Tag: auburn football news

Former Auburn player named new director of high school relations

Former Auburn player Brendt Bedsole has been tabbed as the Tigers’ new director of high school relations.

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Bryan Harsin is bringing another former Auburn player back to the Plains.

On Friday, it was announced that Brendt Bedsole, who played for the Tigers from 1985-86, will serve as the program’s director of high school relations, replacing Ross Newton who took the same position at UCF under Gus Malzahn.

Bedsdole spent the previous six years at South Alabama.

Per Auburn Undercover:

At South Alabama, Bedsole took on a variety of roles, including director of operations, in which he handled “many of the program’s day-to-day activities including coordinating the budget, all aspects of travel and serving as USA’s professional scout liaison. He also has responsibilities assisting with the scheduling of preseason camp and practices, clinics and community relations projects,” according to his South Alabama bio. Bedsole also moved to an on-field role with the program in 2012, coaching the Jaguars’ linebackers.

Sigh! No, Auburn fans didn’t roll Toomer’s Corner because of ‘Bama loss

Auburn fans rolled Toomer’s Corner on Sunday to celebrate an SEC equestrian title, not that rival Alabama lost in the NCAA Tournament.

This is so stupid.

On Sunday night, a former AL.com reporter tweeted a picture of the trees at Toomer’s Corner being rolled, stating that it was due to Alabama’s overtime loss to UCLA in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.

Nope. Not even close to being true. The rolling on Sunday was due to the SEC title won by top-ranked Auburn equestrian, the program’s third-straight conference title, after they defeated No. 2 Georgia 15-5.

This is the type of misinformation that, oh, I don’t know, would lead to some fanatical Tide fan poisoning the trees.

What’s going to be the reason Auburn fans are rolling the trees in a few weeks when the equestrian team brings home its third-straight national title? We can’t wait to find out.

Auburn staff hoping to have ‘awesome day’, increased attendance at first A-Day

Auburn’s new chief of staff Brad Larrondo hopes to have a large attendance in Jordan-Hare Stadium for the annual A-Day game.

Auburn plays in its first A-Day game under Bryan Harsin and the new coaching staff on April 17 and Brad Larrondo, Harsin’s chief of staff, is hoping to have a big crowd present.

“We really hope that we can have a larger capacity at Jordan-Hare Stadium than what were in the stadium games last fall,” Larrondo said. “We are still working through some of those things.”

During the 2020 season, Auburn was only able to have 17,490 fans in the stadium due to COVID-19 restrictions. With those restrictions being lifted a bit, it is expected that a bigger crowd will be able to attend the annual spring game.

“We are hoping that we will get to a point where we can announce what that capacity is,” Larrondo said. “Hopefully, the idea will be that just about anybody who wants to come to the spring game, A-Day, will potentially have the opportunity to do that.

“We have to see how the trends work the next few weeks and work a few things out so there is nothing definite,” he said, adding that the hope is to create an atmosphere in and around the stadium with some “electricity and some fun to it.”

Alabama assistant Jay Graham posts statement on sudden resignation

Jay Graham resigned unexpectedly on Wednesday from Alabama’s coaching staff due to mental health reasons.

Earlier on Wednesday, it was announced that Alabama tight ends coach Jay Graham had suddenly resigned from he coaching staff after just two months.

The coach took to Twitter on Wednesday evening with a statement detailing his reason.

Let’s hope Graham gets the help he needs and he comes through all of this fine.

4-star outside linebacker Wesley Bissainthe receives Auburn offer

Auburn has offered four-star outside linebacker Wesley Bissainthe out of Miami Central High School.

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Auburn is going after one of the most talented linebackers in the 2022 class.

On Sunday night, four-star outside linebacker Wesley Bissainthe out of Miami Central High School announced that he has received an offer from Bryan Harsin and the Tigers’ coaching staff.

Ranked the No. 8 outside linebacker and No. 110 overall player in the 2022 class, Bissainthe holds offers from a lot of other powerhouse programs such as Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Florida, LSU and Oregon among many others.

Here is his scouting report from 247Sports:

A new-age linebacker with a thin, wiry frame. Has some length to him. Should be able to eventually get up to 225 pounds. Moveable piece that can play all three downs. Tested well on the lasers summer before junior season. Able to turn and run with wide receivers down the seam or running backs up the sidelines. Slippery blitzer that will dip and rip his way around the corner in hopes of getting home. Agile feet allow him to skirt blocks and contain outside runs. Closes gaps in a hurry. Aggressive tackler always looking to make a hit. Must, however, get more consistent as a finisher and add some functional strength once he reaches the next level. Secured a starting role as a sophomore at one of the Sunshine State’s more storied high school programs and could own three state title rings by the time he graduates. Likely to be a multi-year starter at the Power 5 level given athletic profile and mindset as coaches think he’s mature beyond his years. Ability to cover and play in the box suggests that he has a good chance to eventually hear his name called early on in the NFL Draft with everyone trying to air it out.

The hometown Hurricanes currently have the early lead for his commitment.

Derek Mason coming to the Plains: ‘Auburn is the place for me’

New Auburn defensive coordinator Derek Mason already feels at home on the Plains as he gears up to rebuild the Tigers defense.

When Derek Mason was let go by Vanderbilt after serving as head coach for the Commodores for seven seasons, he wasn’t sure where he would end up next. At first, he thought heading back to the NFL where he was an assistant for the Minnesota Vikings for three seasons was a possibility.

Then, he got a call from new Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin. The choice was easy for Mason after that.

“I feel good about where we are right now. Believe me, I would’ve made this decision 10 out of 10 times. Auburn is the place for me,” Mason said on Monday.

It almost came as a surprise to Mason that he would re-enter the college world so soon.

“I didn’t think I was going to take a college job,” Mason said. “I felt like, for me, I needed a break from the college game for just a little bit after seven years at Vanderbilt. I had been contacted by several college teams about their opportunities.

“So, when we (Mason and Harsin) had an opportunity to talk, the conversation was very much to the point about his vision for Auburn. And that vision was set in stone, it was very strategic, it had all the making of what I thought a good leader should talk about coming into a situation like this. Which I thought was unique.

“For him to get me to come up here on my way home — because believe me, I was on my way back home — we got to come through here, sat down for a couple of hours. Had a chance to talk ball, but it was more about connecting on, like, the ideology of how he wanted to run the program and what he wanted and what he needed from me.”

Mason is now in charge of a defense that is lacking up front in the trenches but has all the talent necessary at the other two levels to become a solid unit. As the defensive coordinator at Stanford from 2011-13, Mason built some solid defenses concluding with a side that finished No. 16 in the FBS in 2013 by allowing just 343.5 yards per game.

Those defenses were known for solid fundamentals and hard hitting, two things that Auburn has had for some time but, with the former, have lacked at times over the past several years.

Star linebacker Owen Pappoe, one of the team’s leading tacklers last season, is already excited about what he has experienced under Mason.

We love the system that he’s bringing in for us, and we love him as a person,” linebacker Owen Pappoe said. “He’s accepted us all as his sons. It feels like we’re a real big family out there.”

Way-too-early Auburn football game-by-game predictions for 2021

The staff writers of The Auburn Wire take a look at their game-by-game predictions for the Tigers in the 2021 season.

On Sept. 4 in Jordan-Hare Stadium, a new era begins for Auburn with the Bryan Harsin tenure officially starts as the Tigers take on Akron.

The game against the MAC school should be a cake walk but the Tigers schedule quickly gets tricky and difficult starting with the Week 3 trip to State College to take on Penn State.

Visits to LSU and Texas A&M while hosting Alabama and Georgia means the schedule is once again loaded with tough competition. So how do we think the Tigers will fare in 2021?

Here are The Auburn Wire staff’s way-too-early predictions for each game on the 2021 schedule.

Bryan Harsin on Jordan-Hare Stadium: ‘This should be the toughest place to play in the country’

Tank Bigsby on history of great Auburn backs: ‘I want to be the next one’

Auburn running back Tank Bigsby knows the history of great running backs on the Plains and is working hard on becoming the next one.

Tank Bigsby showed flashes of what could come as a freshman in 2020 as he shook off would-be tacklers and lowered his head to gain extra yards on his way to becoming Auburn’s feature back.

For the sophomore and former 5-star recruit, it is all part of him becoming just another great running back in the history of the Auburn program.

“I hold myself to account by working hard,” Bigsby said. “Coach Cadillac pushes me. He tells me how many great running backs have come through here. Of course, I want to be the next one.”

That coach, of course, is Cadillac Williams who, in four years on the Plains, rushed for 3,831 yards, second-most to only Bo Jackson, and an Auburn record 45 touchdowns.

Bigsby, who found himself having to work his way up the depth chart at the beginning of last season and battling injuries toward the end of the year, had some questions when Gus Malzahn was fired and Bryan Harsin was brought in, the most important being whether or not Williams would be kept on the staff.

The back was relieved when Cadillac was retained.

“(Williams) teaches me a lot of things,” Bigsby said. “Just knowing he was coming back to keep teaching me, it was great. Coach Cadillac is a great coach. He recruited me. He talks me through things.. He means a lot to all the running backs. He treats us all the same. He’s a great person.”

Now the star of the Auburn offense, Bigsby will be key to the Tigers success in 2021 yet he’s not going to make any major declarations of grandeur leading up to the season.

“I just let my actions speak for themselves. I feel like if I keep doing what I’m doing and keep my head straight, I’ll get there.”

Look at this block by Georgia TE Darnell Washington vs Auburn

Georgia football TE Darnell Washington absolutely destroyed an Auburn defender during the UGA vs AU game Saturday.

Darnell Washington was a five-star recruit coming out of Las Vegas in the class of 2020.

He showed why Saturday night vs Auburn when he absolutely demolished an Auburn defender as Zamir White walked in for a one-yard score.

Washington did not record a catch like he did the week before, but the 6-foot-7, 260 pounder still made his presence known.

 

Here, running back Kendall Milton had a great run but look at the help he gets from Washington, who starts at the top of the line and works his way across to take the Auburn defender out of the play.

Still don’t believe that Washington is the truth? Look what he did do this poor Razorback the week before.

Georgia fans all want to see Washington receive some more targets in the passing game, but when you look at what he’s doing on the line of scrimmage  you’ll see the value he’s providing early in his college career. The targets will come. Georgia coaches know they have a special talent on their hands.