AUBURN, Ala. – After eight months of anticipation and preparation, Auburn quarterback Byrum Brown finally gets to trade his orange non-contact jersey for a navy one.
“I can’t wait,” Brown said in his last meeting with reporters before Saturday’s season opener vs. Baylor in Atlanta. “I can’t wait to go out there and play ball. It’s a long time coming, it feels like, and I’m excited, that’s it.”
No one knows what Brown can do better than head coach Alex Golesh, who recruited Byrum to the Plains to run Auburn’s fast-paced offense after three seasons together at South Florida.
“Week one is always a challenge,” Golesh said Wednesday in his final pregame media availability before Saturday’s Aflac Kickoff Game. “What we do offensively presents a unique challenge to people. Ultimately, our identity is what it is, and we’re going to go run the ball. We’re going to take what they give us and we’re going to play really fast.”
Defensively, coordinator DJ Durkin returns for his third season, along with many of the players he’s recruited and coached at Auburn.
“There is a good nucleus of guys back,” Durkin said. “That's been big for us, especially at the positions where there's the most communication - linebacker and safety. I know it's hard nowadays to ever feel like you have a good group back, but I feel like we do defensively. I think it’ll play to our advantage, for sure.”
Seeking its 10th consecutive season-opening victory, Auburn battles Baylor Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on ABC and the Auburn Sports Network, where Andy Burcham, Jason Campbell and Ronnie Brown will describe Golesh’s debut to listeners.
“As you go into year one and get rolling, for me, it’s just as exciting as anything to see us go perform,” Golesh said. “We’ve spent so much time talking and working through so many different things that you just want to go and play the very best that you can and then continue to grow and learn from that.”