Bryan Harsin is looking past the offseason controversy that nearly led to him being removed as Auburn’s football coach. He has referred to the social media “sewer” and how things were said and written that were baseless and unfounded about his family.

Now he’s looking to turn the page as Auburn opens spring practice on Monday. So how will the controversy help the team on the field? Harsin explained during an interview with “Next Round Live.”

“Out of that, you get to find out some things that maybe wouldn’t have happened,” Harsin said. “If that weren’t the case. So to see guys step up and lead and to get in front of people and to have conversations, and come out and say things on social media and to back up what it is that we’re doing. To really see leadership, I think when leadership is needed, someone has to provide it and I saw a lot of our players do that, and I was very proud of those guys for doing that. … That’s part of where we are today. Because guys did that, because they acted, because they believed in what they were saying, I feel like our team is in a really good place. I feel like where we’re going in this program is where we need to be going to try to bring Auburn to be a championship-level program because that’s what we wall want to do.”

Harsin said the current players and recruits understand that what Auburn is building as a team is going to help them be successful.

“They know that we have leadership and guys on this team that will stand up and do those things,” he said. “I can’t wait until we get out there today, honestly.”