Auburn’s offense has leaned on the transfer portal from top to bottom, and nowhere is that more obvious than up front. With Alex Golesh and his staff rebuilding the roster in their first season, the Tigers brought in close to 40 transfers and more than 60 new players overall, and the portal additions have supplied most of the production on offense through five games.
The biggest swing spot has been quarterback, where Byrum Brown has had his moments but hasn’t put together a clean enough run to earn anything better than an average mark. He’s been on the field for every snap at quarterback except the fourth quarter against Southern Miss, and the highs have been real: the final drive against Baylor and the 57-yard run against Tennessee stand out.
But so do the eight turnovers, a number that came back to bite Auburn in the loss to Tennessee last week. Brown has not been a bust, but the inconsistency is glaring, and it’s the main issue he has to clean up after the bye if Auburn is going to salvage the season.
The running back group hasn’t given Auburn much from its transfer class either. The Tigers signed three portal backs, but only Baylor transfer Bryson Washington has seen meaningful action.
Even then, the production has lagged far behind what he showed in Waco. Through five games, Washington has only 71 rushing yards on 18 carries and has slipped behind Jeremiah Cobb and Omar Mabson II in the rotation.
USF transfer Nykahi Davenport has not carried the ball at all, and Troy transfer Tae Meadows has just three carries for 18 yards. The room itself has been serviceable, but the transfer haul at the position has not delivered.
Receiver has been the best story of Auburn’s offensive portal work. The Tigers rebuilt that room almost entirely through transfers, and much of the help came from USF.
Keshaun Singleton and Chas Nimrod have become Brown’s top two targets and have done it without piling up mistakes. Neither one is being mistaken for an All-American or All-SEC star, but both have been steady and useful, which matters.
Jeremiah Koger and Christian Neptune, also from USF, are still developing, though Neptune took on a bigger role against Tennessee. The group may not be flashy, but it has held up well and given Auburn a dependable passing-game foundation.
Tight end sits somewhere in the middle. North Carolina transfer Jake Johnson, Bowling Green transfer Arlis Boardingham and USF transfer Jonathan Echols have handled most of the workload, and the results have been solid without being especially loud.
Johnson leads the group with seven catches, while he and Boardingham are tied at 43 receiving yards. Auburn has used the tight ends best on its jump pass in the end zone, with Boardingham and Echols each catching touchdowns off that play.
Johnson has also posted the best run-blocking grade in the room, according to Pro Football Focus, but the group as a whole hasn’t been especially strong in that area. Average fits.
The offensive line has been the roughest part of the transfer-heavy rebuild. Four of Auburn’s five starters are transfers now, and at one point all five were, after the Tigers lost every starter from last year’s line.
That reality has shown up in the results. Auburn has been at a physical disadvantage against certain fronts, especially because so many of the additions came from the Group of Six level.
That has hurt the run game and helped put Brown atop the SEC in sacks taken. Michigan State transfer Stanton Ramil and Akron transfer Kenneth McManus IV have been solid pieces, but the line as a whole has not matched up well with high-end SEC defensive fronts.
Auburn does have some promising underclassmen up front, led by starting guard Wilson Zierier, but many of those players are still waiting for bigger roles.
In Other News...
Ex-Auburn QB Holden Geriner's Pitt Buzz Faded Fast Under Pressure
Holden Geriners sudden rise at Pitt looked like one of those September detours that can change a season. After Mason Heintschel went down with a season-ending injury in Week 5, the former Auburn quarterback stepped in, helped the Panthers beat Virginia Tech and pushed Pitt into the AP Top 25 Poll, a jolt of momentum for a team trying to steady itself at the position.
The follow-up, though, was a reminder of why the job never looked fully settled. Pitt dropped its Week 6 game at North Carolina and slid out of the rankings, with Geriner throwing two interceptions and taking two sacks as the Panthers again ran into the sort of issues that have followed him before, especially with mobility and holding onto a starting role. For Pitt, the early buzz has cooled quickly, and the bigger question is whether Geriner is a bridge or something more lasting. [Read more 🡒]
Tennessee Still Has The Same QB Problem Auburn Just Exposed
Tennessees depth chart heading into the Arkansas game offered a clear look at how unsettled things still are under center. Faizon Brandon and George MacIntyre were listed as co-starters, a reflection of the uncertainty that has followed the Volunteers even after their recent win over Auburn, where the Tigers helped expose how shaky the quarterback picture can look when the pressure rises.
Josh Heupel has already acknowledged Brandons shoulder issue, and both quarterbacks remain available, which keeps the decision in motion rather than settled. For Auburn fans watching from a distance, the update is a reminder that the loss still carries some aftereffects for Tennessee, and that the Volunteers are carrying real questions into a crucial SEC stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Defensive Portal Class Is Already Raising One Big Concern
Five games into the season, Auburns defensive transfer class is starting to get a position-by-position audit, and the early picture is a mixed one. The defensive line has held up reasonably well, earning the strongest mark of the bunch at a B thanks in part to Cody Siglers contributions, while the edge rusher group has landed at a C+ as the Tigers keep looking for more consistent disruption off the edge.
The concern is showing up a level deeper in the defense, where the cornerback group has been graded C- because the transfer additions have not produced much so far. Linebacker and safety have also brought only limited impact from the portal, which leaves Auburn with one obvious question as the season settles in: whether the defensive additions can become more than just depth pieces before the schedule starts pressing harder. [Read more 🡒]