Auburn football is in yet another state of panic in 2022 following the transfers of tight end/receiver Landen King and defensive lineman Zykeivous Walker on consecutive days October 24 and 25.
The loss of King is made worse by the fact that a replacement head coach for Bryan Harsin would be able to bring him back. One isolated transfer reflects on a player, but multiple indicates something is up behind the scenes.
To be fair to Harsin, there are caveats. King’s case reportedly had to do with a refusal to play, an insistence on a redshirt because of it, and an unwillingness to play if the team needed him to per On3’s Justin Hokanson. It also is worth mentioning that neither player was recruited by Harsin, but instead predecessor Gus Malzahn.
Still, since this is now another wave of transfers means something isn’t clicking in the locker-room, likely directly effecting the results on the field this season and last. 2018 NFL Draft pick and Malzahn’s top running back recruit Kerryon Johnson chimed in on the situation, and wouldn’t you know it, his opinion was negative:
💩 Show
— Kerryon Johnson (@CoachKerryon) October 26, 2022
Former Auburn football stars don’t care for Bryan Harsin
Many transfers from the 2021 Auburn football team had harsh words for Bryan Harsin — with Kobe Hudson’s declaration that he’d be back on the Plains if Harsin was on a one-way plane to Boise and Gus Malzahn was reinstalled as head coach — but other former players that didn’t play for the program are chiming in. In addition to Kerryon Johnson, Anthony Schwartz asked for grace for Malzahn and Bo Nix during the Ole Miss loss.
It can’t be good news for Harsin that former players are receiving these sort of negative reviews from current players and people within the program. Then again, almost no news is good news when it comes to Auburn football these days — only the landing of recruits, but even they may be scared away by this dysfunction should it continue.