Fall Camp is underway across the SEC, so it’s time to get some overreactions and observations in. Your team is healthy, the schedule is manageable, and the amount of hope floating around the program is absolutely off the charts. Still, every team has some questions.
Here are three burning questions for every SEC team. Next up, Auburn.
1. Are the receivers going to be good enough in the SEC?
Auburn got gutted last year in the transfer portal. At least from a sheer numbers standpoint. They lost 37 players in the portal window thanks in part to their coaching change. Along with those 37 players were six wide receivers.
Coming into 2025 there was hope around the Auburn football team. One of the primary reasons why, especially on offense, was the elite talent they had stacked at wideout. There were multiple former five-stars and a top-ten portal transfer.
It did nothing.
Six of those receivers left for a new home, including four that were ranked four-stars or better in the portal. In comes a new offense, along with six new wide receivers. Only one of those six were ranked above three stars and five of the six are in tow from South Florida with Alex Golesh.
Can they compete in the SEC? There’s no reason to think they can’t, especially with an offensive play caller like Golesh at the helm.
2. How well will the transfers mesh?
A bigger picture question for Auburn this year is how well the transfers mesh as a whole. The Tigers brought in 39 new players. That is the third most in the SEC. Exactly one third of those players came along with Golesh and his staff from South Florida.
If that number, 13, seems significant, it should. When Curt Cignetti left James Madison for Indiana, he brought exactly 13 players with him from his former school to compete in the Power Four.
Bringing in an identical number of former players is not some magic potion that will automatically translate to wins. It is interesting, though, that there’s at least a proven strategy and data point that would suggest it works.
Alex Golesh was tremendous at South Florida. That’s a program that was 4-29 in the three years prior to him being there. In his three seasons at the helm, he had a winning record every year and took them to three consecutive bowl games.
That would be, and will be, a welcomed change at Auburn.
3. How good can the offensive line be?
This is the biggest concern on the team. Notice that none of the three questions asked in the piece were specifically about the defense. That’s not a coincidence.
There are new faces on that side of the ball and plenty of positions yet to be settled. However, DJ Durkin has been a great coordinator in this league, and retaining him was a massive win for Golesh coming into Year 1.
The biggest question they have offensively is the offensive line. The Tigers lose six of seven players from last year’s unit that made at least one start. It’s a pain point for Alex Golesh in the spring expressing his frustration with the unit and saying how far they had to go before the season starts.
He’s walked back a few of those statements recently, but it still remains as a massive question mark.
