Bryan Harsin excited by defensive showing in first scrimmage

First-year head coach Bryan Harsin and the Auburn Tigers held their first preseason scrimmage on Saturday night, and Harsin was impressed by the defense’s effort in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“What I was looking for, really looking for was the effort on the defensive side,” Harsin said.

While subpar weather may have contributed to lackadaisical offense, Harsin saw it differently. Instead, he said it was the defense that limited big plays on Saturday, and their effort was a big reason why.

“I want to see these guys make plays, but I want to see the effort,” he continued. “And I want to see these guys, just the process in between each play, because I felt like on the defense, from an offensive standpoint, they’ve got so much that they have to communicate and adjust each and every play… They’re really defending whatever the offense is doing, so those guys communicating, that focus, and then when the ball is snapped, really just that effort, and just being relentless to the ball. And they did a good job tonight.”

Auburn’s defense has its work cut out this fall, as it hopes to turn the page on a new chapter. Former head coach Gus Malzahn and defensive coordinator Kevin Steele coached the Tigers to a relatively average finish in 2020, as the team ranked sixth in the SEC in total defense.

Mason charged with guiding Auburn defense

Under Harsin, it’ll be up to first-year defensive coordinator Derek Mason, Vanderbilt’s former head coach, to rebuild the defensive unit. The results — at least, early on — were promising, according to Harsin.

“I mean, the offense scored and did some good things down there, but overall, I thought the D-line played pretty well,” Harsin said. “I thought our linebackers — they were hitting it downhill — and then there were some negative plays that the defense created. I thought that front seven did well. Secondary, some good things back there.”

The defense was not only able to limit Auburn’s offense, but also create turnovers, leaving Harsin happy with the performance so far.

“That to me, for the defense, and when they’re able to do that, they can create takeaways, opportunities like that because they’re playing hard which is why it happened,” Harsin said. “Just getting to the ball, good things happen. They showed that tonight, so felt good about a lot of the plays the defense had, and creating those turnovers, those are obviously going to be game-changing.”