Georgia's Schedule Preview: A Road Game at Auburn Could Provide an Early Test for the Bulldogs

While Georgia possesses a significant talent edge over Auburn, an early season trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium could pose a challenge for the Bulldogs in their quest for a third-consecutive national championship.

With the Brian Harsin era in the rearview, Auburn has gambled that new Head Coach Hugh Freeze’s SEC experience and proven recruiting acumen will elevate the program and return the Tigers to championship contention. While Freeze’s track record suggests that he will eventually turn the Auburn program around, the roster mess that Harsin left him with complicates how quickly the new Tiger coach will be able to do so. While Freeze has raised the floor of the 2023 Auburn team by leaning on the transfer portal to provide immediate upgrades to the roster at key positions, the overall talent level within the program is still significantly below that of the true championship contenders in the SEC.

OFFENSE

After Auburn finished 10th or worse in the SEC in total offense, yards per play, and scoring offense in 2022, Freeze has set out to give the Tiger offense a desperately needed makeover entering the 2023 season. At the most basic level, schematically the Auburn offense will look markedly different under Freeze. Freeze tabbed former Tulsa Head Coach Philip Montgomery - a coach with a reputation as one of college football’s top offensive minds - to serve as Auburn’s offensive coordinator.  Stylistically, as a coach from the Art Briles coaching tree, Montgomery has traditionally favored an up-tempo Air Raid offshoot that emphasizes spacing and pushing the ball vertically down the field, which is a sharp contrast to the more pro-style system that Harsin attempted to implement at Auburn.

Auburn Head Coach Hugh Freeze speaks to the media at his introductory press conference. The Tigers are hoping Freeze can restore the program to its former station in college football

However, before Montgomery’s offense can take off, the Tigers will have to find an answer at quarterback, something the Tigers were unable to do a year ago. After taking over the starting quarterback duties following a blow-out home loss to Penn State, Robby Ashford brought dynamic running ability to the position, but struggled significantly as a passer. The Hoover, Alabama native ran for 709 yards and 7 touchdowns, but posted an alarmingly low 36% success rate as a passer last season and his 49% completion percentage for the season was the lowest completion percentage for an Auburn quarterback since 1998. Due to the lack of quality options, Ashford went through spring drills as Auburn’s starting quarterback, but shortly after spring drills ended, Freeze made a splash in the transfer portal by bringing in former Michigan State quarterback Peyton Thorne to compete with Ashford. Thorne threw 46 touchdowns and 21 interceptions in 25 starts over the past two seasons for Michigan State and helped lead the Spartans to an 11-2 record in 2021. With Finley transferring to Texas State, Ashford and Thorne will battle it out through fall camp to determine who will open the season as Auburn’s starting quarterback.

While quarterback was the primary issue for the Auburn offense last year, an uninspiring receiving corps certainly did not help matters. However, Freeze aggressively addressed the deficiency by adding a quartet of receivers from the transfer portal including 6-foot-6 possession receiver Nick Mardner from Cincinnati, former top-150 recruit Caleb Burton from Ohio State, explosive playmaker Jyaire Shorter from North Texas, and Shane Hooks, who led Jackson State in all major receiving categories a year ago. The Tigers also return Ja’Varrius Johnson, their leading receiver from a year ago.

As poor as Auburn’s passing game was last season, the Tigers’ rushing attack was among the most effective in the country, finishing inside the top 20-nationally and rushing for more yards (318) against Alabama than any other team in the Nick Saban era. However, with the departure of leading rusher Tank Bigsby and the possibility that Ashford - who was Auburn’s second-leading rusher in 2022 - might not be part of the equation for the Auburn offense this season, it remains to be seen whether the Tigers can come close to matching their rushing output from a season ago. After impressing in a complimentary role to Bigsby each of the past two seasons, junior Jarquez Hunter steps into the spotlight at Auburn’s feature back and will likely be asked to shoulder a significant workload for the Tigers this season.

While the prospect of losing its two leading rushers from a year ago poses a challenge for the Auburn run game in 2023, the Tigers will likely boast an improved offensive line. Offensive line play has consistently been an issue for Auburn for several years, but as he did at the receiver position, Freeze addressed the issue by bringing in four experienced offensive linemen from the transfer portal that are all expected to contend for starting jobs.

DEFENSE

With all 11 players that played snaps in the secondary for the Tigers in 2022 returning this season, the secondary projects to be the strength of the Auburn defense and provides new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts a degree of stability as he puts his stamp on the Auburn defense. After flirting with the prospect of declaring for the NFL draft, starting cornerbacks Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James elected to return to Auburn for their final seasons of eligibility and give the Tigers one of the strongest corner duos in the league. Jaylin Simpson has tremendous upside at safety after impressing when he transitioned to the position late in the 2022 season and will combine with Zion Puckett, who enters his third season as a starter, to form a strong safety tandem for the Tigers.

The picture in the front-7 is not as promising for the Tigers as they have to replace a number of their most productive players from a year ago including leading tackler Owen Pappoe and their two top pass rushers in Derrick Hall and Colby Wooden. That is alarming for a team that finished 96th nationally in rush defense a year ago. Once again, though, Freeze turned to the transfer portal to address Auburn’s issues by adding a collection of players to shore up Auburn’s talent and depth concerns in the front-7. Headlining the group is Kentucky defensive line transfer Justin Rogers, a former top-100 national recruit who was a highly effective player for the Wildcats and will give the Tigers a force in the middle of their defense. To help cushion the losses of Hall and Wooden on the edge, Auburn added Mosiah Nasili-Kite who amassed 14.5 sacks over three seasons at Maryland and Jalen McLeod who totaled 12.5 tackles for loss and 9 sacks over three seasons at Appalachian State. At inside linebacker, the Tigers added Austin Keys from Ole Miss who was a career reserve for the Rebels and Larry Nixon III who started 24 games over four seasons for North Texas. While Freeze added experience and depth to the Auburn front-7, outside of Rogers, none of the additions project to be upgrades over the players they are replacing.

DL Justin Rogers transferred from Kentucky to Auburn during the offseason and is expected to anchor the middle of the Auburn defense

While Auburn is still in the early stages of rebuilding a roster that was decimated by the Brian Harsin tenure, Georgia’s visit to the Plains on Sept. 30 could still very well prove to be a dangerous game. With the two-time defending national champions in town, Jordan-Hare will be at its very best which could pose a challenge for a Georgia team that will feature a quarterback making his first true road start. To be certain, Georgia will have the decided talent edge in the game, but the Bulldogs will have to be focused and ready to play to their lofty standard in order to overcome a hostile crowd and a raucous road environment. 

Other Georgia News:

• Recruiting Update: Who Could Be Next for Georgia?
• George Pickens Can Be a “Top Guy in the League,” According to Steelers QB
• Preseason All-SEC Teams Released

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