Auburn receivers shine in A-Day
AUBURN — Seth Williams entered the postgame interview room following his stellar A-Day performance. He walked in with a few of his other top-performer teammates — Matthew Hill, KJ Britt, Derrick Brown, to name a few. Williams, never eager to be the center of attention, was both surprised and slightly perturbed to learn from the Auburn publicist who told him the media horde waiting at the main podium wanted to speak with him.
"Wait, I'm at like the front front?" Williams said.
Indeed.
Williams proceeded to answer questions about his own performance, about other receivers, about the quarterback battle everyone wanted to talk about. He rehashed many of the moments from his four-reception, 103-yard, two-touchdown showing that showed everyone in Jordan-Hare Stadium — in only one half of football — that Williams' freshman campaign only scratched the surface of what to expect from him in an Auburn uniform.
After all that, he was asked the simple question: What did it mean to be named offensive MVP? Only then did it finally click why he was greeted by the scrum at the main podium.
"Oh, I didn't know I was MVP," Williams said. "Y'all be telling me stuff I don't even know."
To most everyone watching, the MVP award had been decided by halftime (though Matthew Hill made a strong case, which will be touched on shortly). Statistically, it spoke for itself. Williams caught four passes on four targets. He went for 103 yards and two touchdowns. The highlight nature of those receptions have become ordinary in Williams' arsenal.
But they were far from ordinary.
His 38-yard reception from Bo Nix sparked the first-team offense early in the first quarter. Williams grabbed another one for 25 yards from Joey Gatewood later in the first. In the second, Williams' two grabs led to touchdowns. An 11-yarder from Gatewood early in the second quarter already launched MVP speculation. His catch-in-traffic over Roger McCreary and Jamien Sherwood for a 29-yard touchdown was the highlight play for everyone in the building.
Well, everyone except Williams.
"I liked Matt's more than mine, though. Matt, he's the real deal. He did a whole Batman thing and caught the ball," Williams said. "That's my play of the day. Seeing that? Oh, D. Hill. He came out there and caught it."
Hill certainly made his own case by game's end.
At halftime, Hill — the highly-touted recruit who redshirted in 2018 — had as many catches and touchdowns as Williams. Hill's highlight grab, which Williams called his play of the day, was a sensational over-the-shoulder catch in traffic from Malik Willis, which resulted in a 41-yard touchdown. Hill snagged another long touchdown strike, this time a wide-open 49-yard connection with Nix. Not in touchdown form, but Hill flashed another one of his skill sets late in the fourth quarter, taking a screen pass 35 yards that was a hair away from going the distance.
He finished with five catches for 128 yards and two scores.
For Hill, this was a day of validation after sitting out most of the 2018 season despite high incoming expectations.
"I'm not going to sit here and lie to you: I really thought I was going to play more than I did last year," Hill said. "It meant a lot to me [in A-Day] because all my work is now showing off. I've been showing the coaches all spring why I should've played last year. But it was also a confidence thing. I had to sit down and get confident with the offense and just learn it. Now that I've learned it and I'm confident, it's much more to come."
That sentiment is shared by the rest of the receiver room — not just in regards to Hill, but the entire group.
A-Day supports that belief.
Williams and Hill's aforementioned highlights and stat lines indicate it. So does the return of Eli Stove who had four catches for 63 yards and a touchdown reception. Several other pass-catchers — Marquis McClain, Kolbi Fuqua, Sal Cannella, John Samuel Shenker and Tyler Fromm — got involved in the passing game.
Stove said after the game "it really doesn't matter" who plays quarterback. That's how confident this wide receiver group feels in itself.
And to do it Saturday with Anthony Schwartz still running track, Will Hasting unable to play yet and Stove still fully recovering from his own injury? Now that's a scary thought.
"It's crazy. Like, we're going to have Schwartz too? It's crazy," Stove said. "Think about that right now. Like, we're going to be good. We're going to be real good. Oh yeah, and Will? We've got so many people coming back. It's going to be a good year."