Auburn Baseball is on the road this weekend, taking on Texas A&M and looking to win yet another SEC series in its push toward the postseason.

The Tigers will have a Saturday doubleheader after Game 1 was postponed, followed by a finale Sunday. We’ll have live coverage of the series all weekend long, right here.

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AUBURN — And we’re back.

Like I said earlier this week, I didn’t mean to take nearly two months off from the mailbag. But my schedule was absolutely loaded during the stretch run of basketball and the first spring practices in football, so we had plenty of stuff to write about without having to go back to the mailbag well.

It’s the offseason, though, and that’s prime ‘bag season.

For those of you who are new to The Observer, we try to do a mailbag almost every Friday. Feel free to ask your questions about Auburn football or basketball — or other topics, as you’ll see toward the end — throughout the week, and we’ll answer them here. (Sometimes, we’ll do this as a podcast instead of a written newsletter.)

A lot has changed for both sports since the last time I took questions, and there’s a lot in here about a new-look basketball roster. But I wanted to start with an intriguing question on the football side that really stood out to me, especially in light of something I heard earlier this week.

Thanks for hanging in here with us. We’re still doing mailbags. We’re just not numbering them anymore. I’m not even sure why I was doing that in the first place.

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While I know that beating Auburn’s biggest rival has to be a top priority, the real issue has been taking care of business against teams they should beat. How does Golesh address getting the program back to beating the teams they should?

Brent

There are several different ways to define “taking care of business” against teams you “should beat.” The easiest and most straightforward one, to me, is looking at a team’s win-loss record as a betting favorite. Lines aren’t perfect, but they set expectations.

In the three seasons under Hugh Freeze, Auburn went 12-7 outright as a favorite. That’s a winning percentage of just 63.2%, and it ranks in the bottom 25 of all FBS teams over the last three seasons. The only power-conference teams behind Auburn in winning percentage as a favorite are UCLA, Kansas, Oregon State, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, UCF and Purdue. That’s not the company you want to keep.

That winning percentage falls to 60% in games as a home favorite. That’s in the bottom 20 of all FBS teams. What’s even worse is that Auburn lost five straight games to power-conference opponents as a home favorite under Freeze: Cal 2024, Arkansas 2024, Oklahoma 2024, Vanderbilt 2024 and Kentucky 2025. And right before that skid was New Mexico State 2023.

This isn’t about not having the roster to compete with the best of the best in the SEC. This is about doing your job in games when you’re expected to win. Auburn’s only win over a power-conference team as a favorite over the last two seasons was at Baylor — and that game was nearly a pick-’em at kickoff. And Freeze’s last game in charge was a 10-3 loss to Kentucky as a double-digit home favorite. It was a fitting farewell.

Meanwhile, during those same three seasons, Alex Golesh and USF were 15-6 as favorites. That was a solid winning percentage compared to the rest of the country. At home, the Bulls were 11-1 as favorites under Golesh. That winning percentage of 91.7% ranked in the top 20 in the FBS. USF’s only loss as a home favorite came in Year 1 under Golesh, so the Bulls took care of business when he got things rolling.

Also, if you look back at Golesh’s time as an offensive coordinator in the SEC, Tennessee was 15-1 as a favorite in 2021 and 2022. That’s taking care of business.

What’s the biggest difference between the Auburn of the last three seasons and the USF of the last three seasons?

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Justin and Dan talk Auburn basketball’s roster, NCAA Tournament expansion, the north end zone project and some mailbag questions. Topics for this subscribers-only episode include:

• the latest on Auburn’s targets in the transfer portal

• the benefits of rim protection

• why Justin believes Auburn is still in position to add a player

• why The Guys don’t like the idea of expanding the NCAA Tournament

• the enduring intensity of Jordan-Hare Stadium

• a healthy dose of nonsense: soda reviews, Tarantino, and which professional wrestlers could play or coach college football

This is a premium podcast for Observer subscribers only. You can join by clicking the button below or going to this link.

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Follow Dan (@dnpck) and Justin (@JFergusonAU) on Twitter.

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AUBURN — It’s no secret that Auburn basketball likes players with chips on their shoulders.

It’s a program that has found so much success in recent years by mining the mid-majors and even lower levels of college basketball to find championship-caliber talent. Players who weren’t household names coming out of high school can prove they belonged all along on the Plains.

There’s another flavor of this type of player: The former high-major player searching for a larger role and fresh start. Walker Kessler was the ultimate example of this, going from a reserve 5-star at North Carolina to National Defensive Player of the Year at Auburn. Most recently, Auburn picked up Kevin Overton after a turbulent season at Texas Tech and turned him into a key sharpshooting piece.

“We’ve had a lot of guys that have come from the mid-major levels or guys that have been overlooked, have something to prove,” Steven Pearl said Tuesday. “And I think if you look at our roster right now, whether it’s guys coming off an injury that have shown to have success at a high level, but also guys that have played at the mid major level for a long time… we’ve built a team that looks a lot like our teams in the past.”

The player coming off of an injury that Pearl was referring to was Owen Freeman, a 6-foot-10 big man from the Midwest looking to get a once-promising trajectory back on track in the SEC.

Freeman joined Auburn last week during a wave of frontcourt additions, including Santa Clara center Bukky Oboye and French import Narcisse Ngoy. Unlike those two 7-footers, though, Freeman gave the Tigers an experienced high-major piece to add to a rebuilt unit.

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A former high school state champion in Illinois, Freeman started his college basketball journey at Iowa with a bang, earning 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors — the first Hawkeye to win the award in 30 years. He started each of the final 25 games that season, combining elite scoring efficiency with top-10 rebounding numbers in the conference.

As a sophomore, Freeman took his game to the next level — scoring 14 or more points in every game he played while increasing his stat production across the board. His top KenPom comparison that season? Johni Broome’s first year at Auburn.

Unfortunately, his second-year surge was cut short by a season-ending finger injury.

After a coaching change at Iowa, Freeman jumped into the transfer portal and was a big-name addition for Creighton. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in the summer while playing pickup at home, and never seemed to fully get going with the Bluejays. He started just nine times and averaged fewer than 12 minutes per game.

Looking for a full reset, Freeman returned to the portal and found a landing spot at Auburn — where he will reunite with assistant coach Matt Gatens, who was on staff during his time at Iowa.

Freeman won’t carry the burden of having to be the guy for Auburn’s frontcourt this upcoming season, thanks to the work the Tigers did elsewhere in the portal. But if he can tap back into what made him a breakout star in the Big Ten, the Tigers might have gotten a steal that further rounds out what they want to do up front.

We’ll continue our new player breakdowns for Auburn basketball here at The Observer with a deep dive into what the Tigers could be getting in Freeman. We’ll look at his film and numbers from Creighton and Iowa, identify his strengths and weaknesses as a big man and try to project what his future could look like on the Plains.

VITALS

• Position: Forward/Center

• Height: 6-foot-10

  • Freeman offers another size boost to the Auburn frontcourt, which is already set to feature a pair of 7-footers.

• Weight: 240

  • He sports a full frame that helps him establish position and battle on the low block.

• Age: 21

  • Freeman was born in November 2004 and will turn 22 during the season.

• Class: Incoming Senior

  • He could have up to two years of eligibility remaining, depending on the outcome of the NCAA’s proposed five-in-five rule change.

• Previous: Iowa (Freshman & Sophomore) | Creighton (Junior)

  • Freeman built his reputation at Iowa as an efficient interior scorer before transferring to Creighton, where recovery from an offseason knee injury and role limitations led to a significant drop in production.

2025-26 STATISTICS

• 26 games — 9 starts

  • 11.9 minutes per game

• 5.0 points per game

• 4.0 rebounds per game

• 0.9 assists per game

• 0.8 blocks per game

• 0.5 steals per game

• 60.2% FG

  • All of Freeman’s shot attempts came from close range, going 56-93 on the season.

• 65.6% FT

  • He went 18-28 from the free throw line.

• Preseason First Team All-Big East

  • Freeman entered the season with high expectations before seeing a significant reduction in role and production.

ARCHETYPE

Old-School Big

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MONTGOMERY — Welcome to the start of what the legendary Steve Spurrier used to call “talking season.”

Both Steven Pearl and Alex Golesh are going through that in several different ways right now. While their teams are away from the action at the moment, they’ve spent plenty of time talking plans for their next seasons and recruiting the next wave.

And, occasionally, they have to talk to media members.

On Tuesday evening, as part of Auburn’s annual AMBUSH tour of stops at alumni club events across the South, Pearl and Golesh talked to reporters before speaking at an event in nearby Montgomery.

We learned quite a bit from both head coaches who are at different stages of their offseason: Pearl still putting the finishing touches on a new roster, Golesh just having wrapped up spring practices with sights set toward the fall.

So, in today’s Observer newsletter, let’s dig into what we heard from both men — starting with Pearl’s roster reload on the basketball side and continuing with Golesh’s spring takeaways on the football side.

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Steven Pearl

• Auburn is one player away from being “done” for next season’s roster. Pearl said the Tigers are looking mostly at someone who could play the 2 and the 3, as he feels like they have the depth they want at the other spots on the floor. This makes sense, and it lines up with the names we’ve heard the most recently.

• Pearl doesn’t have a timetable to land that final wing: “We'll just continue to kind of work over the next couple of weeks and see what we can find. It's gotta be one that just makes sense, though. We're not gonna waste and spend money on someone that doesn't fit our culture and what we're doing. It's got to be a piece that just fits what we currently have on the roster.” With that in mind…

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I didn’t plan to take a nearly two-month break from the Friday mailbags. It just kind of… happened.

Auburn basketball having a long postseason run and Auburn football practicing on Thursdays during the spring made it tough to turn these around.

But the mailbag isn’t dead. It’s too popular. (Seriously, this is often the most-read I write each week, even when it’s not the offseason.)

We’re bringing it back Friday, so I thought it would be good to go ahead and send the call out early.

For those of you who are new to the Observer and haven’t experienced a mailbag, it’s easy: Ask me any Auburn football or Auburn men’s basketball questions each week, and I’ll answer them on Friday morning in the newsletter. I don’t always get to every single one of them, but I at least try.

You can also ask non-Auburn football or non-Auburn men’s basketball questions, but just know that my areas of expertise beyond those are limited. I’ll almost always talk about the first-place Atlanta Braves, food, pro wrestling or random pop culture stuff.

You can send me any questions you have in one of three ways:

• comment on this post with your question

• email it to me at the1andonlyJF@gmail.com

• send it to me on Twitter

And, if you get to this late and just want to submit a question for a future mailbag in the comments, I’ll keep track of them here.

Thanks as always for your support of The Auburn Observer. Let’s have a fun summer.

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I have no idea if Alex Golesh can bring Auburn football back to relevance both in the SEC and nationally. He’s only been on the Plains for four months and is still four more months away from coaching his first game for the Tigers.

But one thing has become clear during his short tenure: He’s going to keep Auburn’s running back room stocked with top-tier talent.

We got a taste of it during the portal cycle. Auburn not only retained leading rusher Jeremiah Cobb, but it also signed Baylor star running back Bryson Washington, Troy leading rusher Tae Meadows and USF’s breakout freshman Nykhai Davenport. The Tigers also brought Omar Mabson II and Alvin Henderson back to the room, too.

This weekend came the clearest signal yet of Golesh’s focus on loading up in the backfield.

On Saturday, Auburn beat out defending national runner-up Miami for top-50 running back Myson Johnson-Cook — the first big high school recruiting win in the Golesh Era on the Plains.

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Recruitment

Johnson-Cook’s offer list reads like you’d expect for a top-50 back. He took spring visits to Kentucky, Missouri and Ole Miss, but this ultimately shaped up as a two-team race between Auburn and Miami.

Miami was widely viewed as the favorite. Fresh off a national title appearance and powered by an offense that featured a bigger back in Mark Fletcher, the Hurricanes — paired with their well-documented NIL resources — had many expecting the East St. Louis, Illinois native to land in South Beach.

But a February visit to Auburn shifted the momentum.

Johnson-Cook returned to the Plains multiple times this spring and is already scheduled for an official visit this summer. The nation’s consensus No. 4 running back in the 2027 class built a strong connection with Golesh and his staff, while also seeing a clear proof of concept from their work down in Tampa.

Just as importantly, Auburn showed it could be competitive on the NIL front.

Those relationships, an opportunity to make an impact early and the right level of investment proved to be enough for the Tigers to win a major recruiting battle over Mario Cristobal and the Canes.

Scouting Report

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Justin and Dan pick their spring breakouts for Auburn football — the players who raised their stocks the most during practices. Topics for this episode include:

• Auburn’s buzzworthiest players from Spring 2026

• which stellar performances from A-Day didn’t surprise The Guys?

• the importance of the “it factor” at receiver

• the relief of a “boring” situation at quarterback

• the position battles that will continue into the summer

• Nonsense, featuring discussion of a classic 2000s comedy and the best game show ever

If you’re receiving this free podcast episode and would like to upgrade to a paid subscription that gives you access to all stories and premium podcast episodes, subscribe using the button below or clicking this link.

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Follow Dan (@dnpck) and Justin (@JFergusonAU) on Twitter.

AUBURN — For the fourth week in a row, Auburn baseball has won an SEC series — this time by taking two out of three from Oklahoma at Plainsman Park.

And, for the second week in a row, Auburn has won a series against a team with a top-20 RPI ranking.

And, with that, Auburn has jumped up to sole possession of fifth place in the SEC standings.

Auburn head coach Butch Thompson could not be more thrilled about all of it.

“A good, hard-fought weekend for us,” Thompson said Sunday. “Starting two weeks ago, we got the toughest back-end schedule, five weeks of anybody in college baseball. I’m thankful we were able to bounce back from last night and win a series.”

In the last three weeks, Auburn has faced off against the No. 31, No. 13 and No. 17 ranked teams in the RPI and has won each series.

It only gets more difficult.

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Next up is a trip to College Station to take on No. 7 Texas A&M before heading to Dudy Noble to take on No. 16 Mississippi State.

The good news is Auburn will be back home for its final series of the season. The team the Tigers will host at Plainsman Park? The Georgia Bulldogs, who currently own sole possession of first place in the SEC standings.

So, even though Auburn is playing some of its best baseball of the season, which Thompson is happy about to an extent, the message has stayed the same: Chop wood, carry water.

“Throw the feelings out,” Thompson said regarding his team’s attitude down the stretch. “Keep the head down and keep going. We’ve got to keep growing as a ball club. If we stay the same or take the focus off where it needs to be, there’s consequences with the schedule remaining.”

So while Thompson and his team won’t be looking back on their most recent series win, we can! Here are four big Observations from Auburn’s home series win over Oklahoma over the weekend.`

This is Petro’s team

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AUBURN — While Auburn was bulking up its frontcourt with a parade of much-needed additions earlier this month, there still was one question in the front of a lot of fans’ minds:

Don’t we need another guard, though?

Steven Pearl and his staff found themselves in a unique situation when it came to backcourt help via the transfer portal this offseason.

Despite roster overhaul elsewhere, Auburn brought back both of its starting guards from last season: rising third-year star Tahaad Pettiford and NIT MVP Kevin Overton. This will mark the first time the Tigers have brought back their top backcourt combo from the previous season since 2018-19, when Jared Harper and Bryce Brown ran it back one more time and went all the way to the Final Four.

Throw in the fact that developing shooter Simon Walker decided to return to the program and Caleb Williams signed out of the high school ranks back in the fall, and the Tigers were left with the need to get another quality guard — especially one who could back up Pettiford at the 1 — while not being able to offer instant starter status.

Enter George Kimble III, who looks like a unique piece to fill Auburn’s roster puzzle.

Kimble hasn’t played a minute of SEC basketball in his career, but he’s been tabbed as that kind of quality for a while now. After starring as a freshman at Division II Eckerd College — a school Auburn played back in 2019 in an exhibition — Kimble made the jump to Division I at Eastern Kentucky for the 2024-25 season.

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The transition was rather smooth for Kimble, who started every game he played for the Colonels and was named second-team All-ASUN after ranking second in the conference in scoring and first in steals and free-throw percentage. He missed the final seven games for EKU, though, after suffering a season-ending knee injury.

Kimble entered the transfer portal with the intentions of taking a medical redshirt at his new school. He landed with Vanderbilt, where Mark Byington saw him as a stash-and-develop option for a rising Commodores program. Kimble didn’t play at all for Vanderbilt, but he trained and was able to return to the floor in a practice capacity for an SEC team that snagged a 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament and was a buzzer-beater away from going to the Sweet 16.

The 6-foot-2 guard returned to the portal this offseason, and he will stay in the conference with Auburn. He has the build and the skill set of a guard who could provide quality depth at both guard spots behind Pettiford and Overton — and he has been the type of takeover talent at the mid-major level that the Tigers have loved to recruit in recent seasons. That time with a strong SEC program won’t hurt, either.

Let’s continue our breakdowns of Auburn’s newest basketball pickups this week with a full scouting report on Kimble. We’ll get a look at his film, evaluate his strengths as a player, identify some areas to improve on the Plains and ask the big question that will anchor what kind of role he’ll ultimately play for the Tigers.

VITALS

• Position: Combo Guard

  • Kimble is a versatile guard with the ability to generate offense at all three levels and capable of playing on or off the ball, depending on lineup needs.

• Height: 6-foot-2

• Weight: 192

  • There are few college campuses better suited for athletic rehab than Vanderbilt. Kimble took full advantage of that environment, both physically and academically — even changing his major from Marketing to Medicine, Health and Society during his time in Nashville.

  • A physically gifted athlete prior to injury, this offseason will provide an additional window to strengthen his knee and further refine his build.

  • One more note on his athleticism: Kimble’s cousin is Justin Gatlin, the American sprinter who won the 2004 Olympic gold medal in the 100 meters.

• Class: Incoming Redshirt Junior

  • He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

• Previously: Freshman season at Eckerd College (Division II), sophomore season at Eastern Kentucky, medical redshirt season at Vanderbilt

2024-25 SEASON STATISTICS

GKIII has played one season of Division I basketball — 2024-25 for Eastern Kentucky.
He transferred to Vanderbilt and spent last season rehabbing to full health.

• 25 games — 25 starts

  • Kimble started the first 25 games of the season for the Colonels before suffering a knee injury against Stetson on February 8 that ended his season.

• 29.7 minutes per game

• 18.0 points per game

  • He ranked second in the ASUN in scoring, trailing only Lipscomb’s Jacob Ognacevic (20.0 PPG) that season.

  • Kimble posted a 32.6 usage rate — also second in the conference, just 0.1 shy of the top spot and top-20 nationally.

• 3.7 rebounds per game

• 3.2 assists per game

• 2.6 steals per game

  • Kimble led the conference in steals per game, a mark that ranked sixth nationally.

  • Despite playing significantly fewer games than most of his ASUN peers, he still finished second in total steals — 14 clear of third place and inside the top 40 in the NCAA.

• 0.4 blocks per game

• 38.0% FG

  • He converted 78-of-190 (41.1%) attempts from 2-point range.

• 34.8% 3P

  • Kimble maintained a balanced shot diet, attempting nearly as many 3s as 2s.

  • He knocked down 64 triples — the sixth-most makes in the conference (again, in an injury-shortened season) — while finishing top five in 3-point percentage among qualified ASUN shooters.

• 85.1% FT

  • He went 103-121 from the line, leading the conference in free throw percentage — with the fourth-most makes on the 11th-most attempts.

• Second-Team All-ASUN

  • Two-time ASUN Newcomer of the Week

STANDOUT GAMES

• 12/14 vs Eastern Illinois: 18 points | 5 assists | 4 rebounds | 7 steals | 3 blocks

  • 6-18 FG | 3-11 3P | 3-5 FT

• 12/28 at Louisville: 24 points | 3 rebounds | 3 assists | 3 steals

  • 9-20 FG | 4-10 3P | 2-3 FT

• 1/2 at Central Arkansas: 33 points | 9 rebounds | 5 assists | 4 steals

  • 10-20 FG | 4-10 3P | 9-11 FT

• 1/11 vs. Jacksonville: 30 points | 6 rebounds | 2 assists | 6 steals

  • 7-18 FG | 4-10 3P | 12-14 FT

• 2/1 vs. Austin Peay: 27 points | 4 rebounds | 4 assists | 1 block

  • 10-17 FG | 4-6 3P | 3-3 FT

PLAYER ARCHETYPE

Three-Level Shot Creator

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Henry will be at Plainsman Park covering it all, so refresh this page for the latest updates and feel free to ask questions or talk about the Tigers with other Observer subscribers in the comments below.

AUBURN — The first pitch for the rubber match between Auburn baseball and Oklahoma is at 2 p.m. CT from Plainsman Park. Here’s how the Tigers will lineup:

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Justin and Dan go deep on the four newest additions to Steven Pearl’s Auburn basketball roster from a no-holds-barred transfer portal. Topics for this subscribers-only episode include:

• what happened during a busy week

• the “vision” Justin sees for the roster

• where Auburn’s new pieces fit on the team

• Dan’s familiarity with the Sun Belt Boys and why he thinks they’re destined to become fan favorites

• the “lottery tickets” Auburn added to the roster that could hit big

• a showstopping Grubserver segment featuring a recap of Justin’s vacation and a salute to an Auburn cheeseburger institution

This is a premium podcast for Observer subscribers only. You can join by clicking the button below or going to this link.

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Follow Dan (@dnpck) and Justin (@JFergusonAU) on Twitter.

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AUBURN — Before Auburn played South Alabama to start an NIT run that would eventually lead to a championship win in Indianapolis, Steven Pearl said the Jaguars had “two-high major players on their roster.”

That quote came during an answer about Chaze Harris, the 6-foot-6, ball-dominant NAIA transfer point guard who was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year. When talking about Harris, Pearl mentioned how he was playing alongside “one of the best shooters in the country” — the other high-major talent for South Alabama.

That player was Adam Olsen.

While Olsen didn’t suit up for South Alabama in that NIT opener, Auburn had him high on the scouting report in the buildup. And, now, Pearl can claim the Canadian deadeye as one of his own players for his second season in charge on the Plains.

Auburn signed Olsen on Tuesday evening, continuing a busy week that has also produced the pickups of Troy forward Thomas Dowd, Iowa-turned-Creighton big Owen Freeman and Eastern Kentucky-turned-Vanderbilt combo guard George Kimble III for next season’s roster.

Pearl and his staff went back to the in-state Sun Belt well to get Olsen, who came to South Alabama last season as an international import from British Columbia. He broke the program’s single-season record for 3-pointers in a season, shooting nearly 40% from downtown on a high volume and taking home All-Sun Belt second-team honors.

He’ll join Dowd in Auburn’s continuing effort to link a proven backcourt duo of Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton with a retooled center position consisting of 7-footers Bukky Oboye and Narcisse Ngoy. Like Dowd, Olsen provides positional versatility for the changing roster and a well-pronounced skillset at this point in his career.

“Adam has a what I’d call a superpower — he’s one of the best 3-point shooters in all of college basketball,” Pearl said in a statement. “If he sees it, he can make it. At 6-foot-8 with a quick, high release, Adam will consistently get clean looks in an offense that has improved both makes and shooting percentages for our players year after year.

“Adam isn’t just one-dimensional. He’s a true three-level scorer who can knock down the mid-range shot and attack downhill, using his body to finish through contact at the rim. His ability to play multiple positions makes him a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.”

Continuing this busy roster revamp week, let’s take a closer look at what exactly Auburn is getting in this Canadian sharpshooter. In our latest scouting report, we’ll break down the strengths of Olsen’s game, his numbers, where he could improve and the one big question about his usage in the step up to SEC competition.

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VITALS

• Position: Forward

• Height: 6-foot-8

  • Olsen is a modern stretch-forward who can score at all three levels against any type of defender.

• Weight: 225

• Age: 20

  • Olsen was born in September 2005. He will turn 21 prior to the season.

• Class: Incoming Senior

  • He enters with just one year of eligibility remaining.

• Previously: Freshman and sophomore seasons at the University of British Columbia (Canada), junior season at South Alabama

  • Olsen developed over two seasons at the University of British Columbia, emerging as one of the top young prospects in Canadian collegiate basketball. He was selected fourth overall in the 2024 Canadian Elite Basketball League Draft by the Vancouver Bandits.

  • Olsen signed a developmental player contract with the club to retain his U SPORTS and NCAA eligibility.

  • He then made the 2,000+ mile jump to NCAA Division I basketball at South Alabama, immediately stepping into a high-volume role and establishing himself as the premier long-distance shooting threat in the Sun Belt.

2025-26 SEASON STATISTICS

• 31 games — 31 starts

  • Olsen started every game he played, missing only one regular-season contest and the NIT matchup against Auburn.

• 35.8 minutes per game

  • Like rival-turned-teammate Thomas Dowd, Olsen rarely left the floor for his Sun Belt squad — highlighted by a 50-minute, double-overtime marathon at Louisiana-Monroe in which he played the entire game.

  • Despite missing two games, he still led the Jaguars in total minutes played, logging 60 more than runner-up Chaze Harris, who started all 33 games.

• 16.7 points per game

  • Olsen ranked seventh in the conference in scoring and led the league with 15 games of 20+ points.

• 4.1 rebounds per game

• 0.9 assists per game

• 1.0 steals per game

• 0.1 blocks per game

• 39.9% FG

  • He went 55-135 (40.7%) on 2-point attempts this season.

• 39.5% 3P

  • Olsen took nearly twice as many shots behind the arc, setting a single-season program record with 102 made triples on 258 tries.

  • He led the Sun Belt in 3-point accuracy among qualified shooters while also ranking third in attempts and second in makes.

• 84.3% FT

  • He went 102-121 from the line, finishing fourth in the conference in free-throw percentage.

• Second-Team All-Sun Belt

  • Olsen’s ultra-rare combination of high-volume shooting and efficiency made him one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the conference.

  • He also took care of the basketball, ranking second in the Sun Belt in turnover percentage (6.2%).

STANDOUT GAMES

• 11/15 vs. Coppin State: 25 points | 3 rebounds | 3 assists | 4 steals

  • 9-12 FG | 6-9 3P

• 12/2 vs. New Mexico State: 21 points | 2 steals

  • 6-10 FG | 3-6 3P | 6-7 FT

• 12/31 at Louisiana: 26 points | 2 rebounds

  • 7-13 FG | 10-10 FT

• 1/22 at James Madison: 26 points | 3 rebounds | 3 assists | 2 steals

  • 8-16 FG | 4-10 3P

• 2/7 vs. Buffalo: 23 points | 3 steals

  • 6-11 FG | 4-7 3P | 7-9 FT

• 2/14 at Arkansas State: 27 points | 6 rebounds | 2 assists | 2 steals

  • 7-15 3P

• 2/25 vs. Louisiana-Monroe: 29 points | 5 rebounds | 2 assists

  • 9-15 FG | 8-13 3P

PLAYER ARCHETYPE

Gravitational Sharpshooter

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Updated: April 22

Auburn went all-in on battle-tested experience for the 2024-25 season, and it paid off with the best campaign in program history.

But there was always going to be a bill to pay in 2025-26.

The Tigers had to hit a reset button last offseason in more ways than one. Auburn only returned a single player — their sixth man — from its SEC champion and Final Four team. Everybody else was brand-new, and a large chunk of the roster had never played Division I basketball to that point.

Auburn was likely banking on getting some development magic out of those newcomers, especially on the defensive end of the floor. That job got even tougher when Bruce Pearl stepped down before the start of the season and Steven Pearl stepped into the head coaching job. It didn’t take long to realize that this roster, as it was constructed, wasn’t going to be at the level of the last couple.

After missing the NCAA Tournament with some blown opportunities and a major step back on the defensive end, the Tigers rallied to win the NIT and end a challenging first season with some real momentum.

Auburn also landed a dedicated general manager from big-time basketball school Louisville, Brian Kloman, to get ready for a crucial offseason of roster management.

There are plenty of moving parts at play for Auburn, which could bring all but two of its rotation pieces back next season. In the transfer portal world, though, anybody can leave at any time — but that also means there will always be plenty of available players who could help upgrade the roster.

With all of that in mind, here is the Observer’s annual Auburn Basketball Roster Tracker. This will stay on top of all the comings and goings for the Tigers, and it will evolve throughout a busy offseason.

It will evolve over time, too. Right now, the tracker is split into several main groups: Confirmed returners, potential returners, portal exits new additions and confirmed departures. As time goes on, we’ll add reported targets and, potentially, a way-too-early look at a positional breakdown. And, whenever we do a full scouting report on a new addition, we’ll include those links.

If you would like access to the tracker, you can get it with a subscription to The Auburn Observer. For the next couple of weeks, we have our sale price of $40 for your first year or $4 per month for the first 12 months. That annual deal is like getting four free months of The Observer — which includes all of our writing and podcasts.

Click below to subscribe. For those who are already members, let’s dive right in.

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Confirmed Returners

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AUBURN — Bruce Pearl often liked to say how much of a mid-major guy he was.

While his son Steven Pearl played for him at a massive SEC program, it’s becoming clear that those days spent with his dad at Southern Indiana and Milwaukee have rubbed off on the young Auburn head coach.

And why wouldn’t the Pearls have a soft spot for the smaller conferences? When both of them were on the bench for the greatest season in program history, three of the Tigers’ five starters came from Morehead State, Florida International and a winding path that included Duquesne, San Diego State and Northwest Florida State College.

Auburn’s championship-contending rosters over the years have featured blue-chip high-school signees and clear-cut instant-impact transfers from power conferences. But the Tigers have taken home hardware with pickups from the likes of Eastern Kentucky, Charleston, VCU and Presbyterian — not to mention North Alabama, the College of Central Florida and Lee College.

For the Tigers, it’s not about how, or even where, you start. It’s about fit and finish.

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Auburn hopes the latest example of that will come in the form of Thomas Dowd, a senior transfer forward from Troy who committed to the program on a busy Monday.

Like Denver Jones before him, Dowd is an Alabama native looking to end his collegiate career with a bang at the high-major level. After a standout high school career in Dothan, Dowd became a starter during his freshman season and never relinquished the role as a sophomore or a junior — when Troy won 45 games and went to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments as Sun Belt champions.

Auburn’s offseason truly began when starting guards Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton decided to return to the Plains, along with Simon Walker. From there, Pearl got his frontcourt overhaul going by addressing a major need at center with the pair of Santa Clara transfer Bukky Oboye and French international signee Narcisse Ngoy.

Now that Sebastian Williams-Adams and Elyjah Freeman both ultimately decided on U-turns from their stated desires to return and transfer to other SEC schools, Auburn needed to continue to add connective pieces between the proven guards and the new bigs that made sense for the system.

The Tigers feel like they have one of those in Dowd, a mid-major standout who has put up big numbers without having to be a usage-heavy weapon or an ultra-dominant physical presence. He has racked up winning plays on both ends of the floor for a consistently successful team with his own brand of high-energy basketball.

Let’s take a closer look at what Dowd could bring to Auburn with our latest scouting report breakdown here at The Observer: Vital info, top performances, strengths, player archetypes, areas for improvement and one big question. (We’ll have pieces on signees Owen Freeman and Adam Olsen over the next couple of days, too.)

VITALS

• Position: Wing/Forward

  • Dowd profiles as a true hybrid — a modern wing who can slide into the frontcourt if needed. His positional flexibility gives Auburn some valuable optionality with lineup construction.

• Height: 6-foot-8

  • He brings ideal size to the role, long enough to impact the glass and defend multiple spots, while operating comfortably on the perimeter.

• Weight: 225

  • Dowd is a well-built athlete — light enough to run the floor and elevate in space, yet strong enough to absorb contact and hold his own physically.

• Age: 21

  • Dowd was born in November 2004, meaning he will turn 22 during the season.

• Class: Incoming Senior

  • He enters with just one year of eligibility remaining.

• Previously: Three seasons at Troy

  • A Dothan High School product, Dowd stayed local in the Wiregrass and steadily developed into one of the most productive and versatile players in the Sun Belt — improving each season and ultimately earning first team All-Conference honors in his final year with the Trojans.

• Siblings: 10

  • While this has nothing to do with basketball, it’s a bio note that is so out of the ordinary that it was worth mentioning.

2025-26 SEASON STATISTICS

• 34 games — 33 starts

  • Dowd came off the bench just once in each of his last two seasons, both on Senior Night.

• 36.0 minutes per game

  • He led the Sun Belt in total minutes, playing 29 more than the next-closest player — a reflection of durability and trust.

• 14.4 points per game

• 10.1 rebounds per game

  • Dowd ranked 15th nationally in rebounding average and led the Sun Belt by 1.1 boards per game.

  • He finished with 17 regular-season double-doubles — a top-10 total in Division I — including two separate five-game double-double streaks.

  • He also led the conference in total rebounds by 67 and defensive rebounds by 42, finishing just 10 offensive boards shy of the Triple Crown.

• 2.1 assists per game

  • He more than doubled his sophomore assist total this season, flashing some important connective passing ability within the flow of the offense.

• 1.3 blocks per game

• 1.2 steals per game

  • Dowd’s defensive activity shows up across the board, contributing as both a helper at the rim and disruptive presence in passing lanes.

• 44.1% FG

  • He went 103-184 (55.4%) on 2-point attempts.

• 33.3% 3P

  • Dowd knocked down 65 of his 195 attempts from deep, providing legitimate volume as a stretch option.

• 80.0% FT

  • He converted 92-of-115 shots at the line, a notable 7% improvement from the previous season.

• 1st Team All-Sun Belt + Sun Belt Tournament MVP

  • Dowd was one of just 11 Division I players to record 450+ points and 300+ rebounds this season.

  • He also led the Sun Belt in both Win Shares and Defensive Win Shares, which duly reflects his all-around impact.

STANDOUT GAMES

• 11/3 at Kent State (OT): 19 points | 13 rebounds | 3 assists | 2 steals

• 11/18 at San Diego State (2OT): 25 points | 19 rebounds

• 12/1 vs. West Georgia (2OT): 20 points | 14 rebounds

• 12/31 vs. Texas State: 22 points | 6 rebounds | 3 assists | 3 blocks | 1 steal

• 1/3 vs. South Alabama: 18 points | 15 rebounds | 2 assists | 3 blocks | 1 steal

• 1/17 vs. Arkansas State: 24 points | 10 rebounds | 3 assists | 2 blocks

• 2/4 at Georgia State: 16 points | 15 rebounds (8 offensive) | 2 steals

PLAYER ARCHETYPE

High-Motor Wing Hybrid

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When crossing over the Continental Divide, taking on water is inevitable. But, no matter what happens, the boat cannot sink.

Auburn’s boat took on quite a bit of murky water over the weekend in Gainesville, as it lost both Logan Gregorio and Chase Fralick early in the second game after already being down leadoff man Bristol Carter.

And, in Game 3, the Tigers faced a 3-0 deficit in the first inning.

The Tigers never swamped, though. They hung on for a 5-3 win Friday night before rallying for an 8-5 win on Saturday to win the weekend series at No. 7 Florida.

“It shows a lot of heart, it shows a lot of grit,” head coach Butch Thompson said of his team’s series win in Gainesville. “Being able to come back after a loss and coming back day two, day three, and winning the series on the road is huge in this league. Huge credit to our offense, to our pitching staff.”

Following a 6-3 loss in Game 1 that saw starting pitcher Andreas Alvarez give up four earned runs in just 2.2 innings, Gregorio — Auburn’s designated hitter — grabbed at his hip during his first at-bat of the game. He immediately came out of the game and was replaced by Lucas Steele.

Thompson later said Auburn thinks it’s an oblique injury and added that he wasn’t moving around well, to the point where his teammates were having to grab his bags for him. He did not play on Saturday, and his status is currently up in the air.

Two innings later, Fralick was hit in the elbow during an at-bat and tried to give it a go defensively the next inning. The catcher took himself out after throwing down to second base. He was able to DH on in the finale on Saturday, though.

Fralick’s injury, combined with Steele already being in at DH, meant Taylor Belza — who had only appeared in seven games all season to that point — saw action behind the plate for just the third time all year.

The lack of continuity showed a bit between him and starter Jake Marciano at first Friday, as the Tigers gave up two runs in that third inning and another in the fourth. But, after that point, Jackson Sanders and Ryan Hetzler combined to shut out Florida for the remainder of the game.

“Proud as heck of Belza, back there competing,” Sanders said postgame. “Hadn’t been back there much, got back there on the fly. He really fit in well back there. He grew as the game went on.”

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Auburn’s offense, behind power hitting from Mason McCraine and Ethin Bingaman, combined with some Florida fielding woes, was able to rally for the win to set up a rubber game Saturday morning.

“I did like the resolve and fight today,” Thompson said following Friday’s win. “A lot of things went against us there, but I do think it created a tipping point, and the guys did great with it.”

The following game saw Auburn fall into a hole quickly, as starter Alex Petrovic gave up a three-run home run in the first inning. After that point, however, Petrovic tossed six more innings and didn’t allow a single run.

All the while, Auburn’s offense slowly chipped away at the lead before Bub Terrell, who was in a slump and had been pulled from the previous day’s game, caught hold of a cutter that didn’t drop and sent it out of Condron Field to tie the game in the eighth.

“I think the turning point for us was Petrovic,” Thompson said. “It was the fifth before we got the leadoff man on and scored those first two runs on one hit.”

From there, Auburn — once again powered by a McCraine home run — posted five runs in the ninth inning and hung on to win 8-5 to win its first series in Gainsville since 2013.

“What a huge series,” Thompson said. “This is a tough place to play, and over my 25 years one of the toughest venues to come in and grab a series, for sure.”

Now with a 10-8 conference record, the Tigers moved into a five-way tie for fourth place in the SEC standings, with one of those teams being the Gators.

Here are four observations following Auburn’s critical series win over Florida.

Mason McCraine shines at the top of the order

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Justin and Dan share what they saw at the A-Day Game for Auburn football and break down the Bukky Oboye pickup in basketball. Topics for this episode include:

• position-by-position analysis of the action from the A-Day Game (featuring Dan’s view from the sideline)

• reactions (and overreactions) to Byrum Brown’s debut

• standout performances on both sides of the ball

• The Guys identify players who improved their stock over the last few weeks

• the significance of Bukky Oboye’s commitment to AU MBB (and what could be next)

• Justin’s going on vacation

• why Dan was moments away from destroying a TV during the postgame press conference

If you’re receiving this free podcast episode and would like to upgrade to a paid subscription that gives you access to all stories and premium podcast episodes — for a special discounted price of just $40 for your first year — subscribe using the button below or clicking this link.

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AUBURN — It’s always tough to figure out how seriously to take a spring game.

Auburn’s two coordinators went in one direction, according to head coach Alex Golesh. DJ Durkin was mad that his defense didn’t get credit for a pick-six.

Joel Gordon was mad because he didn’t know how many timeouts his offense had in a two-minute drill, even though it was the final drive and the “victory” was well in hand.

Golesh didn’t pay any attention to the board, which read Offense 64, Defense 43 as the clock hit all zeroes in the fourth quarter. He didn’t even come up with the “stupid scoring system” for offense versus defense in the first place.

“I’m like, ‘Who cares, just go play ball,’” Golesh said afterwards. “I say it jokingly, but — uber-competitive staff.”

Golesh was clearly in the other direction. He was much more measured in what happened in his first A-Day Game at Jordan-Hare Stadium and what happened in his first spring in charge of the Tigers altogether.

That mindset was also evident in some of his players. Just ask defensive back Newboy Fegans, who tied for the team lead in tackles and made quite a few plays for a very active first-team defense early.

“I mean, it feels good,” Fegans said. “But it's just A-Day. You know what I mean?”

Good or bad, it’s important not to overreact to what happens in a spring game. It’s the final and most notable practice, yes. But it’s just one of 15 practices — and one of three scrimmages — during this time of year.

Because of that, this A-Day Game not being televised or streamed anywhere probably wasn’t the worst thing in the world for the coaching staff. Golesh even said afterwards that Durkin’s defense was “relatively vanilla,” because “there's nothing that these guys have put in this spring that I wanted out there on any sort of tape.”

The 34,276 fans in attendance at Jordan-Hare Stadium will be the only ones who got to see all of this spring game with their own eyes. They saw some big highlights on both sides of the ball, up-and-down play from well-known names and a few young players break out on a bigger stage for the very first time.

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But, as the great modern philosopher Allen Iverson once said, we’re talking about practice — not a game. Practice has value. Practice can provide meaningful takeaways. Practice is something that’s worth paying attention. It’s still practice.

And, because it’s just practice, the most important victory can ultimately be found on the injury report.

“There's no winner in the whole thing, other than our team having nobody getting banged up,” Golesh said. “You sit there and you say a prayer before, you say it at each TV timeout, and we made it out healthy.”

Auburn will exit its first set of practices together feeling like it got a lot accomplished.

The head coach has been big on establishing a culture for a program that needs to win again, and he believes that “we’ve got a chance to be a good football team” if the Tigers can “stay together” and “stay connected” in the locker room. Golesh felt like Auburn got what it wanted with its scheme and its approach this spring.

But the Tigers have a lot of work to do over the next four months and change.

“We're nowhere where we need to be,” Fegans said. “All of that comes with time. … I feel like our guys are gonna be steady and just stay the course and build into the fall, when it really matters.”

Here are four Observations from Auburn’s A-Day Game, along with the No-Huddle Notes, the Quote of the Day and great photos from our new stringer, Payton Smith.

But, first, here’s a look at the final stats for the offense and the defense.

What’s the right read on Byrum Brown’s A-Day showing?

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AUBURN — The only way to see what’s happening in the first A-Day Game for Auburn football under Alex Golesh is to be in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

With that in mind, we’re going back to an old format from past spring practices and fall camps at Auburn: The live updates post.

Just for our subscribers, we’ll post in the comments below what we see and hear from the offense versus defense action for the Tigers, which is set to start at 2 p.m. CT.

If you have any questions, fire away. We’ll be in here throughout the next several hours. If you’re not an Observer subscriber, you can join for the discounted price of $40 for your first year or $4 per month for the first 12 months at the button below.

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Dan might even show up. Let’s go.

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AUBURN — Before locking down anything else this offseason, Auburn basketball has made sure to address its literally big problem from this most recent campaign.

After landing French 7-footer Narcisse Ngoy during their run to the NIT title, the Tigers doubled down in the frontcourt and added an even taller center — and one with considerable Division I experience — in Santa Clara transfer Bukky Oboye.

(Quick pronunciation guide: “BOO-key O-BOY-yay.” Think ghosts, not beavers.)

Auburn signed Oboye on Friday morning, marking the first transfer portal pickup of this cycle. After losing KeShawn Murphy from an already undersized roster, Auburn has now added two centers to kickstart its roster reset in the first full offseason under head coach Steven Pearl.

“He’s one of the most physically gifted prospects you’ll find — an elite runner and leaper with rare size who impacts the game at the rim on both ends of the floor at such a high level,” Pearl said, per a release from the program. “What stands out even more than his tools is his growth. He’s shown improvements every single day, and the more he plays the better he becomes.

“If Bukky stays on the path he’s been on, he has a chance to be a very special player on the Plains.”

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Back in 2020, Oluwabukola Oboye was a 6-foot-4 point guard at Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas — a suburb of Houston. Then came a dramatic growth spurt, transforming him into a legitimate 7-foot-1 center.

Oboye signed with Santa Clara — a strong program out of the West Coast Conference best known for producing Steve Nash — and played in two games as a true freshman before redshirting. After jumping up to 25 games a season later, he started in all 34 of his appearances as a redshirt sophomore.

Santa Clara finished third in a stacked WCC, grabbed a 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament and should have knocked off Kentucky in the first round. (Longtime head coach Herb Sendek tried to call timeout after a go-ahead shot, but the referees didn’t grant it. Otega Oweh sent the game into OT with a banked 40-footer and ended the Broncos season in the extra period.)

Oboye jumped into the transfer portal after his breakout season, where he established himself as a fearsome rim protector and the most efficient inside scoring threat in the entire country.

With Auburn returning a veteran, high-scoring backcourt tandem of Tahaad Pettiford and Kevin Overton, Oboye looks like the kind of center who can pair well with the duo and help fix the Tigers’ largest weakness from a season ago — a massive drop-off in interior defense, which radiated throughout the entire unit.

Here is our full scouting report on Oboye, an experienced Division I center who has incredible athleticism for someone of his immense height and brings some elite two-way impact to the table for the Tigers.

Let’s take a look at his stats, strengths, areas for improvement and — of course — his film from a strong sophomore season at Santa Clara.

VITALS

• Position: Center

• Height: 7-foot-1

  • With Ngoy and the potential return of Emeka Opurum, Auburn will have multiple 7-footers on the roster for the first time in the Pearl Era. The Tigers only had two total under Pearl: Walker Kessler and Trayvon Reed.

• Weight: 220

  • He arrived at Santa Clara at 200 pounds and is still much thinner than most post players at this level.

• Age: 19

  • Oboye was born in August 2006, meaning he will be 20 during the season.

• Class: Incoming Redshirt Junior

  • He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

• Previous: Three seasons at Santa Clara

  • Oboye redshirted after playing in just two games in his true freshman season.

2025-26 SEASON STATISTICS

• 34 games — 34 starts

  • 17.7 minutes per game

• 7.9 points per game

• 4.1 rebounds per game

• 0.6 assists per game

• 1.2 blocks per game

• 0.7 steals per game

• 66.7% FG

  • Oboye went 102-132 (77.3%) on 2-point attempts, which led all of Division I.

• 24.2% 3PT

  • He hit eight of 33 attempts from beyond the arc last season.

• 65.6% FT

• Oboye led the WCC with 118 total fouls committed — 3.5 per game — and ranked fifth in Division I in that category.

STANDOUT GAMES

• 11/15 vs. Nevada: 22 points | 7 blocks (career-highs) in 19 minutes

  • 8-10 FG | 2-2 3P

• 12/3 vs. Utah Tech: 14 points | 8 rebounds | 3 assists in 25 minutes

  • 6-6 FG

• 1/2 vs. Pepperdine: 13 points | 7 rebounds | 3 steals | 3 blocks in 25 minutes

  • 6-8 FG

• 1/24 at San Diego: 16 points | 8 rebounds in 25 minutes

  • 6-6 FG

ARCHETYPE

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