A lot is expected of new Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin heading into the 2021 season. Stepping into the most competitive conference in college football is a daunting task in itself, but Harsin is also expected to walk away from the season with a winning record under his belt.
Gus Malzahn wasn’t fired because he was a bad coach, but because he wasn’t producing the results that the Auburn football community wanted to see. Auburn fans expect more than just “good enough.” So, can Bryan Harsin execute in his first year and prove that he can produce those results for the Auburn family?
It depends on his and his staff’s ability to fill the gaps on the roster left by departures to the NFL, the transfer portal, injuries, and other reasons. Harsin must load up the roster and coach up the talent he has in order to take the Tigers to the next level, and there are three areas of need he and his staff should focus on heading into their first season on the Plains:
Auburn football area of need #1: Defensive Line
Nick Eason and Bryan Harsin have already put in work to improve the defensive line, but it’s definitely an area of need heading into this season due to the lack of success in the past. The Tigers’ defense spent much of last season struggling to get off the field, ranking last in the SEC when it came to allowing third-down conversions, according to the Montgomery Advertiser:
"They ranked 11th in the conference allowing opponents to run nearly 71 plays per game and dead last surrendering a conversion rate of 50.3% on third downs – more than 20% worse than the year before. One of the biggest culprits was the team’s pass rush, which ranked 11th in the SEC pressuring the quarterback just 17.2% of the time, according to SEC StatCat."
However, these issues should be easier to resolve with transfer addition Marcus Harris from Kansas and Tony Fair from UAB, along with class of 2021 signee Lee Hunter, a 4-star defensive lineman from Eight-Mile, AL.
Eason has strong returning talent on the roster, but it will be a big job to coach up all the incoming freshman into bonafide SEC linemen.