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Auburn won’t play football again for almost nine months, but does the season every really end? In the case of 2021, it’s just getting started. The next week or so should be newsworthy, to say the least. Major questions will be answered as Bryan Harsin takes control of the program left behind by Gus Malzahn who was fired after eight seasons.
In the latest edition of Sunday Reflectiions, we take a look questions and what some of the answers could be as Auburn football moves into a new era.
WHAT ABOUT TANK BIGSBY?
Getting to the question probably most asked, what’s going on with freshman running back Tank Bigsby?
There was minimal concern early on, but that concern has grown. There seems little question that Bigsby is at least considering leaving and that he is looking at the possibility of returning to his home state to play for Georgia. With the rule coming that players can transfer once without penalty, he and others could be eligible next season. How will the SEC deal with intraconference transfers? Nobody really knows and won’t until the new rule is actually passed.
Here’s what we hear: Bigsby and Harsin have talked. He did not commit to a decision one way or the other. Whether running backs coach Cadillac Williams, to whom he is very close, is retained could certainly have an impact on his decision. Others could decide for various reasons to finish their careers elsewhere. Auburn coaches, once they are on the job, will certainly do their own searches for help in the transfer portal.
When you look at the unanswered questions, you see why college football players hate coaching changes. Those changes create uncertainty, and players don’t like uncertainty.
Who will be on Harsin’s staff?
Most intently watched among the hires will be the coordinator positions and which, if any, of the current coaches are retained.
With receiver Anthony Schwartz having already declared for the NFL, who will follow?
Wide receiver Seth Williams bears watching. So does safety Jamien Sherwood and cornerback Roger McCreary. Offensive lineman Brodarious Hamm might decide to give the NFL a try and move on with his life if he doesn’t make it. With nobody losing a year of eligibility, seniors can return for another season. Defensive end Big Kat Bryant, openly disappointed an injury-riddled season, wouldn’t commit one way or the other on Friday.
LAST HURRAH FOR AUBURN’S OFFENSE
I was curious how Auburn’s offense would look with coordinator Chad Morris calling plays in the Citrus Bowl without input from Malzahn. The answer became obvious early. At the end of a season in which the offense was rarely consistent, it looked worse.
With so many starters missing, it was a strange game on both sides of the ball. The defense got itself together after a rough start and played two really good quarters before running out of gas. The offense never got itself together, couldn’t sustain drives and got its only touchdown on a big play.
Auburn’s defense has enough talent to be good. The line has some very talented young players that just weren’t ready for prime time this season. Injuries also played a role. The offense has to have help on the line of scrimmage, where an already difficult situation was exacerbated by injuries. I like the returning receivers, even if Seth Williams joins Schwartz. Help is needed at running back, even if Bigsby stays. Tight ends, including some really talented ones, are plentiful.
Quarterback Bo Nix has to figure out how to be more consistent. Nobody plays harder. I sensed early on that there was a disconnect between Nix and Morris. Maybe a fresh start with new coaches – Harsin has a glittering reputation as a developer of quarterbacks – will be just what Nix needs. We will see. Regardless, he needs help either from freshmen or from the transfer portal.
AN INTERESTING DYNAMIC
Harsin arrives with more goodwill than any Auburn coach I can remember. Yet, his circumstances are unique. He is the first Auburn coach in modern times to inherit a team that played in a bowl game or even had a winning record. Yet, he is viewed by some as inheriting a program in trouble.
It’s an interesting dynamic. Is he arriving just as the program goes into a downhill slide or is he inheriting a program that can be successful with tweaks here or there? My belief is that if he can keep the current roster mostly intact and get help from the transfer portal where needed, his first season could be quite successful.
If it is, I hope fans don’t get carried away. In most case, when there is a coaching change, a season of transition is coming. Sometimes it’s the first season. Sometimes it’s the second or third. But unless a program is truly on an elite level – and programs that fire coaches rarely are – that time is coming.
Malzahn took his first team to the BCS Championship Game and created expectations he was not able to meet. He came close in 2017 and 2019, but he could never get over that hump again.
ABOUT AUBURN BASKETBALL
I watched a full Auburn basketball game Saturday for the first time this season. Auburn barely fell short of completing a stirring comeback on the road at Texas A&M. What I saw was a team talented enough to have a bright future and too young and inexperienced to make a big run this season.
That could change if 5-star point guard Sharife Cooper is ever cleared by the NCAA. I’m not familiar with all the issues, but that it has taken this long for a decision is absurd. The NCAA claims to be all about student-athlete welfare. Situations like this show just how much of a joke that claim is.
BIG BOWL SEASON FOR THE SEC
Other than Auburn and Florida, both extremely short-handed, it was a banner bowl season for the SEC. With Alabama’s game against Ohio State in the championship game remaining, the SEC is 6-2 in the postseason. Even teams with losing records were successful.
Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky beat nationally ranked teams. Of the teams that won, Georgia had the closest call, beating Cincinnati on a 53-yard field goal as time expired. Cincinnati had third-and-two with the lead on its final possession. All it needed was a first down to run out the clock. For some reason, the call was for a deep pass. It was incomplete, Georgia got the ball back on a punt and went and won the game.
Bowl season was nothing short of crushing for the ACC, which went 0-6.
LOWEST POINT OF BOWL SEASON
The lowlight of the SEC’s bowl season came after Mississippi State’s 28-26 win over Tulsa. An ugly brawl that included outright assaults broke out on the field. It was so bad that there was talk of actual arrests. Head coach Mike Leach’s flippant answer to what his response would be – “I’ll tell them not to do it again” – was embarrassing or should have been. The SEC office will be heard from. Count on that.
Florida coach Dan Mullen’s post-game excuse making didn’t break any rules or laws, but it should have been embarrassing, too. Compare what he said to interim Auburn coach Kevin Steele’s adamant refusal to make excuses after Auburn’s loss to Northwestern.
CREDIT TO LANE KIFFIN
It happened almost quietly, but first-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, love him or loathe him, deserves plenty of credit for this season. After a 1-4 start, the Rebels finished 5-5. The one loss was a stinker to LSU. They were fortunate that their game against Texas A&M was canceled. But they finished in style with a 26-20 win over No. 11 Indiana in the Outback Bowl.
PAY ATTENTION TO WORDS
I have often cautioned people to pay attention to the exact words of what athletic administrators say. Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte’s statement on Dec. 12 was widely reported as a vote of confidence for coach Tom Herman. Here is what he said:
"There's been a lot of speculation about the future of our football coach. My policy is to wait until the end of the season before evaluating and commenting on our program and coaches. With the end of the regular season, I want to reiterate that Tom Herman is our coach."
He told the truth. Herman was still the coach. After Texas blew out Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, Herman was no longer the coach. He was gone and Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian was hired.
It was controversial in a couple of ways. Clearly, Texas was talking with Sarkisian before Herman was fired. And is Sarkisian really a clear step up from Herman?
SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
--An eight-team College Football Playoff with automatic bids for Power 5 conference champions.
--Grown people stop attacking college kids on Twitter. It’s a strange and disturbing part of our world.
--More compassion and less anger in athletics and beyond.
--More loyalty and less “I’m going to get mine.”
--A lot less paranoia from college football coaches who are financially set for life if they never win another game.
TIME FOR PEOPLE TO PULL TOGETHER
Auburn supporters – wealthy and otherwise – seem to have a difficult time staying on the same page. That has led me to say more than once that Auburn often succeeds in spite of itself.
Bryan Harsin is the head coach and has been greeted with widespread enthusiasm. Can that enthusiasm last when the hard times come? It rarely does. Malzahn deserves blame for bad moves he made, but there is no question his job was made more difficult by constant hot seat talk. There is no question that players are affected by the attacks mentioned above.
I’ve said it before and will one more time. Consistent winning comes from everyone involved pulling on the same rope in the same direction. Without that, it’s not going to happen.
Help from vaccines is on the way, but experts say it could take until the fall for the COVID-19 pandemic to start to seriously dissipate. What does that mean for basketball? For spring sports? For spring football practice? Even for next football season? We don’t know, but it’s going to be a while before true normalcy returns.
In the latest edition of Sunday Reflectiions, we take a look questions and what some of the answers could be as Auburn football moves into a new era.
WHAT ABOUT TANK BIGSBY?
Getting to the question probably most asked, what’s going on with freshman running back Tank Bigsby?
There was minimal concern early on, but that concern has grown. There seems little question that Bigsby is at least considering leaving and that he is looking at the possibility of returning to his home state to play for Georgia. With the rule coming that players can transfer once without penalty, he and others could be eligible next season. How will the SEC deal with intraconference transfers? Nobody really knows and won’t until the new rule is actually passed.
Here’s what we hear: Bigsby and Harsin have talked. He did not commit to a decision one way or the other. Whether running backs coach Cadillac Williams, to whom he is very close, is retained could certainly have an impact on his decision. Others could decide for various reasons to finish their careers elsewhere. Auburn coaches, once they are on the job, will certainly do their own searches for help in the transfer portal.
When you look at the unanswered questions, you see why college football players hate coaching changes. Those changes create uncertainty, and players don’t like uncertainty.
Who will be on Harsin’s staff?
Most intently watched among the hires will be the coordinator positions and which, if any, of the current coaches are retained.
With receiver Anthony Schwartz having already declared for the NFL, who will follow?
Wide receiver Seth Williams bears watching. So does safety Jamien Sherwood and cornerback Roger McCreary. Offensive lineman Brodarious Hamm might decide to give the NFL a try and move on with his life if he doesn’t make it. With nobody losing a year of eligibility, seniors can return for another season. Defensive end Big Kat Bryant, openly disappointed an injury-riddled season, wouldn’t commit one way or the other on Friday.
LAST HURRAH FOR AUBURN’S OFFENSE
I was curious how Auburn’s offense would look with coordinator Chad Morris calling plays in the Citrus Bowl without input from Malzahn. The answer became obvious early. At the end of a season in which the offense was rarely consistent, it looked worse.
With so many starters missing, it was a strange game on both sides of the ball. The defense got itself together after a rough start and played two really good quarters before running out of gas. The offense never got itself together, couldn’t sustain drives and got its only touchdown on a big play.
Auburn’s defense has enough talent to be good. The line has some very talented young players that just weren’t ready for prime time this season. Injuries also played a role. The offense has to have help on the line of scrimmage, where an already difficult situation was exacerbated by injuries. I like the returning receivers, even if Seth Williams joins Schwartz. Help is needed at running back, even if Bigsby stays. Tight ends, including some really talented ones, are plentiful.
Quarterback Bo Nix has to figure out how to be more consistent. Nobody plays harder. I sensed early on that there was a disconnect between Nix and Morris. Maybe a fresh start with new coaches – Harsin has a glittering reputation as a developer of quarterbacks – will be just what Nix needs. We will see. Regardless, he needs help either from freshmen or from the transfer portal.
AN INTERESTING DYNAMIC
Harsin arrives with more goodwill than any Auburn coach I can remember. Yet, his circumstances are unique. He is the first Auburn coach in modern times to inherit a team that played in a bowl game or even had a winning record. Yet, he is viewed by some as inheriting a program in trouble.
It’s an interesting dynamic. Is he arriving just as the program goes into a downhill slide or is he inheriting a program that can be successful with tweaks here or there? My belief is that if he can keep the current roster mostly intact and get help from the transfer portal where needed, his first season could be quite successful.
If it is, I hope fans don’t get carried away. In most case, when there is a coaching change, a season of transition is coming. Sometimes it’s the first season. Sometimes it’s the second or third. But unless a program is truly on an elite level – and programs that fire coaches rarely are – that time is coming.
Malzahn took his first team to the BCS Championship Game and created expectations he was not able to meet. He came close in 2017 and 2019, but he could never get over that hump again.
ABOUT AUBURN BASKETBALL
I watched a full Auburn basketball game Saturday for the first time this season. Auburn barely fell short of completing a stirring comeback on the road at Texas A&M. What I saw was a team talented enough to have a bright future and too young and inexperienced to make a big run this season.
That could change if 5-star point guard Sharife Cooper is ever cleared by the NCAA. I’m not familiar with all the issues, but that it has taken this long for a decision is absurd. The NCAA claims to be all about student-athlete welfare. Situations like this show just how much of a joke that claim is.
BIG BOWL SEASON FOR THE SEC
Other than Auburn and Florida, both extremely short-handed, it was a banner bowl season for the SEC. With Alabama’s game against Ohio State in the championship game remaining, the SEC is 6-2 in the postseason. Even teams with losing records were successful.
Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Kentucky beat nationally ranked teams. Of the teams that won, Georgia had the closest call, beating Cincinnati on a 53-yard field goal as time expired. Cincinnati had third-and-two with the lead on its final possession. All it needed was a first down to run out the clock. For some reason, the call was for a deep pass. It was incomplete, Georgia got the ball back on a punt and went and won the game.
Bowl season was nothing short of crushing for the ACC, which went 0-6.
LOWEST POINT OF BOWL SEASON
The lowlight of the SEC’s bowl season came after Mississippi State’s 28-26 win over Tulsa. An ugly brawl that included outright assaults broke out on the field. It was so bad that there was talk of actual arrests. Head coach Mike Leach’s flippant answer to what his response would be – “I’ll tell them not to do it again” – was embarrassing or should have been. The SEC office will be heard from. Count on that.
Florida coach Dan Mullen’s post-game excuse making didn’t break any rules or laws, but it should have been embarrassing, too. Compare what he said to interim Auburn coach Kevin Steele’s adamant refusal to make excuses after Auburn’s loss to Northwestern.
CREDIT TO LANE KIFFIN
It happened almost quietly, but first-year Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, love him or loathe him, deserves plenty of credit for this season. After a 1-4 start, the Rebels finished 5-5. The one loss was a stinker to LSU. They were fortunate that their game against Texas A&M was canceled. But they finished in style with a 26-20 win over No. 11 Indiana in the Outback Bowl.
PAY ATTENTION TO WORDS
I have often cautioned people to pay attention to the exact words of what athletic administrators say. Texas athletics director Chris Del Conte’s statement on Dec. 12 was widely reported as a vote of confidence for coach Tom Herman. Here is what he said:
"There's been a lot of speculation about the future of our football coach. My policy is to wait until the end of the season before evaluating and commenting on our program and coaches. With the end of the regular season, I want to reiterate that Tom Herman is our coach."
He told the truth. Herman was still the coach. After Texas blew out Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, Herman was no longer the coach. He was gone and Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian was hired.
It was controversial in a couple of ways. Clearly, Texas was talking with Sarkisian before Herman was fired. And is Sarkisian really a clear step up from Herman?
SOME THINGS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE
--An eight-team College Football Playoff with automatic bids for Power 5 conference champions.
--Grown people stop attacking college kids on Twitter. It’s a strange and disturbing part of our world.
--More compassion and less anger in athletics and beyond.
--More loyalty and less “I’m going to get mine.”
--A lot less paranoia from college football coaches who are financially set for life if they never win another game.
TIME FOR PEOPLE TO PULL TOGETHER
Auburn supporters – wealthy and otherwise – seem to have a difficult time staying on the same page. That has led me to say more than once that Auburn often succeeds in spite of itself.
Bryan Harsin is the head coach and has been greeted with widespread enthusiasm. Can that enthusiasm last when the hard times come? It rarely does. Malzahn deserves blame for bad moves he made, but there is no question his job was made more difficult by constant hot seat talk. There is no question that players are affected by the attacks mentioned above.
I’ve said it before and will one more time. Consistent winning comes from everyone involved pulling on the same rope in the same direction. Without that, it’s not going to happen.
Help from vaccines is on the way, but experts say it could take until the fall for the COVID-19 pandemic to start to seriously dissipate. What does that mean for basketball? For spring sports? For spring football practice? Even for next football season? We don’t know, but it’s going to be a while before true normalcy returns.
