The Auburn tight ends room entered the month of January with only two names. Since then, the coaches have attacked the portal and signed one freshman. That brought the number of tight ends on the roster to eight. Coach Larry Scott said they then had to set the foundation and standard for what they wanted to be this season.
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Scott talked to the media after Tuesday’s practice about his group. “As we progressed through it and kind of gotten to where we are now in training camp, I've been very, you know, very pleased with where we are, but we still got so much further to go as we get ready to kick this thing off.”
One of the names at the top of the projected depth chart is senior Jake Johnson. He comes to Auburn having played at both Texas A&M and North Carolina. Coach Scott told Auburn Undercover what it’s been like seeing Johnson transform into a leader on and off the field. “He's done a really good job of buying into what that process of building trust is and sitting down and building himself again fundamentally and technically from the bottom up.”
Johnson has played in 41 career games with eight starts. He has also caught five career touchdowns. Johnson feels Head Coach Alex Golesh’s offense is tailor made for a tight end to make plays “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.
Another one of the transfers getting a good share of preseason reps is Arlis Boardingham. The senior began his career at Florida before transferring to Bowling Green last year. Unfortunately, he didn’t play in any games for the Falcons due to injury. Coach Scott talked about what it’s like having him back at full strength.
“Now that he's believing and trusting and taking coaching and receiving it and taking a day by day process towards having the teams that take care of his body and his mind, and he's starting to see it and starting to think a little bit and you starting to see that talent consistently come through,” Scott said.
At Florida, Boardingham started four games for the Gators but played in 24. He has 44 career receptions with six touchdowns. Boardingham told Auburn Undercover he wasn’t sure what his future would be when he entered the portal for a second time, after leaving Bowling Green. He shared what it meant to end up at Auburn and back in the SEC.
“The opportunity is one of a lifetime for me. I didn’t really know where I would go out of the portal, I didn’t know what my future would look like for college football, so just being able to one, get back into the SEC and two, be a player for Auburn is a dream,” Boardingham said.
Senior Hunter Herring and USF transfer Jonathan Echols did not practice Tuesday. Their injury status was not given to the media on Tuesday. Additionally, Scott has Xavier Newsom, Ryan Ghea, and DJ Broughton, who are all looking to possibly work into the rotation. What was a near barren position group just months ago now looks to be one with many different intriguing options and skill sets available to Scott and the offensive staff.
Auburn Undercover will have post-scrimmage coverage tomorrow afternoon. Be on the lookout for that on auburnundercover.com and on Twitter @AUUndercover.
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
