Aubserver Mailbag 169: Who are Auburn's breakout candidates?

This week: Payton Thorne's accuracy, conference schedules, basketball transfers, wrestling gimmicks and Remembering Some Guys

DB Sylvester Smith (Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

Welcome back to the Mailbag. We’re going to jump right in this week, because I asked you all to name your favorite Auburn football players who weren’t stars — the more random, the better — to go along with your questions. And it took up a lot of space.

I had a blast going through these picks, because the early summer is the perfect time to Remember Some Guys. We do a lot of that in this ‘bag, along with tackling questions about the 2024 Auburn football and basketball rosters.

Thank you so much for your continued support of The Auburn Observer. Let’s go.

Who are some retuning football players (not a true freshman or transfer) who were not starters last year that could make an impact this season?

My player: Craig Ogletree

John

I’ve got a handful of answers to this question, including one I’ve written about rather recently. I’ll put them in my order of confidence in their breakout potential for the 2024 season.

Let’s start with Sylvester Smith, who I was really impressed with during spring practices. Smith was a highly touted safety coming out of high school, but he didn’t play much in a crowded defensive back room in 2023. But, during spring ball, he looked like a potential starter at safety — and he showed that he could kick inside to play some nickel, if necessary.

Smith is a prototypical “second-year surge” candidate. In high school, he was a productive quarterback, and he also played baseball and basketball. As a freshman at Auburn, he got to learn behind some experienced veterans and had some decent production in the bowl game. I love the potential of versatile athletes when they get a full year of focused training in one sport at one position. I don’t know for sure if he’ll be a Week 1 starter, but I would bet on him becoming a top player for the Tigers.

Staying in the secondary, Champ Anthony has a real chance to be Auburn’s top nickel in 2024, and he finished spring practices strongly. He played in every game last season after transferring from junior college, so there’s a solid foundation of experience to pull from in his second season. Coaches raved about his leadership, and he’s changed his body considerably since he arrived on the Plains. If he can emerge as a quality SEC starter, Auburn will be in much better shape on defense.

On offense, my top pick is Jeremiah Cobb. Not to repeat everything I wrote about him late last month — you can read that here — but his breakaway speed and legitimate receiving ability are too strong to ignore, even with more experienced running backs in the room with him. Cobb is a strong talent, and it just feels like he needs to get more comfortable in the offense in order to make his big breakout. Auburn’s coaching staff should get creative with him in 2024.

This next one is kind of cheating, but: Did you know that Jeremiah Wright didn’t start a single game in 2024? While he played a good number of snaps in most of the Tigers’ contests, he was a rotational piece at guard instead of a first-teamer. Well, it sounded like Wright got settled in this spring, and he got plenty of praise from coaches and teammates for taking the next step in his development. It’s been a long time coming, but this could be the year where Wright puts it all together.

I’ve got a few more wild card picks that don’t have as clear of paths to playing time, yet I feel like they could emerge this fall. Bobby Jamison-Travis is another second-year surge to watch from the JUCO ranks, and we’ll see if he can break out in a defensive line room that added quite a few transfers this offseason. Tyler Scott and JC Hart feel like the “next ones up” at cornerback among the returners, and they both had their moments in spring ball. And Robert Woodyard Jr. is intriguing, because it sounds like he’s finally 100% healthy after a slow start to his college career.

Now, to the player pick: While Ogletree is probably one of the most accomplished players someone sent in this week — he was a first-team All-SEC selection from that fearsome 1989 defense — it’s always a good time to remember him. Ogletree is No. 4 all-time at Auburn in sacks, tied with Tracy Rocker. Later in life, he officiated the funeral for his head coach, Pat Dye.

When Ogletree passed away in 2021, there were so many stories from people about how great of a man he was, both on and off the field. Ogletree is a fantastic player to call one of your favorites, and I know John isn’t alone in that.

Were Thorne’s struggles with accuracy really something that can be improved with a better supporting cast?

Favorite non-star: Robert Leff

Chris

What if I told you that Thorne completed a higher percentage of his passes in 2023 at Auburn than he did in his breakout 2021 season at Michigan State?