Morning reads: Colby Wooden respect, hoops update, 'Gonzo' earns national honor and more

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Colby Wooden earns preseason respect

Pro Football Focus released their Top 10 defensive tackles destined for the 2023 NFL Draft. Auburn’s Colby Wooden ranked 6th on their list.

Here’s what PFF said about Wooden: Colby Wooden had a breakout season for the Tigers in Bryan Harsin’s first year, finishing with 61 tackles (8.5 for loss) and 4.5 sacks. He also saw his number of quarterback pressures go from 24 in 2020 to 41 this past season.

I talked to people familiar with NFL scouts and impressions of some Auburn players last season, and Colby Wooden was the Tigers’ highest-rated prospect behind McCreary. Wooden’s versatility makes him a fantastic NFL prospect across the defensive line.

Auburn basketball gearing up for Israel

A quick update on Auburn basketball as they prepare for their July 30 departure for Israel for a foreign basketball tour that will last 10 days. For your own knowledge, Auburn is allowed 10 practices leading up to the foreign tour to Israel. Normally, the amount of practices during the summer is less, but the NCAA allows additional practices for programs that have scheduled foreign tours. It’s an awesome advantage, but it’s also why programs aren’t allowed to take these foreign trips every year. They’re allowed to do this once every four years.

For an Auburn team bringing in three freshman and a transfer, these extra practices are significant.

In addition, the team is playing pick-up scrimmage games with no coaches or administrators in the arena. It’s completely player led. The entire Auburn roster (minus walk-ons most likely, just a guess due to travel expenses and such), including the newcomers, is expected to make the trip to Israel.

Joseph Gonzalez earns National Team Training Camp invite

Sophomore pitcher Joseph Gonzalez has earned an invitation to the 2022 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp. Gonzalez becomes the 11th Auburn player to compete for the Collegiate National Team, including the fourth during head coach Butch Thompson’s tenure. 

The National Team Training Camp will feature 48-50 of the premier non-draft eligible college players for a five-game Stars vs. Stripes intrasquad series in North Carolina from June 30–July 4. USA Baseball will name a final, 26-man Collegiate National Team roster after training camp that will represent the United States at Honkbalweek Haarlem in the Netherlands from July 9–15.

Gonzalez recently finished his sophomore season as Auburn’s leader with seven wins and a 3.22 ERA, including a 3.20 ERA in seven SEC starts. The right-hander struck out 54 batters and issued just 15 walks in 78.1 innings.

Where does Auburn football’s returning production stack up?

ESPN’s Bill Connelly released his latest returning production statistics as of June 28. Connelly is a statistician for ESPN who also runs the S+P power rankings.

Where does Auburn stack up? The Tigers rank 56th in the nation and 8th in the SEC as July arrives.

Bo Nix, Kobe Hudson, Zakoby McClain, Chandler Wooten and Roger McCreary are the primary losses in terms of production. In terms of incoming production that helps offset those losses are players like Zach Calzada, Koy Moore and DJ James. The stats include both production lost and production gained due to transfers.

Here’s how the SEC stacks up:

1. Mississippi State 80%
2. Tennessee 77%
3. South Carolina 71%
4. Kentucky 68%
5. Vanderbilt 68%
6. Missouri 67%
7. Alabama 67%
8. Auburn 66%
9. Arkansas 65%
10. LSU 63%
11. Ole Miss 62%
12. Georgia 61%
13. Texas A&M 60%
14. Florida 59%

Here’s how the conferences stack up based on average returning production:

Average returning production by conference:

Future Power Rankings exclude the Tigers

Adam Rittenburg of ESPN put together an interesting piece ranking the top 25 college programs over the next three seasons. Here’s how he describes his rankings:

If you’ve already digested top-25 rankings for quarterbacks, offenses and defenses, you have a decent idea of what will follow. The team rankings are a bit different, though, and examine the programs on a macro level for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons. Factors such as coaching changes and stability, and recent on-field/recruiting trajectory, hold more value in this list. The increased importance of the transfer portal and even name, image and likeness can’t be discounted when doing a projection such as this one.

At its core, FPR remains personnel-based, and assesses how current and future players will impact performance for their teams. Recruiting in the past few seasons or projected success in 2023 carries some weight. But some programs consistently outperform their recruiting rankings and deserve to be recognized appropriately in the team list.

Heading into last season, Auburn was ranked 20th. Entering this season, the Tigers didn’t make the top 25. Rittenburg’s Future Power Rankings Top 25 looks like this:

1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Texas A&M
5. Clemson
6. Notre Dame
7. Oklahoma
8. Michigan
9. USC
10. LSU
11. Miami
12. Cincinnati
13. Oregon
14. Utah
15. Penn State
16. Baylor
17. Oklahoma State
18. Michigan State
19. Wisconsin
20. NC State
21. Iowa
22. Florida
23. BYU
24. Houston
25. Kentucky

Rittenburg is just one man, but he’s not alone. The importance of this fall and this recruiting class to Auburn is nearly impossible to overstate.

Mike Leach receives extension

Per Alex Scarborough of ESPN, Mississippi State and football coach Mike Leach have agreed to a two-year contract extension that will raise his annual salary to $5.5 million and run through the 2025 season.

The Bulldogs went 4-6 during the COVID-19 shortened 2020 season. In Year 2 under Leach, the team reached a bowl game and finished third in the SEC West with a record of 7-6.

The Bulldogs return star quarterback Will Rogers, who finished second in the conference in passing yards (4,739) and passing touchdowns (36) last season.