Auburn tight ends coach Ben Aigamaua knows the season is months away; however, he sees signs of hope in the Tigers tight end room that seeks to replace the production of John Samuel Shenker, who had 68 catches, one touchdown, and over 700 yards during three seasons on the Plains. Shenker was a security blanket for Tiger quarterbacks from Bo Nix to Robby Ashford and T.J. Finley.

Luke Deal, Tyler Fromm, Brandon Frazier, and Micah Riley-Ducker are returning from last season. Aigamua believes the best is yet to come from this group.

“They bring a lot of different traits to what we do upfront in the tight end room,” Aigamua said.” Luke, we know his strengths, and we see what he can do. My job as his coach is to strengthen the area of improvement: The passing game. Tyler, same thing.”

Riley-Ducker seems to have specifically caught Aigamaua’s attention.

“Micah is the one that, if we can get this thing right, he’s going to be special. I’m excited about our room, especially adding Rivaldo (Fairweather) and the guys that we’ve got. We’ve got a very talented room; we’ve just got to make sure that, when our number is called, we’re there to make the plays and the blocks we need to make our offense roll.”

Aigamaua spoke to reporters Tuesday about an hour before the team’s fourth spring football practice, culminating with April 8th’s A-Day spring game. He started with praise for Florida International University transfer Rivaldo Fairweather.

“We’ve got a very talented room,” Aigamaua told reporters. “Adding Rivaldo to that room kind of — the expectations have risen from the passing game to the run game; we’re very involved in what we do offensively. So far, with the four practices we’ve had, we’re operating at a high level. We’ve got to clean up some technical stuff, technique, and things of that nature, but I’m excited about our room right now.”

Fairweather had 54 receptions for 838 yards and five touchdowns in three seasons. Last season he caught 28 passes for 426 yards and three touchdowns. Aigamua believes there’s potential for growth for Fairweather.

“He brings the stretching the field aspect of it. He is running by folks out there,” Aigamaua said. “To see that, he’s going to be a mismatch problem. In the passing game he’s got really good hands, he caught a dig route over the middle yesterday and it was — to have a big body like that come across the middle, it helps our quarterbacks trust that we’ve got big bodies running across that can make those catches.”

Nubyjas Wilborn covers Auburn for Alabama Media Group