When the Auburn Tigers step onto the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday for their season opener against Baylor, a lot of energy will be in the building, getting to a level that can easily get into a player’s head if they’re not careful.
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However, that aspect of the game has been something that Alex Golesh and his staff have harped on as they prepare for the game against the Bears, one that will open up a new era in the program.
With the game being in Atlanta, a heavy Auburn contingent is expected to be in attendance, one that can possibly make the atmosphere feel like a home game in Jordan-Hare Stadium in some ways. The Baylor fans will bring the noise though, and Golesh has made his thoughts clear on how important having solid communication on Saturday is.
“I think as much as anything for us offensively, it's the ability to operate,” Golesh said. “Obviously eliminating any pre-snap things that slow drives down… And then defensively, anticipating crowd noise. It's going to be an incredible Auburn fan base, so we've got to operate defensively with crowd noise as if it's a home game. That'll be a challenge in itself, in a positive way.”
Despite being just halfway through the week, the Tigers are continuing to hammer the communication down every single practice, and will continue to even after the first game concludes.
The whole team has been held accountable in that aspect, and at the end of the day, Golesh hopes it pays off.
“Both sides it's been hammered home,” Golesh said. “It's going to be interesting. That's week 1. You talk about what keeps you up is the little detail of communication and alignment and assignment—in an environment now where it's not an empty stadium and it's crazy, in a good way. Hopefully it works out to our advantage.”
One of the benefits that Auburn has had on the communication front is the close relationship between center Cole Best and quarterback Byrum Brown, who played together at USF under Golesh.
Having that kind of relationship at this stage and in this offense is something that does not go overlooked, even when they both get coached up a little bit.
“Those two guys trust each other so much, and obviously, in layman's terms, that's how it all starts, is the snap,” Golesh said. “There's so much more than just the snap. It's the ability to identify fronts, and the more that (the center) has done it with the quarterback, the more the quarterback can trust him to flip things, change things, move things.”
That bond has also gone a long way in getting some pre-snap kinks worked out, an area Golesh has been wanting to get the team improved in in a lot of ways.
With just three days away until the opening kick, that has been an important development, especially with having been something Golesh was preaching from the moment he started working with the team.
“We put some situations in fall camp to make it really, really hard,” Golesh said. “Learned, grown and we started it right from day one in terms of introducing the ability to snap and motion and all these things with crowd noise, with chaotic looks up front on defense. Early on, it was just getting used to it, us growing through the mechanics of it. I'd say we're as ready to rock and roll as you can imagine.”
Auburn Undercover is an independent Auburn sports media company covering Auburn athletics, recruiting and insider news.
