Mailbag 177: Pre-Fall Camp Depth Chart Predictions

This week: Position battles to watch, an early Kentucky game preview, CFB25, Opelika food recommendations, podcast guests and Painter

(Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

It’s wild to think that we’re about to start the fifth Auburn football season here at The Observer. For something that started as an experiment to get through the unknown of a pandemic, we keep hanging around, thanks to all of you reading and listening.

When Auburn’s fall camp starts next Thursday, I think it’ll be the preseason that I’ve felt the most confident about my depth chart projections. Not a ton has changed from what we saw in spring practices, but there are newcomers to add and more moves to consider. It feels like things are more stable for the Tigers in Year 2 of the Hugh Freeze era, and I think some of that is reflected in the depth chart picks.

Of course, there will be moves. There will be surprises. There might be injuries. Still, I think we know a lot about how Auburn will line up this fall. The Tigers now just have to do the hard part — go out there, try to end the streak of losing seasons and take the program’s rebuild to the next level.

This week’s mailbag features my pre-fall camp depth chart predictions for the Tigers. But first, we take a look at a few position battles that have my attention heading into August. We’ve also got questions about special teams, a specific road game on the 2024 schedule and the CFB25 video game — along with some fun offseason topics like the Olympics and Opelika food recommendations.

We’ve also got some love for our soon-to-be exiting Painter Sharpless toward the end of the mailbag. I know he’ll hate having to edit this. But it makes me smile.

Let’s go.

What position battles (can be a backup role, doesn’t have to be a starting position) most intrigue you going into fall camp?

Carter

I’ve got a handful that I’ll be keeping my eye on, for sure. Here are my top five:

• Defensive Line: I’ve said it several times this summer, but this is the biggest question mark I have with Auburn this season. The sheer depth and experience are both good, but even Freeze said last week that the talent might not be where it needs to be. Who will emerge as the top guys up front? It’s hard for me to see the Tigers having a great defense without at least one or two interior defensive linemen stepping up in a big way. The battles should be pretty wide-open.

• Safety: If Jerrin Thompson is going to be the leader at the position this fall, who will line up next to him the most often in the starting lineup? There are several options here, including Sylvester Smith and Caleb Wooden. The depth situation is better at safety than it is at cornerback, but it doesn’t have a pair of 100% clear-cut starters like the other position has right now.

• The Receiver Pecking Order: I feel pretty confident in who the top three wide receivers will be for the Tigers in 2024: Cam Coleman, KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Robert Lewis, in some order. Auburn is going to need more than that in order to take the passing game to the next level. Whether it’s a newcomer or one of the few returning talents at the position group, I’m interested in seeing who is going to be reliable when things start to rotate out wide.

• Cornerback Depth: The starting outside cornerbacks should be easy to figure out at this point — Keionte Scott and Kayin Lee. But, with Colton Hood transferring to Colorado and Tyler Scott suffering an ACL injury after spring ball, the options behind that top two are limited and rather inexperienced. Who is going to be that third cornerback that a defense needs to survive in the modern era? How will this affect who lines up at nickel? All are intriguing questions, to me.

• Backup Quarterback: Auburn is planning to roll with Payton Thorne as its starting quarterback again this fall. But, among the three options behind him, it’s not really clear who would be the next man up if he were to get hurt — or struggle enough to necessitate a change in the lineup. I’m particularly interested in how much progress Walker White has made as a true freshman this summer.

Pre-fall practice depth chart prediction? (Unless you already have this lined up for a regular piece.) Also Blood and Guts recap, please.

cp