Auburn has moved out of preseason camp and into game-week mode, and head coach Alex Golesh is using this week as a dress rehearsal before the Sept. 5 opener against Baylor in the Aflac Kickoff Game.
The Tigers are not just easing into the routine, either. Golesh said Auburn is running a mock game week now so the staff and roster are ready for next week’s real thing.
The centerpiece of that conversation on Monday was quarterback Byrum Brown, who is entering his final year of eligibility and doing a lot more than just learning a new offense. Golesh described Brown’s approach as meticulous from the moment the week starts.
“I’ve said it before: Now in his fifth year, he is as particular as anybody, I’ve ever been around, in terms of what the process looks like. That’s what his Sunday looks like, into Monday, into Tuesday.
He truly is like a coach. He’s two doors down, sitting there watching film,” Golesh said on Monday.
Golesh said Brown’s routine is locked in with almost clockwork precision.
“He’s super, super particular. And that’s, like, everything.
To truly know the order and the sequence of what he watches, to then his pre-hab into his rehab, all of it is down to the minute. I have my schedule for the week down to the minute.
He has his schedule down to the minute.”
Brown is balancing that level of detail with his master’s degree work at Auburn, all while stepping into his first season as an SEC quarterback. Last season at South Florida, he became one of just 12 quarterbacks in FBS history to throw for more than 3,000 yards and rush for more than 1,000. Across 35 career college games, he has accounted for 61 total touchdowns.
For Golesh, that background and that daily standard make Brown the kind of player every locker room wants at the center of it.
“But you talk about elite process, he is the prime example of what it looks like to prepare,” Golesh said. “And I think that’s why he’s so hard on himself too.
Because if it doesn’t go his way, he goes right back to himself, ‘Where did I jack up my process?’ That’s how you know the maturity level is there because it’s never, ever, ‘Something didn’t go well.’
It’s his fault. It’s his fault.
It’s always somewhere in my process; I skipped this step. How do I go back and reevaluate the process?
“I think that room, I feel really, really good about. The neat thing about Byrum, he’s confident enough now in his fifth year that there’s wideouts in there with him, there’s tight ends in there with him. And it gives confidence to the entire organization when you see your quarterback is here all day.”
Golesh also tied Brown’s example to a bigger issue for Auburn: filling leadership gaps elsewhere on the roster. He said Brown’s habits can help set the standard in a team that still has some rooms without that same veteran presence.
“Big picture, if every room has that, you’ve got a chance to where young guys are pointing to the older guys and saying, ‘Alright, that’s what elite level process looks like.’ To be honest with you, that’s where I have continued to harp on, we need to be,” Golesh said.
“I’ve talked about a lack of leadership in a lot of ways. That’s what we’re pushing for in every single room.
We don’t have that in every room right now. Some of our best players on both sides of the ball are young guys.
So, if they don’t have that, then it’s the coach that’s leading. You’ll plateau somewhere when the coaches are truly leading it.”
In Other News...
Auburn Just Showed How Far Its Willing To Go For Golesh
Auburn did more than simply hire Alex Golesh. It committed to him with a six-year deal that puts his annual compensation at $6.75 million, a package split between direct salary and payments to his LLC and rounded out with the kinds of benefits that usually signal a school is making a major investment in its coach. The agreement also includes an automobile allowance, club memberships, moving expenses and ticket allocations, plus performance incentives tied to regular-season wins.
The contract details make clear Auburn wanted structure as much as commitment, with buyout language that spells out what would be owed if the relationship ends at different points along the way. That kind of language is standard in big coaching deals, but the level of specificity around Goleshs contract shows just how carefully Auburn is trying to protect its side of the bargain while also making sure the coach knows exactly what the school is promising in return. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn Just Got Pulled Into A Messy SEC Eligibility Fight
The latest eligibility fight in college sports has started to ripple well beyond the schools directly involved, and Auburn has now been drawn into the conversation as the SEC keeps absorbing the fallout. The issue centers on recent rulings that have changed how fifth-year eligibility is handled, a shift that has already influenced player movement and raised fresh questions about roster building and competitive balance across the conference.
Diana Florence, the lawyer involved in the Colorado 5 in 5 case, has been gathering statements from student-athletes affected by those decisions, while Oregon coach Dan Lanning has already gone public with his criticism of the new rules. His concerns about fairness to current players and the sports integrity underscore why this dispute is becoming so much bigger than a technical eligibility argument, especially for SEC teams trying to manage a constantly changing personnel picture. [Read more 🡒]
Auburns Defensive Pecking Order Is Finally Starting To Take Shape
As Auburn wraps up preseason camp under new head coach Alex Golesh, the defensive picture is becoming clearer after a couple of scrimmages helped sort out who is handling the first-team work and who is pushing from behind. The Tigers have spent August trying to build a reliable two-deep across the front, at linebacker and in the secondary, and the early read from camp is that experience and steady practice showings are starting to matter as much as raw talent.
There are still a few spots where the competition is alive, but the broader shape of the defense is beginning to emerge. Auburn is moving toward a more defined pecking order at defensive tackle, defensive end, linebacker, cornerback and nickelback, which is exactly what a staff wants before the season starts. The last days of camp may not settle every battle, but they should give the Tigers a much better sense of who they trust when the games begin. [Read more 🡒]