When he accepted the Auburn head coaching job at the end of last November, Alex Golesh knew he had a lot of work ahead of him in rebuilding the Tigers’ program into a contender. Auburn is coming off five straight losing seasons, including a 5-7 season last year that marked the end of Hugh Freeze's tenure.
And while Golesh and his staff have done a decent job putting together a roster for this upcoming season, ESPN’s Eli Lederman, Max Olson and Adam Rittenberg aren’t exactly impressed with how the offseason has gone so far. In a ranking of how the offseasons have gone for each SEC program, the Tigers come in extremely low at No. 13, below programs such as Kentucky and South Carolina.
Where did they go wrong? The writers blame a slew of departures, including Cam Coleman, Eric Singleton, Malik Blocton, Jay Crawford and Kayin Lee, all of whom left for other SEC programs, as part of the reason they ranked the Tigers so low. Keldric Faulk and Connor Lew, who could have returned for their senior seasons, left for the NFL draft, leaving a void on both sides of the trenches for Auburn.
ESPN ranks Auburn's offseason 13th out of 16 in the SEC
Golesh won some points by bringing in talented quarterback Byrum Brown, whom he has coached for three seasons at USF as the Bulls’ starter, although he missed half of the 2024 season with an injury. Brown had success last season, throwing for 3,158 yards and 28 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,008 yards and 14 more scores. The first-year coach also added depth to the running back room, as Nykahi Davenport, Tae Meadows and Bryson Washington joined veteran Jeremiah Cobb in the backfield.
Time will only tell the final grade for Golesh’s first offseason, but a winning record (and bowl game) would go a long way in boosting the Tigers’ ranking up the SEC ladder.Â
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