Classes have kicked into full gear for the Auburn Tigers, meaning a different routine is in place for the football team as the last week of preseason camp rolls on.
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Tuesday was a big day for the Tigers as they made their final touches before a second team scrimmage set for Wednesday morning in Jordan-Hare Stadium. It is a scrimmage and a moment in the preseason that is probably the most important for Auburn following a “sloppy” scrimmage on Friday.
As the days carry on though, experience is continually becoming more of a factor in performance, especially in the tight end room.
According to senior Jake Johnson, the room has taken the messages to heart, going out to be mentally and physically tough each day.
“As of right now we’re just still working on fundamentals—alignment, assignment and technique and really just being mentally tough, physically tough going into the scrimmage. We’re just going to go out and execute to the best of our abilities and come out here and working every day.”
The room has been pushed a number of times, which considering Head Coach Alex Golesh is a tight ends guy by nature, is not something that’s hard to believe.
At the beginning of preseason camp, Golesh said that he was “giddy” about what the room could do with the versatility of guys like Johnson, Arlis Boardingham, Jonathan Echols and more.
Having Golesh be on their back a lot and feeding his knowledge of the position to the tight ends is something that Johnson thinks the room is truly embracing, especially with Golesh’s offenses having been successful at his past stops.
“I believe the tight end is the most versatile player on offense, and especially in this system, throwing out in the spread, bringing it back to the core, just high tempo,” Johnson said. “He’s got a lot of wisdom that he shares and just coming over and having conversations with all the guys and with me and what it truly looks like to be a tight end in this offense and the amount of volume you have to take and just knowing what to do and your job and how to do it.”
Another area of experience though lies in the fact that Johnson has experience in the SEC, spending his freshman and sophomore campaigns at Texas A&M playing under Jimbo Fisher.
In his two seasons, he got on the stat sheet 10 times, recording 25 receptions for 237 yards and four touchdowns. Johnson even recorded one against Auburn in the 2023 season in a 27-10 victory for the Aggies in College Station, Texas.
It’s not just Johnson though, as Boardingham spent two years at Florida playing under Billy Napier.
It’s something Johnson does not take lightly, giving him determination that this room is ready for the challenges that lie ahead.
“I think experience is something that some people take for granted sometimes, but when you are an experienced guy, you know what it takes to be in the SEC,” Johnson said. “It’s the best conference and you have a lot of depth in this conference and great players everywhere. I think being ready physically and mentally, we’re ready for it and I think having us both in the room has been awesome and we’re ready to just go take it on.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
