Comebacks are never easy. Whether it’s a boxer after a
knockout or a pitcher working his way up from surgery, the road back can be rough.
College football comebacks are
especially difficult because rarely is a team only one player or one coach away
from redemption. The pieces are more intricate and interwoven than that.
Replacing one part is almost never enough.
For the Auburn Tigers, coming back from a
3-9 season and the indignity of owning the fastest post-championship
freefall in college football history, it is a task not for the faint of heart. And
while new head coach Gus Malzahn has been praised for his up-tempo intensity in
everything from the Tigers’ offensive schemes to the summer strength and conditioning
schedule, coaches can only do so much.
It will be the players who will lead
Auburn out of the wilderness, assuming the Tigers make it out at all.
Aside from physical gifts and the
ability to endure the rigors of an SEC West schedule, the one attribute Malzahn
and his assistants will be searching for in the weeks ahead is leadership. And while it is far too early to pinpoint
one standout player for Auburn, two incoming freshman and a redshirt sophomore
appear to be laying the groundwork, not only for some playing time, but for important
roles as team leaders.
Sammie Coates, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound
receiver who received limited playing time behind starter Emory Blake a year ago,
was a vocal critic of his teammates. As early as October 2012, just five games
into the season, Coates called out the Tigers for a lack of leadership in the
locker room.
Now, Coates is a positive force on a
receiving corps that will see loads of action in Malzahn’s up-tempo, spread
offense.
“This (new) offense is made for each
wide receiver to make plays,” Coates said in the spring. “We’re looking forward
to making all the plays we can as a team and as a wide receiver group because
we’ve got the best wide receiver group, I think, around.”
That optimism coupled with a sense of
humility and a strong work ethic puts Coates in the perfect position to be a
go-to guy in the Tigers’ locker room.
“I want to be an all-round guy,” Coates
said. “I want to be able to do multiple things, so I’m just showing (the
coaches) what I can do each and every day.”
Coates isn’t the only player infusing
optimism and enthusiasm into a team that desperately needs both.
Two incoming
freshmen -- defensive ends Carl Lawson and Elijah Daniel -- are also displaying
leadership traits not normally found in an incoming class.
Perhaps it is the fact that both of them
enrolled early and have been on campus long enough to know their way around. Or
maybe it’s the fact that neither of them were a part of the embarrassment that
was last season. But no matter what the reason, Lawson and Daniel light up
every room they enter. And their willingness to work
longer and harder than anyone else on the team is not going unnoticed.
Lawson, the No. 2-ranked defensive end in
the country coming out of Milton High School in Alpharetta, Ga., where he had
27 sacks his senior year, could contribute early as a pass rusher in Corey
Lemonier’s old spot. At 245 pounds with quick feet and good hands, he is
already drawing comparisons to Barkevious Mingo, a similarly-sized defensive
end from LSU who is now with the Cleveland Browns.
“I don’t want to put that kind of
pressure on any of those kids because you don’t know how they are going to
adjust to the college game,” Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner told a
group of boosters in Griffin, Ga., in June. “(Lawson and Daniel) are definitely
going to have opportunities. If they show they can help us, which I hope they
can, then I think Auburn will be better for it.”
One thing both have already shown is a
natural ability to lead.
Auburn will definitely be better for it.
