With the early signing period in the rear view mirror and just under one month until the transfer portal opens, Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh has a short time to figure out a lot of things.
Unlike his predecessor, Golesh inherited a roster that is in good shape and full of talented players. But with some players graduating and others looking to hit the transfer portal themselves and play elsewhere, Golesh must figure out what roster holes he will need to fill in the month of January.
Still, he isn't trying to build things from the ground up, and Golesh told the media at his press conference on Monday he wants all the guys that want to be here to stick around.
“Priority would be the retention of the guys that you feel like fit, the guys you feel like can help, and ultimately, guys that want to be here," Golesh said. "We’re still a couple of weeks away from truly knowing if there is a match there of (both) we want this guy here and he wants to be here. We’re trying to get to that decision as fast as we possibly can to know if there is a hole there. We’re a couple of weeks away from that.
"The intent coming in, and I said this a week ago, is not to run guys out of here but to make sure we find that guys that, again, want to be here, we want them here, and that match can happen. Then you don’t have a hole."
Golesh went on to say that he has met with most of the guys on campus, but that the majority of them are not. Before he starts looking at the portal situation he is making sure to meet with each player and understand their situation.
"Every situation’s absolutely different. It’s the depth in the room, has the young man played or not, are you retaining him off potential, are they wanting to stay off of giving us a chance. Each spot is completely different. So to say how we’re totally attacking the portal today, I could give you some thoughts that I would probably want to keep private, and those thoughts will drastically change in the next three weeks."