Football can be a complex game, but at its core, it's actually very simple. If 11 guys are consistently playing together and playing hard, then you've most likely got yourself a competitive football team that can win a good number of games. The key word there is "together", and too often in the recent history of Auburn football, the offensive side of the ball has been anything but.
In fact, that unit has been so divided that something as simple as a coach praising his quarterback had become a rarity on the Plains, hopefully until recently.
That's why Alex Golesh doing so recently is such a breath of fresh air.
Alex Golesh: “Byrum Brown is one of the best quarterbacks in the country.”
— SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) July 21, 2026
In most programs across the country, this is the norm. For some reason, the last couple of Auburn head coaches have taken the opposite approach.
Hugh Freeze threw Payton Thorne and Jackson Arnold under the bus consistently, even blaming the latter for his firing. Before Freeze, Bryan Harsin almost killed Bo Nix's love for the sport as a whole. Gus Malzahn was the last Tiger head coach who seemed to remotely like his quarterbacks, and the last game he coached for Auburn was during the COVID season.
Now, heading into 2026, the chemistry between coach and quarterback is the strongest Auburn has seen in a long time, and it's hard to understate just how important that is.
Alex Golesh and Byrum Brown chose a reunion at Auburn
Another refreshing aspect of this pairing is the simple fact that they chose to be together. When Freeze went into the portal and got Thorne and Arnold, there was a consistent feeling that Hugh settled, and those two were not his first choice by a long shot. It's hard to win games as a quarterback when you can't shake the feeling that your coach has already got his eye on a future alternative.
Compare that to now. When Golesh took the Auburn job, Brown was with him in lockstep. These two were given the choice, and they chose to run it back together at a new destination. That is a ringing endorsement if there ever was one.
Golesh and Brown have been together for three seasons already, and the results have spoken for themselves. In 31 games, Brown has thrown for 7,286 yards and 56 touchdowns, and rushed for another 2,086 and 28. Last year, he became one of only 12 quarterbacks ever to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000. He was the first to do so since Jayden Daniels, and joined a list that includes names like Vince Young, Johnny Manziel, and Lamar Jackson.
There are, of course, questions about how this duo will translate to the SEC. The competition here is certainly a step up from the AAC. It's a good sign that they went to Florida last season and beat the Gators in the Swamp, but can they replicate that every week, or at least most weeks? We are a few weeks away from beginning to find that answer.
There is one thing that is certain though. Golesh and Brown are on the same page.
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