Robby Ashford readying for first road test, offensive improvements still needed for Auburn

AUBURN– Saturday will be Auburn’s first road game of the season, and redshirt freshman Robby Ashford’s first road start of his career. It’s not exactly an ideal scenario for a struggling Auburn team facing second-ranked Georgia, but it’s what awaits.

Bryan Harsin knows what awaits Ashford in Athens.

“…Every single week we’ve got a little bit of a different scheme, a different opponent,” Harsin said. “Who are the guys that are strengths on their team? On this defense, they’re all the strengths on that team.”

Harsin talked to the media on Monday about the preparations that the entire team is putting into play this week during practice. Ashford is a main focus. T.J. Finley is the only quarterback that has competed against Georgia in an Auburn uniform, but his health is still a question mark. Harsin told the media that they would “see where T.J.’s at this week,” and go from there.

Harsin and offensive coordinator Eric Kiesau are doing the best they can to prepare young Ashford for the challenge ahead.

“You try to prepare through the week and provide noise, that’s really all you can do,” Harsin said on Monday. “We’re not going to bring in extra fans to yell at him and things like that. You’re going into a hostile environment. You’re not going to be favored when you get in there. That’s part of just the mental side of playing that position. Then, the noise becomes a factor.”

Harsin praised some of Ashford’s management skills through the first two games, and hopes his rising confidence will help him on Saturday.

“I think that’s the one thing from coaching and playing that position, just handle each and every play,” Harsin said. “Focus on the sideline, get the call in, communicate that, make sure everybody’s on the same page, know that you’re not going to be able to yell out information to your guys… Keep everybody on the same page and then execute the play that’s in front of you… We’ve got to focus on us, we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing things on the offensive side of the ball that we can control and then just handle the environment when we’re there.”

Necessary offensive improvements

When comparing to the week before against Missouri, Auburn nearly doubled its yardage from 237 to 438 total yards. Unfortunately, four turnovers and a missed field goal quickly erased the positive production.

The Tigers’ run game remains a concern, barely topping 100 total rushing yards against LSU.

“With the run game, just more consistency there when it comes to maybe eliminating the negative plays, that would be the key,” Harsin said. “…We want to be efficient on first and second downs so that we can stay ahead of the chains and eliminate some of those negative plays in the run game…”

There were bright spots. Freshman wideouts Omari Kelly and Camden Brown made big catches, with Brown finding the endzone for the first time in his career.

“That was encouraging to see some young guys step up and do some things on the perimeter,” Harsin said. “We obviously have to be better than that going into this game and every game forward, because we weren’t good enough to win the football game, but overall there were some positive things in the pass game that I thought helped us.”

Trey Lindsey now on scholarship for Auburn

Auburn Live reported on September 22 that quarterback Zach Calzada would need a second surgery on his non-throwing shoulder and would miss the remainder of the season. Following that decision and heading into the Missouri game, senior Trey Lindsey was put on scholarship.

Harsin announced the news on Monday.

“…We did put Trey Lindsey on scholarship as well,” Harsin said. “The reason why is because of all he does for our team. He’s out there and every single week- this guy is a future coach- he brings tremendous value and a lot of really positive things to this team.”

Lindsey joins Ashford and Holden Geriner as healthy, scholarship quarterbacks at the moment.