Alex Golesh opened up his first spring practice in charge of the Auburn Tigers on Tuesday inside the Woltosz Football Performance Center, hoping to see signs of life from his players.
And while things got sloppy near the end of practice, the 41-year-old coach was happy with what he saw overall from them on their first day ... and from what he’s witnessed in his four months since being hired.
Alex Golesh says a team coming together quickly is hard to accomplish
It's been a fun group to coach here through these first almost four months here,” Golesh said. “They bought in quickly. They've done what we've asked them to do collectively. They've tried to come together. I think that's the hardest thing to do right now in college football is bring a team together and the connection piece. I was really curious to see what practice would look like because it's all good until you get out here, and you get going.”
With so many new players and coaches on the Plains after a massive roster overhaul following last season, it makes sense that it might take some time for the players to gel, especially since many come from USF, where Golesh coached for the last three seasons. There aren’t many leaders left from last year’s squad that finished 5-7, but if some players who stayed looked at some newcomers who became leaders as threats, it hasn’t happened yet.
One of those is quarterback Byrum Brown, who is expected to become the cure for what has ailed Auburn’s offense over the past three seasons. Last year, for the Bulls, he threw for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 scores. There are high expectations that he, along with many wide receivers who come from Tampa, can take Golesh’s offense into the SEC and be successful.
For now, Golesh is happy with how the first day went.
“I thought energy, enthusiasm was really good,” he said. “I thought as it went and got some tempo going, it got a little bit sloppy at the end. That's the part that we got to coach through is that it never gets sloppy. The intent's the same all the way through. But for the most part, I was really pleased with how it went.”