TIGER TALK REVIEW: A Bonus Show

WRITER’S NOTE: “Tiger Talk” typically centers on winter sports this time of year, but football coach Alex Golesh was on the show Thursday. This seemed like a good time break out the TIGER TALK REVIEW for a rare January summary.

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THE FIRST SEGMENT

On Byrum Brown: “He forces everybody to be at his level of competition … at his level of physicality. When he feels like (the game) is a little bit stale or he feels like the energy isn’t right, he’ll go put a shoulder down on somebody and kinda get everybody going. He’s everything you want in a football player.”

On the next week of the portal and how many more players needed: “You’ve got to continue to enhance the offensive and defensive lines. That’s where you win and lose football games really, really quickly. Those two spots, we really have to finish.”

He also mentions needs at cornerback.

“I’d say we’re at about the half-way point of what we need to fill.”

On how long it takes to create a proper culture: “It totally depends on what you walk into. This happens to be my sixth time being part of a staff, or as a head coach, where you’re coming in because the previous staff was let go. Until you start working with the guys … it’s hard to pinpoint anything. More than anything right now … as long as the players understand why you’re doing what you’re doing and they respect the fact that you’re doing it in their best interest, you can flip it really quickly. Modern-day college football has forced you … to be really, really transparent in everything you’re doing. The transparency is what allows you flip a culture really quickly.”

“It doesn’t flip until it’s driven by the players.”

“As fast as we can get that done … the faster we can flip it.”

THE SECOND SEGMENT

HERB is in the house. He wants to know about how coaches operate on gameday. “We talk a lot about winning in the margins. Winning in the margin is the situation football that, if you’re detailed in, you have a chance to win a close game. Being detailed in how you delegate. There (can be) no gray among the staff and among the kids. It’s black and white. Your players, your coaches are prepared for every situation that can come up.”

On who coaches up in the box and who coaches on the field: “Man. Now. It’s not the last thing I’ve thought about, but we’re nowhere near that. We have not started on Xs and Os yet.”

BILL is in the house. He wants to know how Golesh deals with NIL deals. “On a scouting side and a recruiting side, that’s in house. We’ve got a general manager (Warsaw) who handles a lot of the conversations. There’s a huge contract and legal side of it. That’s become … one of the top questions: What is the structure?”

BUSTER is in the house. He wants to know how many more OLs and DLs they will sign. “You are asking top secret stuff. (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND). It’s the last thing you’d ever want someone to know. Until we feel like we’re good enough to go compete at a high, high level in this conference …”

THE FINAL SEGMENT

DREW/DRU is in the house. He wants to know about Golesh’s feelings about Auburn as a town. “It’s an incredible place to recruit to. That part is so awesome. When you run into people who are genuinely excited about football and genuinely excited about Auburn, it certainly makes it easier to recruit. But ‘easy’ would be the the last word I would probably use in terms of recruiting. In terms of enjoying Auburn itself, I’ve been to a couple of different restaurant multiple times simply due to recruiting. We haven’t gotten to get out and truly enjoy it yet. I don’t think we’d get a good grasp until after Year 1. You’re sun-up to sun-down.”

“I’m a foodie. Some have even classified me as a food connoisseur. I love checking out new places.”

STAN is in the house. He wants to know about the OL and how many they can sign right now. “It’s been gloves-off fighting to get the right guys. That is truly where games are won. What are our chances? I’d say ‘desperately high.’ You’re fighting like crazy. Everybody in America is fighting like crazy for experienced offensive linemen that are high, high level. We are trying to invest greatly. We already have. High, high effort from our staff to get that done.”

EMILY is in the house. She wants to know about signing portal as opposed to high-school players. “Right now … long-term the portal piece, you’re always going to recruit a certain part of your roster. Our focus as soon as this period is over is to get the best high school football players, especially within a couple hours of here. Get the high school guys here. Guys are always going to benefit from being in Year 2 or Year 3 in your system. But you’ll always feel like you have to fill some gaps. My job is to create a culture and a structure where guys don’t want to leave, so you’d fill less gaps. In Year 1 and at times in Year 2 here, we’re going to have to attack the portal really heavy.”

“You’d love for about 75, 80 percent of your focus to be completely on high school guys. We’re in an area where … you don’t have to go crazy far to fill a roster.”