Auburn Tigers Promote Tanner Burns to Aid Defense

The Auburn Tigers look to give the secondary an extra boost in 2025 by giving their special teams coordinator an extra role

Auburn is getting more in-house help on defense / John Reed-Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers are promoting special teams coordinator Tanner Burns to nickels coach in addition to his current role with the program. College football reporter Matt Zenitz had the report first. 

In this role, he’ll be heading to the defensive room to help work on the secondary. He will focus on that area and Auburn is expected to hire a specific coach to cover the edge position. 

Burns has worked at Auburn for the last two seasons and has been with head coach Hugh Freeze for some time. He was part of his staff back at Liberty as well. 

After having one of the best pass defenses in the SEC in 2023, Auburn saw that aspect of their game take a slight step back in 2024. In 2023, they allowed 202.2 yards from the air per game. Last season, they allowed 213 yards passing yards per game.

While that seems minimal, other SEC pass defenses took major steps forward while Auburn’s stagnated. They went from allowing the third-fewest passing yards in the conference to the ninth-fewest. 

Getting another mind in there to help things take a step forward couldn’t hurt. His track record on special teams shows something could translate. 

According to Zenitz, Burns has helped Auburn rank highly in several special teams categories the last two years, including ninth nationally this season in punt return defense.

Auburn’s defense, which was already its stronger side of the ball by far, did see some further improvements overall. They allowed 256 points, down from 294 in 2023. 

If they can get the offense up to speed, they have a genuine shot at getting into contention in the SEC.