Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown didn’t sound rattled at all when he met with reporters on September 1, four days before the Aflac Kickoff Game against Baylor.
Brown struck the kind of tone coaches love from a Week 1 starter: calm, respectful, and sure of himself. When the conversation turned to Baylor’s defense, he didn’t reach for a dramatic answer. He kept it simple: “We should be just fine,” Brown said, after adding that “The name of the game is that we should just be us, just be our offense.”
That confidence came with respect for what Auburn is walking into. Brown described Baylor’s defense as a unit that “Plays hard, they fly around the ball. They're sound,” and said the Tigers will need to “be smart with the ball, find the open guys, and to let our playmakers make plays.”
Baylor’s defense will look different in some spots, too. The Bears brought in a lot of new faces on that side of the ball, even though they do return LeVar Thornton Jr. and Jacob Redding in the secondary. Brown and Auburn will also have to account for new names like Devon Jordan and Colby McCalister.
He also addressed the challenge of Baylor defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman mixing in multiple looks and schemes. Brown called it “It is challenging,” but said Auburn has spent practice preparing for that possibility. “We picked those up, and I'm fully confident in our O-Line, tight ends, and running backs seeing those looks and being prepared for it.”
That preparation matters because Baylor will also see a familiar name in former running back Bryson Washington. Brown will be at quarterback, but Auburn plans to rotate backs on Saturday, and Washington is part of that mix. With Brown’s dual-threat ability, Klanderman will have to keep track of where the ball is going on every snap.
Brown also sounded comfortable with Auburn’s playbook, pointing to “the minute details of every play, knowing where to go with the ball against certain looks, finding (his) check-downs regularly in order to stay on schedule,” as part of what he has locked in.
The game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and Brown said he’s already comfortable with the scale of an NFL venue, pointing to his time at Raymond-James Stadium with the South Florida Bulls. For Auburn, that means its quarterback says he’s ready for the moment.
How Brown handles Dave Aranda’s defense, with Klanderman calling the shots, will be one of the biggest storylines when Auburn and Baylor finally kick off.
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That backdrop matters because the next Baylor team is young, and the early read on the season points toward a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 finish with a chance to get back to the NCAA tournament. Juslin Bodo Bodo and the Mingo brothers are among the names expected to help carry that load, and for a roster still finding its footing, the challenge is as much about meeting a program-wide standard as it is about surviving the league grind. [Read more 🡒]