In today's edition of Auburn Tigers News, super senior Luke Deal opens up on the work of the leadership council and UCLA cancels their home-and-away series with Auburn football
Tight end Luke Deal is preparing to head into his sixth season with Auburn football this fall, and boy has he seen a lot during his time with the program. A member of the 2019 class — the same one that Bo Nix, Jaylin Simpson, and Nehemiah Pritchett — Deal has been coached by Gus Malzahn, Bryan Harsin, and now Hugh Freeze, and is the only member of the 2019 class still on the Plains.
Over the past few years, Deal has stepped up as a leader on the team, representing last year's squad at SEC Media Days and being named team captain for the 2023 season. This year, he is playing a big role on the team's leadership council.
“We’ve met for hours and hours, and days and days,” said Deal, per Auburn Rivals. “A lot of people don’t realize how much time you put in when you are trying to drive the culture. With the emphasis we put on it this year, it’s a lot more responsibility.”
Throughout the offseason, beginning after the Music City Bowl loss, Auburn football coaches and players alluded to culture issues on the team, and players who weren't taking their role seriously. According to Deal, this year's team is shaping up differently.
"This class, some of these transfers that have come in, they’re really impressive in terms of wanting to be leaders and moving towards that, because some of them, even the ones who played last year, were not doing the right thing last year and now they’re trying to be leaders which is really neat to see,” said Deal.
UCLA cancels their home-and-away series with Auburn football
In 2027 and 2028, Auburn football was scheduled to play a home-and-away series with UCLA, starting with a trip to the Rose Bowl for the Tigers followed by UCLA's debut in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Earlier today, news broke that the Bruins and the Tigers reached a mutual agreement to cancel the series.
UCLA also cancelled their future series with Georgia, and has replaced the SEC teams with their former Pac-12 conference-mates Utah and Cal. Auburn Undercover reports that Auburn agreed to end the deal with UCLA because the Tigers were able to lock down another Power 4 opponent, but nothing has been finalized yet.