Former Auburn receivers Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons wasted no time making their presence felt for their new teams in Week 1.
Both wideouts found the end zone on Saturday in comfortable wins for Texas and Texas Tech, with Coleman delivering the louder stat line in Austin and Simmons turning a single touch into a long touchdown in Lubbock.
Coleman finished with three catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns in Texas’s 59-7 rout of Texas State at DKR Stadium. One of those scores came on a drive that covered 56 yards in four plays, and it landed at the same moment the Tigers were walking onto the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 928 miles away.
The early returns suggest Coleman and Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning may be building something fast. If Saturday was the first glimpse, there could be plenty more touchdown passes coming over the next few months.
Simmons didn’t need volume to make his mark. He caught one pass for Texas Tech, but it went for 64 yards on a wheel route from Will Hammond and ended with a trip to the end zone. That play stretched the Red Raiders’ lead to 33-3 in a 33-10 win over Abilene Christian.
The performances were a reminder of what both receivers flashed at Auburn, even if the offense around them never really let them fully take off. Whether Simmons gets more consistent support in Lubbock remains to be seen, especially with Brendan Sorsby declared ineligible and Hammond now battling Thomas Castellanos in the quarterback room for the QB1 job. Coleman, though, already looks like he has the kind of setup that can keep feeding him.
And Auburn? The Tigers seem just fine without Hugh Freeze.
There’s been plenty of second-guessing around the departures of Coleman and Simmons, but the reality is they came with a steep cost. Alex Golesh decided not to pay it, opting instead to bring several of his USF receivers to Auburn and reconnect them with Byrum Brown.
Whether Coleman and Simmons would have clicked with Brown is unknown. What is known is that Brown already has chemistry with Keshaun Singleton, Jeremiah Koger, and Chas Nimrod, and that showed up in Week 1.
After Auburn’s 17-16 win over Baylor, there doesn’t appear to be much regret in the building. Maybe not anywhere, except perhaps with Freeze.
Even that may be generous. Freeze still believes Auburn didn’t fire him last November because he was the problem, but because Jackson Arnold was.
Elsewhere in the “Freeze Four” group, Perry Thompson didn’t record a catch or any stats for Minnesota in its 59-7 win over Eastern Illinois on Thursday. He was MIA for the Golden Gophers.
Bryce Cain, the only member of that receiver group to stay at Auburn, did show up in a different way. He broke loose for a 25-yard run out of the backfield against Baylor in Atlanta. Cain mostly works as a defensive back now, but on that play he looked a lot like the Baker product who used to flash that same speed in the open field.
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Brown stayed with the Hawkeyes into 2026, and the payoff arrived in Week 1 when he was named the starter against Northern Illinois. He rewarded that trust with a touchdown pass, a small but meaningful step for a quarterback whose path has been more about patience and persistence than instant results. [Read more 🡒]
Auburn's Offensive Line Battle May Be Smaller Than Fans Expected
Auburns offensive line competition has drawn plenty of attention this spring, but Alex Golesh made it sound like the picture is a little less crowded than some fans may have expected. The Tigers have eight linemen who have earned the right to play, yet Golesh said the staff is not looking to rotate bodies simply to keep people involved. If the group up front is holding up well, the starting five can stay put.
The spot still worth watching is left guard, where Auburn continues to evaluate options as camp moves along. Goleshs message was that the offensive line will be judged by performance and by the demands of each game, not by any preset plan to shuffle players in and out. For a unit trying to settle in, that leaves some room for competition, but not the kind of wholesale rotation some around the program may have been anticipating. [Read more 🡒]