The Auburn Tigers are taking things to the next level when it comes to fall camp. First year head coach Alex Golesh, along with his staff and all the players, moved into the Marriott Grand National earlier this week for a 13-day stay, all in an effort to help the team bond and lock in on their mission.
"This is the one time where there's absolutely zero distractions," Golesh said in a press conference earlier this week, per Auburn 247. "We're going to go 13 days until school starts. The way the calendar falls this year, school will actually be in session the last few days of camp. That hasn't happened in quite a while, but we'll work through that as we get there."
Golesh explained that they took all the players' car keys, they strategically paired older and younger players together as roommates and they are relying on the preseason period to unite the team behind the goal of winning football games. The team buses to the practice facility in the morning and spends the entire day practicing and attending meetings before heading back to the hotel for evening meetings and lights out.
But the coaching staff is upping the intensity when it comes to practices, too. Golesh brought a new concept to the Tigers' fall camp this year, one that he previously integrated in fall camp at his former program, USF. Every single practice the Tigers participate in, from 7-on-7 team drills to full-on scrimmages, officials are present and working.
"We just try to make the time that we have on the field as close to game-like as you possibly can for, really, everybody," Golesh said.
During last year's camp, former coach Hugh Freeze noted that he asked the defense not to go full-force against quarterback Jackson Arnold, but it seems that this year Golesh is taking the opposite approach. From playing the first-team offense against the first-team defense to bringing officials in to practices to isolating at an off-campus hotel for two weeks, it's clear that Golesh wants as much intensity as possible for his team ahead of his first season on the Plains.
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