Observations: Day 1 of 2026 Auburn Football Spring Practices

The Alex Golesh Era officially hit the field for the first time Tuesday. Here's everything we saw and heard in the viewing window.

(Justin Ferguson/The Auburn Observer)

AUBURN — The new era of Auburn football has officially hit the grass.

Well, it mostly hit the turf. Near-freezing temperatures on the Plains brought a lot of Auburn football’s first spring practice under Alex Golesh into the indoor facility Tuesday morning. But some position groups hit the cold air on the outdoor fields.

With a mostly brand-new roster and a mostly brand-new coaching staff, there was a whole lot to take in at the facility.

Media members were allowed to see the first half-hour of spring ball, which consisted mostly of individual position drills with some crossover work among groups.

We’ll talk to Golesh and several players after practice. But, until then, here’s a full rundown of what we saw and heard during the open viewing window.

• As expected, there was a lot of attention on quarterback Byrum Brown — who was the crown jewel of Golesh’s offense at USF and Auburn’s transfer portal haul. Brown was the first quarterback up in every drill, whether it was working handoffs with the running backs or throwing it to receivers downfield. Seeing Brown in person reaffirmed how unorthodox his low, windup throwing motion is, but there’s no doubt it gets results. He throws an accurate, tight spiral all over the field.

• Golesh watched the mesh drill between the quarterbacks and the running backs closely during the viewing window. (You can see him behind Brown and Jeremiah Cobb in the cell phone photo at the top of this post.) Cobb was the first running back up, followed by USF transfer Nykahi Davenport. They were followed by Omar Mabson II, Alvin Henderson, Troy transfer Tae Meadows and Baylor transfer Bryson Washington. I would expect a lot of moving around in the order of the backs during spring practices.

• One of the more interesting things during the window came in that mesh drill. After working straight handoffs for a while, the quarterbacks eventually got to a point where they gave the ball to the backs, then caught a lobbed “snap” from an assistant before throwing a quick pass to the flat. This type of triple-threat RPO was a staple of Golesh and Joel Gordon’s offense at USF, and it will likely be a building block of what Auburn does now.

• Returning assistant coach Kodi Burns had his wide receivers in constant motion during drills, first working on footwork for screen passes and then using their hands to work off of press coverage. “Be violent!” was repeated a lot during the latter drill. This group had plenty of energy and enthusiasm, with several of the transfers dancing to the practice music playlist while waiting in line for their turns.

• Here’s a quick and early injury report for the Tigers as they start spring ball: