and even benefit from major events beyond football, with Camp War Eagle also helping shape hotel occupancy during that week. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremiah Cobb Is Earning Auburns Trust In A Big Way
Jeremiah Cobb has moved from promising piece to a central part of Auburns offense, and the way the coaches talk about him says a lot about where he stands. Co-offensive coordinator Joel Gordon singled out Cobbs performance and leadership, pointing to the kind of play that does not always show up in the box score, including a key block that helped set up the game-winning touchdown against Baylor. He was already Auburns leading rusher last season, and he kept building that momentum by emerging as the primary back in spring camp.
That matters now because Auburns schedule leaves little room for an offense that is still sorting itself out, and Cobb is expected to be a major part of how it all holds together. The Tigers need reliability in the run game, but they also need the steady, trust-building stuff that coaches love and teammates notice. Cobb is giving Auburn both, which is why his role feels less like a depth-chart development and more like one of the early signs of where this season could be headed. [Read more 🡒]