It’s the final week of preseason camp in year one under Alex Golesh for the Auburn Tigers as the 2026 campaign draws ever nearer. This week though might be the most difficult the team has faced.
The drills will not change and the intensity will not decrease, but classes begin for the players on Monday, meaning a different set of daily surroundings and a different routine.
On top of that, the Tigers are going into this week coming off of a “sloppy” scrimmage performance according to Golesh Friday in Jordan-Hare Stadium. There are just less than three weeks until Auburn opens the year against Baylor in Atlanta, so there are seemingly major adjustments that need to be made.
With that in mind, here are the five biggest questions where the Auburn Undercover staff will be looking for answers to this week in preseason camp.
Is the team going to embrace humbling itself?
In his press conference following Friday’s scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium, one of the statements from Golesh that made the loudest noise was when he told the team, “Humble the heck out of yourselves here.”
After not being pleased with the overall performance his players put out on the field, the head coach was honest in discussing how things need to move forward in order to deliver an acceptable product on the field.
The question remains: will the players humble themselves?
With things continuing to ramp up as the Baylor game nears, Golesh gave an idea at how he plans to hammer that idea home in the final full week of camp.
“The truth is here in a couple of days, you start school; there’s elements now that will create distraction,” Golesh said. “Only way to send that message is to continue to be honest, continue to point out things that you’re seeing, good and bad and worry about today.”
The Tigers have another scrimmage inside the stadium set for Wednesday, so time will tell if the results are going to show.
Will the offensive line resolve its clear primary five?
The offensive line has had one of the biggest spotlights of all through the duration of preseason camp since Golesh made the announcement of Tai Buster’s injury. With Jacob Strand and Stanton Ramil still easing themselves back into drills at the time, finding a defined starting five became one of the biggest questions of the entire offseason.
At this point in camp, it seems that Auburn is closer to figuring out a solution, though it may not be exactly five that are on the final short list.
Offensive line coach Tyler Hudanick said on Thursday that the competition has been close at some spots, making it a challenge to pinpoint a five-man grouping.
“I think we’re close. I think this next three or four days we’ll be really, really close,” Hudanick said.
According to a source, one of the program’s primary rotations during the scrimmage consisted of Jo Simmons, Strand, Cole Best, Cole Skinner and Ramil. It is one that is consistent with what has been seen in practices.
However, it was not set in stone throughout the morning.
“We rotated almost every drive all over the place,” Golesh said.
Golesh said that there is a possibility the team rolls into the season with seven or eight guys in the rotation to get major minutes on the field, something he is okay with.
At the end of the week though, there should be a more defined answer.
“(It) would tell us there’s eight guys ready to rock and roll,” Golesh said. “We’ll have a better answer here in a week.”
Does the defensive line make a bounce back?
Last week, defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams took a moment to discuss his encouragement by his group’s development over the course of preseason camp, saying they’ve been growing with every challenge that has been thrown at them.
However, Friday’s scrimmage was a different story.
Despite rotating 10 guys on the line and bringing solid energy according to Golesh, one area was not up to par, something that did not sit well with King-Williams.
“I know there were some short yardage situations that Vontrell wasn’t real happy with,” Golesh said.
Despite having one drive where the line made a four-down stop inside the 5-yard line, it was a situation where Golesh said he wanted to go back with King-Williams and watch to see where things went wrong, something that was seemingly abnormal for the group.
The line as a whole has stepped up to the challenge throughout camp. King-Williams stated on Thursday though that putting adversity on the players would help get them where they needed to be.
“At the core, we’re a very young group, and it’s really exciting to see it because you start seeing the growth, and while everyone has played a bit, it’s still about getting those guys Saturday ready and putting some adversity on them,” King-Williams said.
Where does the secondary go in moving back to full health?
According to Golesh after the scrimmage, the secondary group would effectively be back at full health over the weekend. After being held out on Friday, Newboy Fegans was expected to make his full return to action on Sunday after he spent much of preseason camp working in individual workouts.
Combine that with the fact that Sylvester Smith-Reed being given the go ahead to tackle in the upcoming scrimmage on Wednesday, and things are starting to look a lot more complete in the secondary. Smith-Reed had been in a non-contact uniform for the entirety of camp.
Golesh touted Fegans, Smith-Reed and Champ Anthony for the versatility they bring to the secondary after the conclusion of the scrimmage, saying that will benefit the back end of the defense.
Anthony played all five spots on Friday, being someone who says he will do whatever the coaches need him to do on the field. In fact, he’ll do it whenever as well, wanting to stay on the field as much as possible.
“Me personally, I don’t want to come out the game,” Anthony said on Tuesday. “I don’t want to be tired, I don’t want to be nothing. Just red lining every day and just having my guys around me red line too.”
With that amount of versatility, the rotation of the secondary will be something to watch as the team finds out who will spend the most time on the field in a deep group with a lot of experience.
Can Bryson Washington make a leap up in the depth chart?
When it was announced earlier in the offseason that Bryson Washington was coming to Auburn, there was major excitement from much of the team’s fanbase. They sensed he would be the definite second-hand guy to Jeremiah Cobb in the backfield.
However, through the entirety of preseason camp, Washington has not been taking many reps in the top two rotations of players. Now, some of that may have been him getting back to full health, but it felt unclear as to why the situation was the way it was.
In Friday’s scrimmage though, Washington was able to get some reps with the first team, giving the coaches a much-needed idea as to where the transfer is in his integration into the system.
“Today was as big for Cobb, Bryson to operate the system,” Golesh said. “I thought Bryson did some good things. I thought he got worn out, which we needed him to and operate worn out. We’ll be in a good spot there.”
In a competitive running back room, Washington is having to fight for every second of playing time just like every other back. However, it seems evident that he is taking a step up.
Now the question becomes: will he maintain that positive momentum?
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
