AUBURN | Learning and implementing a new offense is a process.
It’s one that’s turned out to be especially difficult and time consuming for Auburn’s wide receivers. It showed during Saturday’s A-Day game as the first-team group combined to catch just 10 passes for 88 yards and one touchdown.
“We need to be more consistent at that position and I think right now we’re going to be going through focusing on that as we get into summer time,” said Auburn coach Bryan Harsin
“So between now and when those guys come back in June there’s going to have to be a lot of work done from those guys of just understanding and just really seeing a lot of the things we can improve on and just doing that from the entire summer and through fall camp and continuing that through the season.”
Inexperience has been a factor as the wide receivers lost 85 percent of their production including 10 of 12 touchdowns when Seth Williams, Anthony Schwartz and Eli Stove all declared for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Of the three receivers returning that have caught a pass in a college game, two — Shedrick Jackson and Ze’Vian Capers — weren’t available for most of spring due to injuries. Jackson, a senior, is the only upperclassman scholarship wideout on the roster.
But perhaps the biggest stumbling block for the receiver position in particular is the massive learning curve going from Gus Malzahn’s offense to the one under Harsin and offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.
Williams summed up the simplicity of AU’s former offense when asked about the diversity of his route tree after Pro Day.
“I feel like here at Auburn we didn’t really run a lot of routes so I can’t explain to you how diverse my route tree is, but I will say when I get to the next level you will be able to see,” said Williams.
Learning and executing different routes is is just one aspect. There’s learning the different depths of those routes. There’s adjusting those routes based on the defense. There’s motions and specific alignments and checks.
“The wide receivers are asked to do a lot,” said Harsin. “You see them moving around, they’re in different positions, different alignments. So they have to study, they have to prepare, they have to be students of the game to do what we’re asking them to do.”
While the wide receivers may be behind other position groups in adapting to Auburn’s new coaches and schemes, it’s also one of the positions that can make the most progress between now and the start of preseason practice in August.
There will be more organized workouts in July but there will be plenty of opportunities over the next three months for the wideouts and quarterbacks to work on their own.
Having an experienced and determined quarterback like Bo Nix to lead the group is a big plus. He is a proverbial coach on the field
“It’s extremely important,” said Nix. “And my goal for this summer is to get great a few things, and make sure those things that we repeat over and over and over we’re great at. So when the fall comes, we have something to lean on.”
Auburn will hold its final practice of the spring on Monday.
