REACTION: Auburn Football Practice Notes, Keshaun Singleton is impressive

0:00It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up everybody? This is Ross Jackson, one of the hosts of the Lockdown Podcast Network, and if you haven't heard yet, we started a club and we would love for you to join. It's called the Everydayer Club, and one of the things that you get as a member is an ad-free version of the podcast that you're listening to right now. It works with whatever podcast app you already use, same episodes every day, just no ad. There's also a member's only group chat for fans of your team, plus a lot more. You can check it out by tapping the Everydayer Club link in the show notes. Viewing window for media, and to me, I spent the most time watching running backs and receivers

1:04today, and Bryson Washington, number 30, for some reason, still goes last in the order every single time, but I just refuse to believe that he's the last running back on the depth chart. He runs with so much power, and just watching him hit bags, or if it's a coach holding a dummy, whatever it is, he's so violent. That's the point of attack, and I can't wait to watch him in this office. Me, I can't wait to watch him, too. I couldn't help but notice how physically imposing he is. I was shocked by it when we watched him in the first practice, and today, believe it or not, it looks like he's gotten stronger, and it put on a little bit more muscle. That's what the spring is about, though, Zach, and it's about building yourself up physically, because once the season gets here, it's too late to become who you need to be physically. Bryson Washington is going to give Auburn such a great one-two punch at running back. A guy who can come in and just bruise and beat on you when Jeremiah Cobb goes out of the game.

2:04It's interesting, because I do think there's different types of backs in the season. We all know what Jeremiah Cobb is. I think it's kind of a one-cut, you know, beat you with speed, has some versatility. Then you got Omar Mabzen, who I think is faster than people realize, but to me, he's a pile mover. At least right now, I think he'll develop his game more as he goes along. But then Bryson Washington, the kind of davenport, I think, is a similar build to Cobb. He's a little bit bigger than Cobb. It seems like, but then you got Bryson Washington, who looks like nothing like the other guys. I mean, he's significantly taller, he's heavier, and so having, I'm very pro, you want all your running backs to do different things, and this is kind of what that backfield looks like. Change of pace back, I think, is the term. He will be a good change of pace back, and he will be able to get between the tackles. And I wonder how much they'll use them down on the goal line, based on what we saw today. Now we haven't gotten to see much of any team here, since spring practice has started.

3:06But the reports that are coming in are that he is a hard guy to tackle. And look, you got to make defenses feel it when you're running the football. That starts with your running backs, just not refusing to go down. And so they're working on a lot of the fundamentals of what makes a good back this spring. What I've been told is that there's an attitude, let's return to the basics here. And when we come out to watch practice, that's what I'm seeing, in the periods that we get to watch, I'm seeing them work on a lot of basic things that they feel like, hey, let's not forget what makes a good running back, what makes a good run. Bryson Washington already has a ton of experience, but he has taken an attitude this spring, that I'm not too good to relearn what I need to relearn. Yeah. And for what it's worth, like in the first drill of the day after stretching, the first thing that they did, I think every day, not every day, but most days it seems like is, they'll go through quickly with the quarterbacks and they'll do, you know, the act like they're,

4:07you know, the hand in the ball off to them. And it'll be, you know, first quarterback, first running back, and then they'll cycle through. The way the numbers work is like, all right, Byron was with Cobb, right, and then T.O.s with Omar, and then they go through all of them. And then when they cycle through again, Washington is with Byron when they cycle through, and that's kind of how they end that drill. So take that for what it's worth, that's just speculation. But once again, take it for what it's worth, quarterbacks in the same order, T.S. seems to be QB2, like the first practice we saw I'm kind of going back and forth. That seems to be done. Yeah. So to, to no surprise, Tristan Tia is QB2. I like how the ball leaves his hand. He's an athletic guy. Can he grasp the system? I think that'll be something fun to, to monitor moving forward. The offensive line seemed to be the same. We didn't see all five of them just like, you know, line up. But as far as the order they were going through the drills from left to right, it seemed to be the same Joe Simmons at left tackle, Derek Plaza left guard at center, Cole Best,

5:12right guard, skitter. And then at right tackle, it was the freshman Wilson zero again. Gole said he wanted to narrow this down to eight guys by the end of the spring. It looks to me based on what I saw the same thing you saw in offensive line, that they're getting closer to that. Every spring you got an arrow down quickly, right? Because you can't waste repetitions on guys who will not play. You got to figure out quickly who you guys are going to be. You have an idea of that coming into the spring. I, Stanton, Stanton Rommel was in the indoor facility that ain't kind of working away from the other offensive linemen that helped with notice that in full pads, in full pads, which was one wearing a helmet, but had shoulder pads on. Look like he were kind of letting him move around laterally a little bit, which is good. Yeah, there's eight guys. Like you guys who missed the five guys, and then Stanton Ramil, and then Jack Layer and Kelle Ellis. I would guess is the eight right now, Ty Buster, I think, is a variable, and that as well. We heard Kenneth McMahon, his name a lot early, and then that's kind of faded away, and

6:12then what happens with, was strand when he's back and ready and available, but we'll have to see with him. Jack, the QBs, I got to tell you, there's an ease about QB this spring that's very difficult to explain when you're watching them. But it's, we all knew that Byron Brown was going to be the guy, but I got to tell you, they are clearly coaching at levels. If there were five levels, they're coaching at levels three already, this spring because Byron Brown is here. And he looks like a clear leader out there, he looks very comfortable, he's, he's looks like he's doing the thing he's done his whole life just in in Auburn, Jersey, and here at the Waltocks. So it's, I got to tell you, the more I watch Byron Brown here at spring practice, and even today in a little bit we got to see, the more I'm convinced Auburn's going to surprise a lot of people just fall with their passing game. Yeah, I mean, just watching the receivers today, like Eric Singleton, just watching him complete a wrap, like everything about him is so...

7:13Key Sean Singleton. Yep. Yep. I like Eric Singleton too. Two Singleton. Two Singleton. Yes, thank you. Key Sean Singleton, everything about him is so smooth as far as the release, as far as the full route, as far as, you know, the process of catching the football. And like, you, you can tell some people, like some receivers are good at a few of those. Yeah. And even like the catching part, they may catch it, but it doesn't always look easy. It's not always like a natural thing, that, that's not the case with Singleton. So, um, Jeremiah Cogor is another one, he's normally lined up on the other side to where, like, it's farthest from us. Yes. So, that'd be, like, to Byram's left, um, and then Singleton's always to Byram's right as far as when we're in there. That's just the lines that they're in. But he's another guy, like, I tried to watch a little bit more today, just because it's hard to see him. So, you have to, like, be active in looking at it. And like, he's another smooth guy. I don't know if he's, like, catching is as natural, but everything else is just super,

8:14super smooth. And he's so big, and like, it looks a little weird because, like, how his stature and how he moves, like, it doesn't match, like, he's, he's faster than he should be. And then, I'll tell you what, like, Brian Williams Jr., number 15, The Freshman, I've talked about him a ton, but every time I'm watching receivers, it's just, I can't stop watching him. Like, he's, there's something about him. I think he, I think him and Spencer, the two freshmen, or two of the freshmen, I think they're legitimately fighting for targets in this office. Yeah. Here's what I feel about wide receiver. They're clear front runners here. We know Nimrod is clearly a front runner. We know that Singleton and Cogor are front runners. They're going to try to lay a foundation, I think, at receiver where if they got to mix it up, if they're injuries, there's a clear succession at each position, where the

9:15guy at that position steps in. I like this receiver group. Famously, Heather Denich came here years, a couple of years ago and said, all the fans are going to need to have some patience with their wide receiver. Haven't heard anybody say anything like that so far this spring today. Sure. They look like they're moving around well. They look healthy. And I got to tell you, they look very adjusted to Byron Brown's ball placement. It's clear to me. You talked about how the ease of catch looks with some of these guys. It's, they know where he's going to put the ball. That's good. I've noticed it on his deep ball. They know exactly where Byron's going to put it. And they position their body, a former Auburn receiver, Devon Aroma, should do, keyed us on this. He said, Mike, watch on throws to the flat, watch the position of the receiver's hands. It tells you how they practice it, right? We know when the receiver has their hands here, you know whether they expect the ball on the body or not. So if the quarterback throws it out in front and they have to suddenly lunch for it or something, that's not, you know, that's not how they practice that. I kept a close eye on that today.

10:17And it just seems like these guys are catching it exactly where they expect it. And that's very important. How many times have we seen that we see last last year, a basic throw to the flat by Jackson Arnold and he turns the receiver around. Gosh. And then the DB recovers and he's tackled on the spot or for a loss, right? Because you couldn't put the ball where it was supposed to be. Ball placement matters, proper velocity in the right situations matter. And Byron Brown today was doing both those things at a high level kind of quick note on tight end. And then we'll also talk about what we saw with the defense just a moment right here unlocked on Auburn. Today's show brought to you by our friends at Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. The Auburn lines that you might be interested in right now, Auburn, total seven and a half according to our friends at Fandall and then also the line against Baylor to start the season Auburn, a seven and a half point favorite. Take in on the action over at fandall.com today today, take the over on Baylor.

11:18Oh, yeah. I agree with that. I agree with that too. Today's show also brought to you by our friends at Game Time, Game Time's the best place to buy tickets for anything. Hey, maybe it's an upcoming World Cup friendly at Jordan Hare Stadium. You want to go see Messi and the Argentina national team. You can do that by download the Game Time app and anything you need to take it for, they've got it there. Load locked on L.O.C.K.E.D. O.N. for $20 off your first purchase. Of course, terms, apply. That is with the Game Time app. Quick note on Titan before we move to defense. This is now the second viewing window in a row. We saw this Tuesday and we saw this just now. Eccles dropping passes against air. Jonathan Eccles the transfer from Titan from South Florida. We've kind of talked and assumed that he'd be Titan 2 and he still can be and I don't want to overreact to, you know, two reps. But I do think Arla's boarding him is coming on. I do too.

12:18You know, I think Jake Johnson is going to play the most snaps at Titan this year. But I was confident in believing in Eccles and now I'm like, I think boarding him might end up taking Titan 2. Jake Johnson's clear, clear Titan 1 to me. Done. That's over. That's over. I agree. This is the time to make moves. He seems like he's making moves. And my talk with Alex Goulish, we talked about how much please, you know, off camera, I was like, please don't run a bunch of 12 personnel this year. Like, and he said, we're going to craft a system around the talent that we have and I mean, I know you said, don't make a big deal about two passes dropped by it, but if you don't have two tight ends that can go out there and make plays, you can't run 12 personnel. You can't. But it's your offense when the Titan is no threat to catch the ball and 12 personnel. Now you can, you obviously blocking is important in that scheme. But what we've seen the last few years is is that all birds run a ton of 12 after recruiting

13:22the highest level of talent at the skill positions, give me a break, man. So then they tease us all last off season and I'm like, oh, yeah, we're going to run, you know, a lot of four receiver stuff. And it's like, were you? Yeah. And we didn't see it until Dix took over. Yeah, like were you just saying stuff unbelievable? Yeah, so unbelievable. I grew everything you said about Titan. We don't, we're traveling around trying to see as much as we can see, but the little that I saw of Titan, I can't confirm again, Jake Johnson and Bordingham seem like they're clearly. Yeah, right, right. And they're going, you know, they're the first to go in and drills as well. And then it's echoes, then it's new sum. So take that for what it's worth. And then Ryan G. On defense, Chris Murray was wearing number 30. So I guess he got a number. Got a number. Also pertaining to numbers, Shamar Arno was wearing number 66 as a corner. He has been number 14 and Kyle has been a lot of time watching corners today. And he said that the staff was all over him.

14:24They were wearing him out. He was kind of misstepping in drills and they were having to do the reps over and over and over again. Whereas, you know, clearly, he was not comfortable today. I don't want to read into the given him, you know, a number in the 60s for DB. I don't know what that could mean. I think we all can assume like, does this mean he's in the in the doghouse? Does this mean, you know, maybe they're opening 14 up because Chris Murray wanted it, but I feel like if I was the case, they would have him wearing that today, not 30. So I'm trying not to read too much into that, but I think it's worth noting. In response to the DB and I'm wearing them out. Look, there's a drill that they've been running this spring. We saw it again today where it's wide receivers versus DBs. And the wide receivers are carrying the ball over pads. And then they just run into a DB and a DB has to tackle. It's a hit drill and just to see who wins. Goalish is with the guys every single time they run this drill, cursing an energy

15:27turned up to 11. I that he goes told us that he feels like you have to play violent at wide receiver. But Durkin has said that you got to play violent at DB as well too. And they're looking to create that violent. We saw that today. They are going to be a violent football team in that defensive backfield. And they're going to get after it. Look, I'm excited about defense. I think you you rehired DJ Durkin because you want to continue the work that he's been doing there. And Durkin feels confident they're going to take that to the next level. That starts with those defensive backs. I think that's all I got today. How can people check out everything you've got going on? Head on over to the warreport.com where you'll find our written work and also our merchandise store. Check us out on social media. Follow me at my gettons on Twitter, at my gettons underscore on Instagram. And if you feel like it, head on over to locked on UCF. We are the number one UCF podcast and we're looking to bring some great covers to UCF

16:27fans. Yes. Yes. Give Mike G. Some love. Please like the video. Please subscribe. We'll see you next time. This has been locked on Auburn.