As the Auburn football team prepares to make its debut under new head coach Alex Golesh, there is a lot of optimism about improvements from last season.
Many have pointed to the continuity the Tigers have maintained as something working in their favor. Golesh brought offensive coordinator Joel Gordon from USF along with quarterback Byrum Brown, center Cole Best and a coalition of wide receivers. All have played together previously and are familiar with the offensive system.
Similarly, the Tigers returned both defensive coordinator DJ Durkin and defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams with several key pieces of last year's defense like Champ Anthony and Xavier Atkins.
Despite the reasons for optimism, Golesh delivered a reminder to the media in his Monday press conference that the Tigers are still in the middle of a year one rebuild, and that this is a team with a lot of young players and a lot of new players who are still figuring things out.
Golesh has said several times throughout the fall camp period that he and his staff have worked hard to drive home the off-the-field aspects of being a winner, from process to leadership, and he has admitted that the leadership piece is one that keeps him up at night as the Tigers head into the 2026 season.
“You know, as much as we’ve got these older guys, we’ve got a ton of youth in this program too and it’s been pushing and empowering some younger guys that are really good players to step up in the sense of ‘Man, you’re leading, but there’s more you can give,’” Golesh said.
“It’s been really really good at times, it’s been just okay at times. It’s probably one of the things that keeps me up at night is you don’t really feel like you’ve got enough of that, to be honest with you. We’re going to continue to push it, we’re going to empower guys to lead.”
With the grueling schedule of an SEC team and a tough draw when it comes to road opponents this season, Golesh revealed his concern that his team does not have the player leadership it needs to thrive this fall.
“Full transparency, that’s where I lose sleep, because I don’t know that we have enough truly to go into a season and be able to go through the ups and downs of what it is.”
The Tigers kick off the 2026 season this Saturday against the Baylor Bears in Atlanta, Georgia.
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