Bryan Harsin reveals the standouts from first spring practice
The Auburn Tigers and head coach Bryan Harsin have had a wild offseason, to say the least. But on Monday, Harsin and the Tigers were back on the grind as they kicked off Spring practice.
The embattled head coach of Auburn was glad to get back into the swing of things, as he explained in his first post-spring practice press conference. But possibly one of the parts of getting back to practice for him is evaluating the talent on his roster. After a brief opening statement, Harsin highlighted a few players who stood out at Monday’s practice.
“But, a few highlights. Caleb Wooden. We talked about making a first impression today in the team meeting,” said Harsin. “You get one shot to do that. Caleb Wooden had a scoop and score and a pick today. DK (Donovan Kaufman) had a forced fumble. Shed (Shedrick) Jackson I thought had a good first day. He used his winter conditioning really really well.”
Harsin didn’t leave it there as he highlighted a few more players and even poked a little bit of fun at the position that is likely to garner the most attention this offseason for the Tigers, quarterback.
“Guys that stood out today, Derick Hall, Eku (Leota), Cam Riley, Jeremiah Wright moving the O-line. It was good to see him out there and get a chance to do some things coming off of a knee injury. Nehemiah Pritchett, I thought went really hard today and did some really good things, it’s good to have him out there. we’ll get to the QB’s. There’s a lot of them, you know,” said Harsin.
Harsin on Auburn QB’s
All seven quarterbacks on the roster were mentioned by Harsin when asked on Monday after the first spring practice of the year. The head coach said he is not going to announce a starter “as quickly as everybody wants” but explained how they are in the process of evaluating everyone after Day One.
“Probably not as quickly as everybody else wants,” Harsin said. “Everybody wants to know. There’s a lot of other reps that are not team reps that we get to evaluate. Individual drills, your one on ones, routes on air, all those things. We’re looking at every single thing. Everything’s on film. These guys, their life is a documentary right now, we’re going to watch every single thing they’re going to do.
“Through the first scrimmage, these first seven practices, they’re going to split reps. Some guys get a little bit more some days. T.J. (Finley) got more reps today, Dematrius Davis got some reps in there. Holden (Geriner) got some reps, Robby (Ashford) got some reps. Zach Calzada got some reps in there. Trey Lindsey, Sawyer Pate. So there’s some guys in there that are getting reps and some more than others today and that might change in a couple days.”
Three players in the middle of the competition were not on the roster last season, with two coming via the transfer portal and another one being a member of the 2022 recruiting class. Geriner was a four-star prospect according to the On3 Consensus coming out of Savannah, GA, while Ashford transferred from Oregon and Calzada from Texas A&M.
Finley was the starter in the final two games of the season after Nix suffered a season-ending injury. Auburn lost both games against Alabama and Houston in the Birmingham Bowl but the former LSU Tigers transfer played above expectations, especially in the Iron Bowl.