Auburn football: Josh Pate says Tigers’ locker room is not distracted

Auburn football fans are squarely focused on the ranked SEC matchup coming up this weekend versus the #10 Ole Miss Rebels, but there are some out there who seem more focused on first-year head coach Bryan Harsin’s vaccine status than the upcoming game.

Fans want to hear about football. They want to hear about players returning, they want to hear injury updates, and they want to know how well their team is going to play against its upcoming opponent. But most of the media coverage this week has been more COVID-related than football-related.

Many of those covering Auburn football have gone above and beyond in coverage of Harsin’s stance on the vaccine. Of course, they have a duty to report the news, but not to attack the coach and harp on this one piece of information that really doesn’t have to do with how the team will play against Ole Miss.

Those in the sports community have clamored on and on about how the Tigers will lose to the Rebs this weekend due to the distraction that their coach has created regarding the vaccine. Others, however, have seen the big picture of what Harsin has managed to do with this team so far this season, and know that the Tigers will not let the media lose them this game.

Josh Pate put into words how most of the Auburn football fans have been feeling this week regarding the news coverage and the Ole Miss game:

The overwhelming majority of Tiger fans do not care whether or not Bryan Harsin shares his vaccine status with the public. Of course, he’ll have to deal with the University’s vaccine mandate in December, but until then, he has football games to win.