Auburn football: Marcus Davis talks Nick Mardner, competition in WR room

After hopping around several different programs for a couple years, new Auburn football wide receivers coach Marcus Davis is back in the place he considers home. Though he is considered a young coach at age 28, Davis has proven experience at several schools including Hawaii, Georgia Southern, and Florida State.

Davis experienced several reunions back on the Plains, including one with Associate Head Coach/running backs coach Cadillac Williams and one with a former player of his, Nick Mardner. Davis coached Mardner during his time at Hawaii, which was by far Mardner’s most successful year of his career so far.

Mardner is really the only new addition to the Tigers’ wide receivers room (aside from incoming freshman Daquayvious Sorey), which is returning eight players from last year in J’Varrius Johnson, Tar’Varish Dawson, Koy Moore, Landen King, Camden Brown, Omari Kelly, Jay Fair, and Malcolm Johnson Jr.

Marcus Davis told Auburn Live’s Keith Niebuhr that he’s looking forward to coaching Mardner again, and is also excited for the level of competition he will bring within the wide receiver corps:

"“I’m looking forward to him,” Davis said. “He’s a guy that brings the combination of size and speed. He’s every bit of 6-foot-5 and he can run. I think that’s something that he will definitely bring to that room. We have other guys who can do some dangerous things as well who probably didn’t have that opportunity. The biggest thing for me is getting everybody together and getting them on the same page. Competition will bring out the best in everybody.“"

The wide receiver room is loaded with talent, but so far the group has really only shown glimpses of their full potential, which isn’t completely their fault. Davis has said that his plan of action is to solidify the fundamentals after getting a true evaluation of the group during spring training, which starts next week.