The next step in the Bryan Harsin era now has a date.

Auburn has announced that the annual spring football game will be on April 10, and the start of spring workouts appears to be March 16. The Tigers will get their first start to move on from the Gus Malzahn era as Harsin will lead the program on the field for the first time since he led Boise State to a 69-19 record with three Mountain West titles in seven seasons.

It’s the first step to what Auburn faithful hope is a better collective record against chief rivals Alabama, LSU and Georgia.

Without experience in the SEC, Harsin hired a staff that is heavy on SEC experience, most notably with coordinators Derek Mason and Mike Bobo, who previously coached at Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Georgia in the league.

Bobo’s priority is helping QB Bo Nix improve his production from a lackluster 2020 season. Nix was seventh in the SEC with 219 passing yards per game in 2020, and had just 12 passing touchdowns against seven interceptions. His completion percentage of 59.9 percent was 10th in the league.