Auburn’s true freshmen receivers have lived up to the hype through the season’s first five games.
[autotag]Cam Coleman[/autotag] and [autotag]Malcolm Simmons[/autotag] are No. 2 and No. 3 respectively in terms of receiving yards and are in the top five in receptions. Simmons has turned the most heads so far by hauling in 14 passes for 214 yards and two scores while the team’s top signee, Coleman, has caught nine passes for 212 yards and one touchdown.
Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is intrigued by these two players, stating his thoughts on the duo during his weekly press conference ahead of Saturday’s game vs. Auburn. Smart feels that Simmons and Coleman have a bright future ahead of them.
“Fast, athletic, great size,” Smart said of Simmons and Coleman. “I mean, they were phenomenal players coming out. They both have special attributes in terms of ball skills, playmaking ability, speed, dynamic receivers. And, you know, those guys, you want to catch them when they’re young. You want to catch them when they’re early in the season, not as they’re getting seasoned vets of the SEC. You can see these guys growing up on tape as they make more of them play.”
When talking about Auburn’s offense, Smart says that playing [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] has made a living by implementing the run-pass option within his game plan and it will be important to limit how often the Tigers use them.
“Yeah, it’s the RPO game. (Hugh Freeze) hung his hat on the ability to have RPOs, and I think he’s done a good job adjusting to where it’s not just that. For a while, he was an RPO guy. When RPOs came out, he was ahead of the game at doing those. He’s evolved. He still does those. He still has the quarterback make decisions on plays, whether to throw it or run it, because you can take advantage of defenses doing that. But he’s added new wrinkles and twists that you see in the NFL, you see across college football, using motions and eye candy and sorts of things to create an advantage or create a leverage or a mismatch. So he’s done a good job evolving while keeping the RPO game. The RPO game is the biggest difference. They are fully committed to being able to do and throw RPOs.”
Auburn faces No. 5 Georgia on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT. Both teams are coming off of losses to ranked teams. The Bulldogs lost a road game at No. 2 Alabama while Auburn dropped a game late to No. 17 Oklahoma at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__