Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin spoke after the A-Day Spring Game on Saturday.
Opening statement …
“First, I just want to acknowledge our fans. That was great to have them out there. It was good to see people in the stands. You could feel it. It was an environment that we just can’t recreate in practice and something that was discussed with our players, just as our perform or prepare to perform, remember that there’s going to be that factor. So, today it was great for our guys to be in there. It was great to see the fans and have their interaction on the field. I think our guys appreciated that. I know it helped us. I know at times it also allows us a chance to be able to learn from just the performance that we need to have as we get out there in front of people and go to execute.
“There’s plenty of things that we did do well today as far as stuff the coaches have been hitting and emphasizing with each group and each unit, and some things we got to work on, which is great. We got a practice on Monday, so we’ll get a chance to come back to and bring things up and then talk about what we’re doing moving forward when we get to this time where finals are happening, guys have a chance to take a little bit of a break, and then we’ll come back in June and get started. So, there’s a lot of things that are going to be happening with this next week and moving forward. Then we all know about June 1 and having campuses open back up and opportunities for camps and opportunities with visits.
“So, a lot of things, but today the focus was coming out, operate and execute and seeing these guys just go out, play smart, play hard, have fun and just kind of who’s playing the game. The only way you get better is playing the game. We saw, at least from going back and watching the tape, I saw some solid execution with our blue offense. I thought the blue defense played well. Our second offense did not move the ball very well or very consistently. I think that’s because the defense had been playing really around the football fast. Special teams, we got our work in and those were all just a tempo; it was not live today. We wanted to get our specialists some work. They executed that. We wanted to get the communication from each sideline, get guys on and off. As simple as it may have looked, that’s hard to do. So, I appreciate our coaches and players who walked through that this morning; they had a chance to focus on those types of things, and it all went well.
“And just to be in a game-like atmosphere. We had TV timeouts, we had officials out there, we’ve got media on the sidelines. So, just creating that environment, giving them a chance to get a taste of that as we move into that next phase and start getting ready for the summer. So, with that, we’ll open up for questions.”
Players absent at A-Day …
“Both guys (Alec Jackson and T.D. Moultry), they’re part of the team right now. They just weren’t out there today. We move forward. Those guys have been a part of what we’re doing, and today they were not. Those are things we’re still working through. Neither one of those guys (inaudible) at this point, so don’t make it any bigger than it is. They just weren’t out there today for different reasons.”
On Bo Nix’s play …
“He made good decisions. That was one of the things. We’ve seen Bo’s got escapability, and we know he can throw it, but I thought he made good decisions. He checked the ball down. We had some deeper throws that were called, but they weren’t open, so he checked it down and found the underneath throw. He made good decisions in the red zone; there were chances to possibly scramble and throw one, but he pulled it down and ran it and was able to get us in a first-down situation. We had the turnover; we had the fumble. I thought we were driving well, but we had a couple fumbles in there, and those hurt us. You got to be able to hang onto the ball, so we’ve got to go back and work through those. But overall, his efficiency in making decisions was one. I thought the other thing is he—you wouldn’t know this—but getting us into the right play; there were some check plays and some different things that were called that he needs to make decisions on. We changed the tempo up several times, so he’s got to be able to communicate that. So, there’s really several things in there that I thought Coach Bobo did a really good job of challenging him and making him operate. That’s what you want to see from your quarterback. You just want to see him operate all the different things.
“Then in the scrimmage, it may not even be that much in a real game—you can kind of have a plan for the game, but in the scrimmage, you’re taking everything from the 13 practices we’ve had, and you have it all in one plan, and so you’re just recalling different things. He was able to do that. Ultimately, the ability to make great decisions—he made some really good throws; I thought he had a couple that we needed to come down with. Guys around him got to be able to make plays, and there’s some opportunities that we could’ve done that, and we ran some wrong routes. And he’s got the beat on where he wants to go with the ball and we didn’t run the right route. And again, nobody sees that from the stands, we know it as coaches and we know it as players and you’re not quite sure what’s happening but there was some poor execution in those areas and he was able to just move on. He moved on to the next play. That one didn’t go well? He moved onto the next play we convert a second or third down and move the ball and we’re able to score.
“I think one of the things Bo has is he’s a weapon. When you get out there and run you can see he’s able to extend plays and make plays and he did that today. So I felt like it was solid. When guys around him are playing well — and it’s not just that position — and guys around him are playing well and we’re running the ball effectively, we’re making catches I think we’re capable of making, then our quarterback’s going to play really well and he’s going to play excellent at times. But that’s really about everybody on the offensive side helping that position and creating opportunities for the quarterback.
“Overall solid. I’m going to go back and watch it, there’s going to be plenty of things that we nit-pick and that’s the one thing about that group. I think coach Bobo’s done a good job with that group. That’s one thing you should do with that position, really every position, is really analyze it and evaluate every little detail. Break it down and then work on what you have to to fix it.”
On play of the receivers…
“Well, I would say solid as well. I think today we had some opportunities. We made plays, I know that. There were some really good plays made by the receivers. Even in the run game there were some really good blocks that those guys have been working on. It’s hard to block some of these guys on defense — they’ve seen the plays and they’re also good, our defense does a good job getting off blocks. I think our defensive coaches have taught that really well so our guys have to work hard at the receiver position. But we had some opportunities where we run the right route, put ourselves in the right position, I think we’re going to have a better play. So those are the things — and everybody makes the mistakes, they make the mental errors, we’re going to have some of those that come up — we need to be more consistent at that position and I think right now we’re going to be going through focusing on that as we get into summer time. So between now and when those guys come back in June there’s going to have to be a lot of work done from those guys of just understanding and just really seeing a lot of the things we can improve on and just doing that from the entire summer and through fall camp and continuing that through the season.
“The wide receivers are asked to do a lot. You see them moving around, they’re in different positions, different alignments. So they have to study, they have to prepare, they have to be students of the game to do what we’re asking them to do.”
On Elijah Canion ….
“Yeah, he’s been good. He’s been good. But like I said, I’m not going to single out Elijah. The wide receiver group, like most position groups right now, it’s really the same story, we’ve all got to work on things. And that group in particular because we’re going to use tight ends, we’re going to use multiple wide receivers, we want to get guys in different positions and use them in a variety of locations on the field, not just at their one spot. That’s where the study, the consistency — a wide receiver, in mu opinion, you run more. A lot of guys run, that wide receiver position, you’re always running. You’re running on special teams, you’re running in practice, you’ve got to be a mentally strong guy to go out there and be able to do it consistently day in and day out. But the great ones do it consistently day in and day out. They run great routes, they work through the details — and there’s a lot of little details in our offense for the receivers. Like I said when it comes to that group and I’ve said with every group, we’ve made mistakes consistently and we need to make new ones. Today I thought we made some new mistakes so we made progress in that area but we made some of the same ones that we made before.
“At some point change has to happen. There’s gotta be that change in just the habits and preparation for everybody to fix those problems. And what does that take? You do it in meetings? Great. You do it on the field in practice, that’s one thing. You’ve got to spend time in order to be successful in all those details that come up day in and day out so that you can correct those mistakes and move on to new ones. That’s the wide receiver position right now, like many other, that has to change and that’s just gonna come from decision of I’m going to be more disciplined, I’m going to work harder, I’m going to better, I’m going to work on my preparation habits and that’s a thing that’s got to happen and be created within each room. It’s also got to be a mentality that you create as a person. That we all certain things, football is no different than other occupations, it’s just how hard you work on it and are you paying attention to the little things and are you doing things extra to make sure you don’t make mistakes twice. So that’s what we’re doing with that group and today it was solid.”
On the defensive front …
“The Dline — moving J.J. over there, I mentioned that. I think he’s been a great addition to the d-line. That’s helped us. We know that Jeremiah Wright is out. So to have J.J. over there, that’s helped.
“I think those guys up front have been doing a very good job. I think Coach Eason — and I’ve been over there with his guys during individual and during the work that they do — and he does a great job with his individual. He does a great job of teaching that position. I think those guys are learning a ton from him, just learning how it’s done and how to do it at a high level. D-line is about effort. Once you understand that, it’s just getting bigger, faster and stronger. It’s about effort. You’re gonna go get double-teamed. You’re gonna get three, four, five double-teams in a row. You’ve got to keep going hard. Then, when you’ve got that one-on-one, it’s a chance to win it. Do you have enough juice in the tank to get it done? Do you have the proper technique, and are you using it at the right time to get that done? Those guys have done it.
“They seemed to hold up today. Hard to tell with the quarterbacks and the sacks and all that. They weren’t live. So, it was come off and tag. I believe those guys are making those plays. I really do. I think the d-line has worked on tackling. You see them making plays on the running backs. They’re holding up their end of the bargain up front, and guys are having to bounce. And when tailbacks have to bounce and you’re running something inside, you should force things to the linebackers and safeties to go make plays. And I thought the d-line was able to handle that today. There were a couple of runs that shouldn’t have happened to us today on the d-line. We should be in the right gap, and we should be able to hold that gap and not allow the back to go. Tank had a run, and it was a great job by the o-line, but the d-line — we gave up the inside A gap. We can’t do that. We can’t do that, and those linebackers have to be in a position to play off that d-line.
“So, overall, those guys have continued to get better. Making some moves on that side, I think, with the way that Coach Eason is developing those guys. You want 15 more practices with those guys just to keep going, but we don’t get that. So we’ll fine-tune a few things on Monday, and those guys are going to have to do that work on their own before we come back in the summer. If they’ll keep doing that and keep working on it, then those guys up front, they’re gonna keep getting better. We’re going to look like a better front because of the effort and technique that we play with.”
On COVID-19 vaccine plan for team …
“There are staff members that have. As far as an overall team, no. I think that’s not just our team, that was a conversation that we had as head coaches. Everybody is trying to figure out what that timeframe is. With June coming up — I don’t know the answer for the timeline with the vaccine, who’s got it at this point and where it’s going. But I think that’s something that every team is working on at this point. We do know that June’s coming, and that’s going to be an opportunity that opens up for programs. That’s something everybody’s working through. The NCAA throws something out there and says it’s open, but we all know that every state and every program has different ways of dealing with this.
“We’ll have our way. But we’ve got to work off of everybody else and come up with a really good plan, so the people we bring on campus and the way we do things, we operate where we’re taking care of everybody. At the end of the day, that’s the focus.”
