Auburn briefing: Strengths and weaknesses heading into 2023

The Tigers' roster has some visible strengths and weaknesses on paper.

Auburn football's roster will never be perfect, but it still needs work for seasons to come.

The Tigers' offensive line has notably been a huge weakness for several years now. Hugh Freeze has done what he can to solve the problem this for this fall, bringing in five transfer linemen (four of which are in position to start), but in order for Auburn to continue to get better on paper, they'll need recruiting to be much improved here over the next handful of cycles.

According to Parker of CFB Graphs (@statsowar on Twitter), the Tigers' offensive line did not have much continuity, which may have been a reason Auburn struggled to establish any sort of consistency all season long.

The Tigers were last among P5 teams in continuity across the o-line in 2022. Bringing in transfers has allowed Auburn to create a small amount of depth in case injuries are another huge problem, but the starters project out as anchors that won't be slid off their spots due to poor performance.

While o-line may be one of the weaknesses for Auburn, the secondary has proven to be one of their strengths heading into 2023.

Nehemiah Pritchett and DJ James form one of the best cornerback duos in the country. Jaylin Simpson switches over to safety and will work alongside Zion Puckett, Donovan Kaufman and Keionte Scott on the backend. Talented freshman Kayin Lee is also looking promising at corner.

Big Game Boomer, a college football social media influencer, recently released a graphic with the biggest strength of every single FBS Division I team this upcoming season.

According to BGB, the Tigers' secondary is their best strength in 2023.

Despite not having elite numbers, Auburn's pass defense was still better than usual last year, finishing in the top half of the SEC in opponent passer rating, passing touchdowns allowed, yards per attempt and completion percentage.

We wrote it

SEC Media Days is right around the corner, meaning the 2023 college football season is almost here.

Each SEC coach will get time to talk about their team and bring three players to represent the school.

Last season Tank Bigsby, Derick Hall, and John Samuel Shenker represented Auburn at Media Days.

The question is, who will Coach Hugh Freeze bring in his first season on the Plains?

Read our projections here. 

Auburn lost out on five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman on July 4th.

Coleman took to Instagram Live to announce that he would be committing to the Texas A&M Aggies over Auburn and several other high-profile schools.

It was a disappointment for both the Tigers and their fans.

Christian Clemente of 247Sports joined Zac Blackerby on the Locked On Auburn podcast to discuss Coleman's surprising commitment to the Aggies on the 4th of July.

Read about Clemente's thoughts on Coleman here.

The Auburn Tigers should be back in a bowl game this upcoming season.

Bill Bender of Sporting News recently released his bowl projections for the 2023 college football season, placing Auburn in a bowl not named the Birmingham Bowl for once.

Instead, it's a Florida bowl against a former SEC team.

Read about the projection here.

Tweet of the day:

Remember that time Cam Newton caught a touchdown pass against Ole Miss?

51 days until #collegefootball returns.

Starring Auburn QB and Heisman winner Cam Newton catching a TD. 🤷🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/4Vzgp2QKBr

— College Football Alerts  (@CFBAlerts_) July 6, 2023

Auburn kicks off the 2023 season at home against UMass. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.

Here's a look at the entire 2023 schedule:

Sept. 2nd vs UMass

Sept. 9th at California

Sept. 16th vs Samford

Sept. 23rd at Texas A&M

Sept. 30th vs Georgia

Oct. 14th at LSU

Oct. 21st vs Ole Miss

Oct. 28th vs Mississippi State

Nov. 4th at Vanderbilt

Nov. 11th at Arkansas

Nov. 18th vs New Mexico State

Nov. 25th vs Alabama

---

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