Auburn’s wide receivers look to ‘change the narrative’ this season
On Tuesday afternoon, Camden Brown thought back to the lesson his father instilled him in growing up when it came to those who may doubt him: Make a mental note to yourself.
A tweet from ESPN college football reporter Heather Dinich a day earlier prompted Brown and the rest of Auburn’s wide receivers to do just that. Dinich, who was in Auburn and provided some behind-the-scenes access to Hugh Freeze’s program during the fourth week of spring practice, posted an observation to Twitter after Monday’s practice, warning Auburn fans that they may need to exhibit some “patience” when it came to the Tigers’ wide receiver corps.
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The observation struck a chord with Brown and his fellow receivers, many of whom quote-tweeted Dinich’s post as a means of motivation. “Note to self,” Brown posted. “Bet,” added Koy Moore. “Noted,” Landen King tweeted.
“Our main goal is just to change the narrative around,” Brown said Wednesday. “We’re going to change it.”
While the tweet from a prominent national reported caught the attention of Auburn’s wide receivers, its message wasn’t much different than the one Freeze himself made publicly this spring when it came to the position.
At the start of the third week of practice, Freeze noted that quarterback and wide receiver were the two positions that weren’t as far along as they needed to be this spring for the Tigers’ passing game to really start to take shape. He added Monday, before the Tigers’ 10th practice of the spring, that the wide receivers did not progress as much as he would have liked in the week — and three practices, including a scrimmage — since his prior remarks.
In other words, Auburn’s wide receiver corps is still very much a work in progress with a handful of practices remaining this spring and five-plus months to go until the season opener against UMass.
“It’s a lot of teaching for those guys right now,” offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said. “With us and the way we set our spacing and the way we’re utilizing those guys and trying to utilize the field, it’s different for them in understanding how to be able to work those things throughout. Those guys are getting better and better. Every day is an opportunity to get better. We still have a lot of growth to do in that room. That being said, I don’t think it’s a lack of effort or a lack of want to.”
It’s a process for Auburn’s wide receivers this spring, just as it is for every position as Freeze and Montgomery work to implement a new offense. There’s a change of scheme, from a pro-style system under Bryan Harsin to a more wide-open, up-tempo philosophy under the current staff. With that comes a change in terminology (receivers were labeled X, Y, Z and H last season, for example, while Freeze numbers them 1-4). Then there’s the RPO aspect of the offense, which has been the biggest hurdle for both the wide receiver group and the Tigers’ quarterbacks this spring.
That requires quick reads of the defensive coverage and quicker decision making.
“You can’t think a lot,” Brown said. “You’ve got to know; you’ve got to actually break down the coverages.”
Even as Auburn’s wide receivers familiarize themselves with a new system this offseason, it’s still a generally unproven group heading into the fall.
The most productive receiver on the roster, Cincinnati transfer Nick Mardner, has 1,488 career receiving yards and 11 touchdowns — including 913 yards and five touchdowns at Hawaii in 2021 playing under new Auburn receivers coach Marcus Davis — but he has never taken a snap for the Tigers, or in the SEC for that matter. Auburn’s top-two returning receivers from last season each had fewer than 500 receiving yards in 2022. Ja’Varrius Johnson had 26 receptions for 493 yards and three touchdowns, while Moore had 20 catches for 314 yards and a score after transferring from LSU.
Auburn’s most promising receiver prospect, Brown, had just nine catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman.
“We all have to improve, and we’ve all got to become mature in certain areas,” Brown said. “We’re going to fix it, for sure. We are all coming together, and we’ve all got to buy in to what Coach Freeze is saying.”
Brown pointed toward Freeze’s lessons during team meetings — many of which have been shared by Auburn’s video team on the team’s social media accounts this spring — and singled out his favorite one thus far: Flip the script.
“That’s about changing the narrative,” Brown said. “It goes back to the question that you asked with how there’s all the hate on the receivers — right now, we’ve all got to change the narrative. That’s what the main focus is right now. As with anything, we’ve got to change the narrative with the quarterback situation, with the receiver situation, the O-line situation. We’ve all got to change the narrative around everything. Changing the narrative is the main topic right now.”
That, too, is a process — one that begins in practices and meeting rooms. As Davis put it last week, it requires an attention to detail, a focus on the finer points of the position and what’s required of it within the offense and, of course, consistency day in and day out.
Brown is confident that will come, as the Tigers’ wide receivers try to alter the perception about their room — even if it may require some patience.
“We just all trust in each other, and we just really have to show them why — why we are here,” Brown said. “We not here for nothing. But we’re going to continue to show how we’re going to all buy into this program and just have fun. All the receivers are really bought in and (with) all the adversity we’ve been through last year, ain’t nobody’s going to stop this receiver corps or offense.
“So, they can say what they want. We here.”
Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.