Auburn football: Bryan Harsin announces Iron Men of the Week

Between recruiting, summer workouts, and SEC Media Days, Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin has had a busy end of July, all of which will culminate in the Tigers’ biggest recruiting event of the summer, Big Cat Weekend.

Despite everything going on, Harsin still made it to Twitter to post about Auburn football’s Iron Men of the Week, which features one returner who will be expected to step up this season and one newcomer who could have an interesting role in his first year on the Plains.

As per usual, Coach Harsin named one defensive Iron Man and one offensive Iron Man as well as honoring a specific position group. This week, the defensive honoree is junior safety Zion Puckett, the offensive honoree is redshirt freshman quarterback Robby Ashford, and the outstanding position group is the tight ends.

With Smoke Monday’s exit to the NFL, associate head coach Zac Etheridge pointed to Zion Puckett as a safety that has plenty of potential and who could likely step up for the Tigers in 2022 in Monday’s absence. Puckett finished last season with 48 total tackles, including 0.5 tackles for loss, and had a season-high 10 tackles versus Georgia.

Robby Ashford transferred from Oregon into an intense quarterback battle in early spring. He spent two seasons with the Ducks, but saw no game action. Though Ashford is unlikely to win the starting job this fall, his skillset as a runner could potentially be utilized in another way.

It’s great to see both of these players singled out as hard workers and leaders ahead of the 2022 season, one where their skills could be of the utmost importance as Harsin and the Tigers are heading into the fall with something to prove