AUBURN | Auburn's use of tight ends, or lack thereof, was an issue during the Gus Malzahn era. Predicted that they would be a more significant part of the offense each preseason, that never came to fruition. So, with Mike Bobo now in charge, this has to be the year in which the tight ends start producing, right?

Signs are pointing that way.

"Every day in practice, we got targets," John Samuel Shenker said. "Our job is to just prove ourselves each and every day so that on game day, the opportunity comes for us to get the ball more often … So that would probably be the bigger difference I would say in practices."

Out of Auburn's 216 receptions last season, just 20 came from the tight end group. That was an actual improvement on 2019 when the corps had only three catches, all coming from Shenker. Bobo should count on the group early as the wide receivers are inexperienced outside of Georgia transfer Demetris Robertson. It gives Shenker, Luke Deal, Landen King and others the chance to be producers.

"Each and every time we get a chance to prove ourselves in the passing game, it's huge for us, especially coming from the offense that we've been in," Shenker said.

After missing some of spring practice due to playing baseball, Shenker admits he fell behind a little. However, he's catching up with what new position coach Brad Bedell expects from the group, and the senior from Albany, Ga., is expected to be the starter after recording nine catches for 97 yards in 2020. The tight end sees similar routes to those in Malzahn's offense, with the only difference being that they just run them more often.

There's also the matter of blocking, with the entire group learning new angles of attack and reading defenses.

"You've gotta have a bigger IQ for that position so that's been something we've tried to learn, and Coach Bedell has done a great job teaching us that," Shenker said.

Yes, you've heard this story before, but it does seem that the tight ends will be an asset in Auburn's offense for the first time in years.

"The tight ends have grown really close with Coach Bedell," Shenker said. "We love what he's doing with us and the offense."