Who is coming, who is going from Auburn’s wide receiver room?
Koy Moore is reportedly entering the transfer portal. It’s the final departure from the previous generation of Auburn receivers and symbolic of the completion of a full-scale overhaul in Auburn’s wide receiver room.
It was a necessary one. Auburn had the worst passing offense in the SEC last year by yards per game. A step in the solution would be improving the talent on the roster.
Moore only had three catches in 2023. But of the seven Auburn wide receivers to have double-digit catches in either of the last two seasons, Moore is the fifth to leave.
Moore is also one of five wide receivers to play in each of the last two seasons for Auburn. Below are the combined statistics for those receivers for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns | |
---|---|---|---|
Ja’Varrius Johnson | 45 | 840 | 6 |
Jay Fair | 33 | 358 | 2 |
Koy Moore | 23 | 338 | 1 |
Malcolm Johnson Jr. | 8 | 117 | 0 |
Omari Kelly | 5 | 101 | 0 |
Those five account for 63% of Auburn’s receptions from wide receivers over the last two seasons. They account for 67% of Auburn’s receiving yards from wide receivers over the last two seasons. And they account for 69% of touchdowns caught by wide receivers of the last two seasons.
Ja’Varrius Johnson was Auburn’s leading wide receiver in yards each of the last two seasons. Moore was second with 314 in 2022.
Over the last two seasons, Auburn has seen 11 wide receivers leave the program via transfer or graduation. They had a total of 145 catches for 2,179 yards and 11 touchdowns.
As a team regardless of position, the production of those departed makes up 41% of the total catches, 52% of the team’s total yards and 41% of the team’s total receiving touchdowns over the last two years.
Auburn’s passing offense was not particularly productive either of those two seasons. Its 162.2 passing yards per game were the worst in the SEC in 121st out of 130 teams nationally in the 2023 season. Auburn was also last in the SEC and 118th nationally in 2022 with about 172 passing yards per game.
That offense wasn’t good enough. Far from it. But the group now gone had made up a significant portion of the snaps and production of the team regardless of the overall output’s futility.
Yet this was also an exodus Auburn knew it needed. If these were the top producers on a bad offense, then new faces were needed.
So Hugh Freeze made for a full wide receiver room turnover.
As of where Auburn’s roster stands at the beginning of May, there will be seven new scholarship wide receivers on the roster next season.
Incoming WRs | Arriving From… | Recruiting Ranking / 2023 College Stats |
---|---|---|
Cam Coleman | Central HS (Phenix City, AL) | Five-star recruit (No. 5 overall player per 247Sports) |
Perry Thompson | Foley HS (Foley, AL) | Four-star recruit (No. 38 overall player per 247Sports) |
Malcolm Simmons | Benjamin Russell HS (Alexander City, AL) | Four-star recruit (No. 150 overall player per 247Sports) |
Bryce Cain | Baker HS (Mobile, AL) | Four-star recruit (No. 159 overall payer per 247Sports) |
KeAndre Lambert-Smith | Penn State | 53 Rec (led team), 673 Yds (led team), 4 TDs |
Sam Jackson V | Cal | Played quarterback at Cal |
Robert Lewis | Georgia State | 70 Rec, 877 Yds, 7 TDs (all led team) |
That group is highlighted by the freshmen: five-star recruit Cam Coleman, four-star recruit Perry Thompson, four-star recruit Bryce Cain and four-star recruit Malcolm Simmons.
It is without question the most talented group of freshman receivers Auburn has ever signed. Coleman is the second highest-rated Auburn recruit of all time regardless of position according to 247Sports. At the time of the December signing period, Thompson was listed as a five-star recruit. Auburn had only ever signed one five-star recruit in program history before this year. At the time of their signing, Auburn had two five-star receivers in this class alone.
Coleman and Cain have already arrived on campus. Thompson and Simmons will get to Auburn this summer. They are the foundational pieces for Freeze’s program, especially Coleman who emerged as a star during spring practices and the A-Day spring game.
Coleman had four catches for 92 yards and a touchdown in the spring game.
He’s on track to be an opening-game starter this fall.
The rest of the freshmen will be expected to produce quickly, especially with so many departures leaving so many available snaps. The goal, of course, is to get the improved talent on the field quickly.
Freeze’s offense will mix the exciting youth with a collection of experience in two returners: Camden Brown and Caleb Burton as well as incoming transfers KeAndre Lambert-Smith from Penn State and Robert Lewis from Georgia State
Both Lambert-Smith and Lewis led their respective teams in receptions and receiving yards last season. Both have just one year of eligibility remaining.
They’ll see both a large number of snaps immediately as well as be asked to take on a leadership role — especially Lambert-Smith who has been a key piece of a Penn State offense that played in two New Year’s Six bowls.
And then there’s Sam Jackson V, an intriguing experiment transfer from Cal. Auburn saw Jackson last season when it played Cal. Except Jackson played quarterback then. Auburn is bringing him in as a wide receiver.
Jackson said he last played wide receiver in high school — he and Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne went to the same Naperville, Illinois high school and briefly were teammates there. Jackson wasn’t fully healthy during spring practices, but Auburn players and coaches appear excited about the potential.
The impending addition of the high school recruits and Auburn’s strong pursuit of receivers in the portal were certainly a factor in the departure of such a larger percentage of Auburn’s snaps over the last two seasons.
But the last two seasons didn’t work. The last two seasons included a coaching change in part because of it.
On paper, it’s a much-improved group now.
Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]