One thing we aren’t talking enough about before the 2026 season: Auburn

By Chris Marler

We continue our offseason series about one positive thing we aren’t talking enough about for each SEC team. Today’s team, the Auburn Tigers. 

Retaining DJ Durkin 

There are a lot of positives for Auburn going into year one of the Alex Golesh era. 

I love what he did in the portal, and the Command V, copy and paste strategy from a G6 school to a Power Four school has worked at other places at a very high level. Golesh brought 13 players with him from South Florida. That happens to be the exact same amount of players that Curt Cignetti brought with him from James Madison to Indiana. That resulted in a 27-2 record in his first two seasons in Bloomington and a national championship in year two. Of course there were several other key components that led to that (like a No. 1 overall draft pick), but the point is that we’ve seen that strategy work before.  

I love the energy that Alex Golesh brings to Auburn. He’s a relentless worker that, unlike Hugh Freeze, will not be out on the golf course anytime soon. He has one primary focus, and that is winning football games. Golesh seems to have bought in enough to Auburn and their Texas A&M-Lite level cult for him to be accepted by the fanbase and administration. He also is firm enough in his belief in himself that he won’t be bullied by a round table of good ol’ boy boosters that have run things in Auburn for decades. 

Golesh is an offensive mastermind. His secret weapon though, and one thing we aren’t talking enough about for 2026, is his defensive coordinator, DJ Durkin. 

Retaining Durkin was no easy task. Many thought Durkin could potentially be the next head coach at Auburn before Golesh was hired. He was the interim last season after Hugh Freeze was fired. Ultimately, he was not hired. So, Golesh’s ability to retain him after taking the job he was also up for was pretty incredible. 

I’m a big fan of complimentary football and coordinators when it comes to success in college football. Having an elite coordinator on one side of the ball and a below average play caller on the other has a proven track record of mediocrity. That won’t be the case at Auburn this year. Golesh has a really good resume for high powered offenses. South Florida finished last season with the No. 5 scoring offense in the country at over 40 ppg. They’ll get to pair that with one of the best defensive minds in the conference. Durkin’s 2025 defense finished No. 12 nationally (and No. 3 in the SEC) in rushing defense and No. 30 in total defense. That was the lowest in rush ypg since 2003 for Auburn and the lowest in yards allowed since 2017. 

DJ Durkin could’ve left Auburn for another opportunity and potentially an even bigger pay day. He stayed at Auburn and returns a ton of young talent, and that’s something not enough people are talking about going into the 2026 season.