With his first spring practice on the Plains arriving in a week, new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin is hoping that Tigers fans show up to the stadium to watch their team during the annual A-Day spring game.
In fact, he wants the stadium and campus to be rocking like it does during the fall.
“We all hope that Jordan-Hare is full capacity and that we can get that experience with our fan base — we can have Tiger Walk, we can do all the things that make Auburn football so special,” Harsin said on the Talking Tigers podcast with Andy Burcham. “I feel like the excitement and that momentum really from our fans and people that support our program and are part of Auburn football — all that momentum makes a difference. It creates the culture. It creates the recruiting success. It creates the development of our team because we have the momentum; we have that energy and excitement behind what we’re doing. We can’t do that alone, so we need everybody to be a part of that.”
There is a lot of work for Harsin, his coaching staff and their new team to do before getting to the game on April 17. A lot of question marks surround the Tigers as they begin practice including shoring up the offensive line, who exactly will stand out at wide receiver and, of course, fixing what ails Bo Nix.
“I think the 15 practices in spring are maybe the most valuable practices you get in an entire year,” Harsin said. “It sets the stage for your whole entire summer because in the summertime, that’s where the greatest development comes for a particular player — their strength, their speed, their football intelligence. All the things they’re preparing to execute during a season happens in the summer. You fine-tune that in fall camp, but where does it all come from? It comes from the spring.”
Auburn begins practice on Monday, March 15.