Auburn football: PFF ranks Tigers sixth in SEC, slams passing game

The Auburn football team has had some struggles in the past when it comes to the passing game. Nothing has been quite the same since Nick Marshall back in 2013, and when it comes to offensive styles the Tigers usually lean towards the run game, at least in the Gus Malzahn era.

However, with the hiring of new head coach Bryan Harsin, a coach that has a reputation for a strong offense and developing quarterbacks, relief should be on its way for a program that has been stuck in the middle of the pack for several years. Receivers like Seth Williams have previously spoken about how they feel Auburn did not run diverse pass routes, leaving them with more to prove than others when it comes to being scouted for the draft.

While Bryan Harsin is definitely working to improve Auburn football’s game from all aspects, we know for a fact he has been working to rebuild the wide receivers room after losing Anthony Schwartz, Seth Williams, and Eli Stove to the NFL this year. Nothing about the starting receivers was too impressive during the spring game, as many of them have very little experience due to the star quality of the aforementioned receivers.

According to PFF, the Tigers are going to “have one of the worst passing offenses in the SEC” in the 2021 season. Bo Nix is already a shaky passer, but now he’s lost his best three receivers to the NFL:

"The Tigers ranked fourth-to-last in the SEC in successful pass play rate in 2020. Their top three wide receivers from that group all took off for the NFL, too, leaving quarterback Bo Nix, who owns a middling 66.2 passing grade for his career, with no proven option to throw to."

Because of the question marks left on the Auburn offense, PFF has also ranked the Tigers to finish sixth in the Southeastern Conference, falling behind Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida, and Texas A&M. While the returning defensive roster is stacked, Harsin’s new offense will have something to prove.

With T.J. Finley officially heading to the Plains, Bo Nix will be put on the hot seat over the summer and will be expected to beat out Finley for the starting job. It’s possible that if Finley becomes more of a passing threat than Nix that we could see him hitting the field as the starter come September.

Whoever is leading the offense in the fall, we at Fly War Eagle are hoping that they’ll do well enough to earn us a higher conference standing at the end of the 2021 season.