Auburn begins spring football practice

AUBURN, Ala. – Running between position groups and hyping up players while they warmed up, new head coach Alex Golesh led his first Auburn spring football practice Tuesday morning at the Woltosz Center. 

“I thought intent, awesome. Energy, awesome,” Golesh said on a sunny, chilly morning spent primarily indoors to avoid slipping on wet grass outdoors. “You’re looking at effort, the technical side, the tactical side, are we getting better every single day?

“It’s been a fun group to coach through these first four months. They’ve bought in quickly. They’ve tried to come together, I think that’s the hardest thing to do right now in college football is bring a team together, and the connection piece.”

With defense wearing white and offense in blue, both No. 17s stood out: transfer quarterback Byrum Brown and returning All-American linebacker Xavier Atkins.

“Like (defensive coordinator) Coach Durkin preaches to us all the time, you can always get better,” said Atkins, who earned All-SEC and All-America honors last season when he led Auburn with 84 tackles, 17 tackles for loss and nine sacks. “Staying more square in the box, getting off blocks better and being more violent.  Little things like that, I want to be able to do better in the fall.”

Brown, who played the past three seasons for Golesh at South Florida, serves as an extension of the coaching staff, along with 12 former USF teammates who also transferred to the Plains.

“I’m able to help everybody learn it,” Brown said. “You have guys in every room from the last spot who can help guys learn it as well. That’s going to help speed up the learning process so we can be one cohesive unit.”

So far, so good, says Brown. 

“A lot of great energy,” he said. “Guys came out and competed. Can’t wait to get in the meeting room and clean up for tomorrow.”

Individually, Brown hopes to use spring practice to hone his read progressions and checkdowns.

“That’s going to be huge this year because some checkdowns turn into big plays, especially at this level and the next level,” he said. “That’s what I’m working on.”

A team captain in 2025, safety Champ Anthony returns for his fourth season in Auburn’s secondary, his third under Durkin. 

“I want to stay healthy and play every game,” said Anthony, one of 18 returning lettermen on the Tigers’ defense. “That’s a goal of mine. I’m glad we were able to retain Coach Durk, for us to be able to stay and rally around him. We trust him, we’ve been with him for a little while, we know his defense so there’s no point in leaving.” 

 Auburn will practice three times per week, culminating with the annual A-Day game April 18 at 2 p.m. CT at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Admission to A-Day is free and will include a postgame autograph session on Pat Dye Field. 

“Through these first eight days, there’s so much install, you see guys still thinking a bunch,” Golesh said. “You want those last seven days, including A-Day, to look really crisp on both sides of the ball.”

Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer