Auburn Tigers News: Eli Drinkwitz on Auburn, Bruce Pearl on Denver Jones' duties
In today's edition of Auburn Tigers News, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz talks about the upcoming matchup with Auburn and Bruce Pearl discusses Denver Jones' role ahead of the 2024-25 season
The Auburn football team will return to action this weekend after a productive bye week with a road matchup against the Missouri Tigers. Mizzou is coming off a win against UMass and is ranked #19 with only one loss so far to Texas A&M.
Meanwhile, the Auburn Tigers have yet to pick up a conference win and are sitting with a 2-4 record heading into Columbia. Earlier this week, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz spoke with the media on facing Auburn.
“Got a very difficult challenge this week," he said, per Missouri SI. "I think Auburn is a very dangerous football team. When you look at the statistics that they have on both sides of the ball, there's really only one glaring weakness that they've had, and it shows up in all their losses, which is turnovers. Other than that, they've played well enough to win football games, and I think they’re very talented on both sides of the ball.
"Offensively, they got elite wideouts. They got an elite running back. They've got talented tight ends. On the defensive side of the ball, they got elite defensive linemen, linebackers... And so it's really going to be a challenge for us this week."
Bruce Pearl discusses Denver Jones' role ahead of the 2024-25 season
Earlier this week, SEC basketball head coaches and players convened in Birmingham for SEC Media Days ahead of the upcoming season. Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl spoke about one of the top returning players on the team, fifth-year senior Denver Jones, and how his role will look a little different this year.
Pearl was clear at the end of last season that he was not happy with the point guard play of his team, and this year Jones will be stepping up to fill the demanding role.
"It's easy to get the quarterback the ball," Pearl said Tuesday at SEC Media Day, per Auburn Undercover. "The quarterback has the ball. He then either has to hand it off or he has it throw it down the field. He has to do something with it to get it to one of his playmakers. So when you play point guard, the ball is in your hands. I don't have to do anything to get him the ball, and I think Denver makes good decisions with the ball. He can score, he can get downhill, he can make tough 2s, he's unselfish. And I think it's really good for us, and I think it's going to be good for his future development."