Bryan Harsin recaps open practice, says Tigers were, ‘excited to see the faces in the stands’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Auburn held an open practice inside Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday in front of what was estimated to be about 3,500 fans. Coach Bryan Harsin told reporters after the workout that it was a welcome sight for the program, players and coaching staff.
“Our guys were excited to see the faces in the stands,” Harsin said, per Justin Ferguson. “Maybe some nerves, some energy. That’s what we need in our practices right now. … All of our guys on staff are happy to be here. They love being here and living in Auburn. We haven’t had much of a chance to show that gratitude (to the fans) yet, and we got to do that today.”
The open workout came after Auburn’s first week of practice under the new coaching staff, and Harsin said, “some things were good, some things were bad,” and he added that the first week of practice was solid.
“We’re installing new systems,” he said. “We’re inside, really, the DNA of it right now.”
About the offense going against a defense that is limited in making contact, Harsin said, “We want to be 100 percent on air. We’re not 100 percent on air yet. We’re not where we want to be. But I’ll say that we’re further along today than where we were on Day 1.”
Commenting more on the offense, Harsin clarified about under-center snaps.
“We’re solid,” he said. “We’re learning. We do that in this offense … We are gonna run some tempo, but it’ll be a pro tempo. We’re gonna play some with the fullback.”
But since the offseason began, Harsin may be most impressed with the running backs, who he said each asked a ton of questions in winter workouts, which stood out to him.
“Tank (Bigsby) has done a tremendous job. Shaun (Shivers) has done a tremendous job,” Harsin said. “I love both of those guys. They’re intentional in everything they do.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
