'We know our football team better now,' Bryan Harsin explains what's different heading into year two with Auburn

Auburn football head coach Bryan Harsin believes the team has grown much closer since last offseason.

SEC Media Days has come to a close. Now, the 2022 college football season can finally be seen on the horizon.

Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin joined Zac Blackerby on the Locked On Auburn podcast to talk about what was different about this year's media days compared to last season's.

"I think it's more about our team," Harsin said to Blackerby. "I think it's more about knowing our football team better coming into this event than I did before."

Harsin pointed out that even though he understands that the event was put on so that the media could gather information about the team and the upcoming season, he simply didn't have much to say about the difference between the two media events.

It has been all about getting to know the team better and finding leadership that will, well, lead. 

"Our biggest difference is we know our football team better. And we've got great leadership here representing us... (Tank) Bigsby, John Samuel Shenker, Derick Hall, I mean, those guys are phenomenal people that have done a great job representing us."

After making his way over from Boise State in December of 2020, Bryan Harsin dramatically changed the way Auburn operated, specifically from a discipline standpoint. It's ruffled some feathers. 

There was a group of players in 2021 held over from the previous regime that decided they didn't want to be a part of what Harsin was trying to establish. Phrases like 'trimming the fat' and 'resetting the culture' were cast out by the media during what could only be described as a mass exodus during Harsin's first two offseasons on the Plains.

Some players that didn't belong, and if they didn't want to do things the right way, they had the opportunity to leave.

And boy, did they.

16 players entered the portal after Gus Malzahn was fired. Following the Tigers' 6-7 campaign in Harsin's inaugural season, 22 more players departed. On the surface, it looked bad. Dig a little deeper into who left, however, and realize that most of the former Tigers will now find themselves on new rosters where they will continue to compete for playing time... or, they'll find themselves on the same bench they enjoyed during their stay at Auburn. To put it bluntly, few needle-movers left the Tigers this offseason.

Those who stayed got closer. Those who joined (nine players committed to Auburn through the transfer portal) earned the opportunity to know and understand. Know and understand each other and their common goals, and what it will take to eventually achieve them.

"It's really just about us, Harsin said. "We really know our team, we know what we've been doing, we know the things that are important to us, and we're ready to get started in fall camp and get things going."

As the summer marches on, fall camp grows closer and closer in the distance. And Harsin is excited about it.

"This is just that event every single year that just reminds you it's coming. So once I leave here and get off the plane it's going to be like 'okay, it's time.'"

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