AUBURN, Ala. – If you’re trying to reach anyone associated with the Auburn football program, you might want to try back in a couple weeks.
Not only are the Tigers out of pocket, they’re also out of town, at least at night.
With preseason practice starting Wednesday morning, the team departed the Woltosz Center Tuesday afternoon for the Auburn Marriott Opelika Resort & Spa at Grand National.
“Nothing else really going on other than us, the team and our staff,” said coach Alex Golesh, who implemented a similar preseason regimen in each of his three seasons at South Florida. “We’ve got 13 days there as a team.”
While Grand National is only nine miles north of Jordan-Hare Stadium, Golesh believes the relocation will serve an important purpose.
“Eliminate every single bit of distraction we possibly can,” he said. “They’re excited about it, there’s no nothing. No girlfriends, no dogs, cats, whatever guys are into. It’s truly just us for the next 13 days, which is absolutely huge for us. We need it.”
In previous college football eras, preseason camp served as a time to get in shape and learn the plays. In the modern era, those two boxes have been checked long before the start of fall practice.
“This is the one time where there’s absolutely zero distractions,” said Golesh, who then rattled off Auburn’s schedule for the next 33 days leading up to the season opener Sept. 5 vs. Baylor in Atlanta. “One day at a time, rock and roll. It will be a heck of a journey.”
For the next two weeks, Golesh seeks to recapture a bit of the bygone era when players roomed together in dorms.
“The distractions naturally come from guys driving back and forth,” he said of the daily commute for players who live off campus. “We talk so much about process. We're trying to build it for them to where you wake up, you get on a bus, and then you'll get back later in the evening. There are no distractions.”
Auburn’s commitment to eliminating distractions includes transportation, or lack thereof.
“We’ll take their car keys tonight and they won't have them,” Golesh said. “Teaching what a day in a structure should look like for an elite, high-level athlete.”
When assigning roommates, Auburn’s coaching staff mixed veterans with newcomers.
“For the most part, it's an older guy that's played, that's done it, that's been there, has got a young guy with him, so he can teach them,” Golesh said.
On mandated days off, Auburn will socialize together with team movies and meals.
“Outside of those three off days, you wake up to get on the bus, they're here, then at the end of the day get on the bus and go back,” Golesh said. “The team building, I think, happens in the fact that they're all together the entire time with absolutely nothing else pulling from them.”
The Auburn caravan returns to the Plains Wednesday morning for the Tigers’ first preseason practice.