Great start to the week with Gus, Coach Mac and Coach Mason talking about their respective teams and prospects for 2016. Here’s a look at what each coach said.

Gus

Gus seems really excited about his football team. He’s had quite a bit of turnover in his coaching staff with notable additions of Kevin Steele as defensive coordinator, Wesley McGriff as secondary coach, and Herb Hand as the offensive line coach. He’s high on all three. Gus believes Steele brings passion to the defense, much like Will Muschamp did, but it seems like the players may be understanding and buying into more of what Steele is teaching and saying. Steele came over from LSU after working as an assistant at Alabama and the defensive coordinator at Clemson prior to that. He did get torched by West Virginia in the Orange Bowl four or five years ago to the tune of 70 points, and that cost him his job, so he has some work to do to prove himself as a defensive coordinator. But the players have worked hard for him and like him, and he’s got good material this year with stud defensive end Carl Lawson leading the way. I watched an interview with Lawson on the SEC Network, and he’s impressive. He’s all business and while he was getting asked some stupid questions, not really interesting, he handled them very well and is highly focused. Love that guy. Gus not only said Carl is back, but also he’s healthy, stronger, faster and more agile, and he makes everybody around him on the defense better.  Carl is 6’2″, 253. With guys like stud Montravius Adams (6’4″, 309) at defensive tackle, Devaroe Lawrence (6’2″, 303) and Dontavious Russell (6’3″, 308) at tackles also, and 6’3″, 276 standout Byron Cowart at defensive end, the defensive front will be stout. Linebacker is a little bit of a question mark, but Tre Williams and some young guys will have to step it up this year. Tre is a talented player from Mobile, who is still trying to make his mark in the SEC. I expect him to do that this year and be a leader on defense along with Lawson and Adams. Carlton Davis is back for his sophomore campaign at cornerback after posting three interceptions last season and having a highly decorated freshman campaign. Carlton is outstanding. Tray Matthews is back at safety. Very good player. Josh Holsey could play the other corner, and Jonathan “Rudy” Ford will be at the other safety. Auburn has depth there and should be very good in the secondary with McGriff, who comes to the Tigers after three years coaching the New Orleans Saints and many stops before that, mentoring this talented group of players. The key to me for Auburn’s defense as far as being good or great will be at linebacker. Will some of these young guys step up? If they do, the rest of the defense is loaded and it will be an excellent unit. 

On offense, Gus has three quarterbacks he’s looking at to start against Clemson on September 3rd; Sean White, Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III. Should be a super battle in the summer to see who gets the job. White brings the best downfield passing ability, Johnson has experience, and while he had a disappointing season last year, he has good talent and good leadership skills, and Franklin III is a junior college transfer from East Mississippi Community College who passed for 734 yards, completing 64 of 110 passes with seven TDs and 451 yards on the ground that included  nine TDs at East Mississippi CC. Gus wants to employ the uptempo style that was so effective for him with Nick Marshall, so Franklin fits that bill the most, but he wants to see the competition in the summer and make a decision based on that. He reminded the media that he didn’t decide on NIck Marshall until two weeks before the 2013 season and that turned out pretty well as AU won the SEC Championship and just missed winning it all against Florida State in the national championship game.

Running back looks solid with Jovon Robinson, Kerryon Johnson and incoming freshman Malik Miller from Madison Academy, where Johnson played also. Robinson looks primed to have a huge year. He’s ultra-talented and showed flashes of brilliance at times last year. Johnson played hurt a lot last year, but has a ton of talent and speed to burn. Great player. Miller is 5’11”, 229, strong, fast, and talented, and can be a very good compliment to Robinson and Johnson. Those three and four star freshman all purpose back Kameron Martin should be a good stable of backs for Gus, co-offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Kodi Burns. Fullback Chandler Cox (6’1″, 236) should be a Jay Prosch-type of player, great blocker, hard runner and good receiver out of the backfield. Could be a very important part of Gus’s offense. The O line looks to be the strength of the Tigers’ offense, possibly the team. Five starters return. Alex Kozan (6’4″, 310), Braden Smith (6’6″, 300), and Austin Golson (6’5″, 314) lead the way. Should be an excellent group with a lot of experience, toughness and power. Tight end will be a young position, but promising. Four-star freshman Landon Rice is 6’5″, 250, and Jalen Harris is a 6’4″, 259 pound sophomore. There are a couple of others. Those guys will need to develop quickly in August. Wide receiver will be lead by senior Marcus Davis (5’9″, 180), junior Jason Smith (6’1″, 188), and senior Tony Stevens (6’4″, 212). Some of the talented freshmen will have to learn quickly, which they can do. Nate Craig-Myers is a 98, four star freshman, Eli Stove is a 94, four-star freshman, and Kyle Davis (6’2″, 218) is a 96 four star freshman. Also Marquis McClain is a 6’2″, 209, 88, three star freshman. Craig-Myers is 6’2″, 205 and Stove is 6’1″, 178. Looks like a talented group. If they can pick up the system quickly, they’ll be weapons. Kicking game looks solid with Daniel Carlson. Maybe Carlson will punt, too. Auburn is solid at kicker. Return guys could be Marcus Davis, Kerryon Johnson and maybe one or two of the freshman wide receivers. Rudy Ford is a former four star running back in high school, so he could very well return punts or kickoffs, most likely punts. 

So I like this football team. Do I think they can win double digit games? Possibly, but they open up with maybe the toughest stretch of first four games in college football with Clemson at home on September 3rd at 8 PM CT/9PM ET on ESPN, then Arkansas State comes to Auburn, and they’re always pretty good, then A&M and LSU respectively come to Jordan-Hare. But the good news is all the games are at home. AU will play @ State, October 8th, @ Ole Miss, 10-29, @ Georgia, November 12th, and @ Bama, November 26th. They’ll also host Arkansas, October 22nd, and Vandy, November 5th. They’ll play La Monroe at home in September and Alabama A&M the week before the Iron Bowl, Nov. 19th. So it’s a tough schedule, but that’s life in the Southeastern Conference. I like Auburn’s material and like their chances to get to 10 wins if they can keep players healthy, find a solid signal caller, grow up quickly at wide receiver and linebacker, and play better offense and defense as a whole. I see them doing that. Ten wins is possible.

Coach Mac 

Paul Finebaum talked to Florida Coach Jim McElwain after his remarks before the media yesterday and spent most of Mac’s time talking about McElwain’s daughter’s upcoming wedding this weekend. McElwain had some really moving answers about being “dad of the year” and you could tell he was excited and would be emotional about giving his daughter away, but when the wedding planner finally got around to talking about football, Coach Mac said, “that’s what we’re here for.” And that’s what I’m here for. SEC Network analyst Greg McElroy is really bullish on Florida this season and I agree with Greg. They have four quarterbacks, two true freshmen and two transfers, redshirt sophomore Luke Del Rio (6’1″, 213), who came to Gainesville via Alabama and Oregon State, and graduate transfer Austin Appleby (6’4″, 235), who played 17 games at Purdue and threw for 2,777 yards and 19 touchdowns in his time with the Boilermakers. I like the competition there. Appleby has the most experience and some good numbers to back it up, but they’ll compete this summer along with the two freshmen and they have three solid running backs led by 6’2″, 242 talented juco transfer running back Mark Thompson. The line should be much improved with some returning talent and size, and wide receiver should be pretty solid though they are missing converted wide receiver Treon Harris, who was the starting quarterback last year, and Antonio Callaway, who both have academic problems, and may or may not play this year. But they have some young guys who can step up. They’ll be fine at wide out.

Florida’s defense looks really solid. Linebacker is talented with 6’2″, 240 Jarrad Davis leading the way in the middle. Mac is high on Alex Anzalone (6’3″, 237), Daniel McMillan (6’1″, 227) and Rayshad Jackson (6’0″, 220). Six foot one, 270 pound sophomore defensive end Cece Jefferson is set to have a big year, and the secondary is talented led by Jalen Tabor, who should have an All-American season. Kicking was a problem for the Gators last year, but Mac feels better about it. We’ll see how that develops. Florida opens with UMass at home September 3rd at 6:30 PM CT/7:30 PM ET on the SEC Network, then host Kentucky Sept. 10th @2:30 PM CT/3:30 PM ET on CBS, host North Texas, September 17th, then play at Tennessee in a massive game on September 24th. Then they go to Vanderbilt, play LSU at home in another epic, host Missouri, play Georgia in that cocktail thing which will be a blockbuster, they’re at Arkansas, they host South Carolina, host Presbyterian, then go to Florida State, Nov. 26th, a Saturday in another classic.

So, it’s very tough. If Florida can get through the first three, UT will be a monumental game in the SEC and nationally on September 24th. I like Florida. Can they win the East? Yes. Will they win the East? Possibly. They have to knock off Tennessee at Knoxvegas, beat LSU at home, knock off Georgia, and beat Arkansas on the road among other things, but I like their team to have a really good season. And I really like Jim McElwain. Total class act.

Coach Mason

Derek Mason certainly feels like he’s changed the culture at Vanderbilt, and many in Nashville are hoping he has. He’s got his kids working very hard with a super strength coach James Dobson, who came from Nebraska two years ago, he has 42 returning juniors and seniors who have played significant football, he has a true sophomore signal caller who played a lot of meaningful football for the Commodores last year, and he’s got good leadership on his team. Kyle Shurmur has been named the starting quarterback, and that was another good move by Mason, who has an almost completely new staff from when he came in two years ago. Kyle is a good football player, has an accurate arm, can throw the short, medium and deep balls, and is a leader. Coach Mason expects big things out of him. Running back looks solid with Ralph Webb returning from an 1,100 yard season a year ago and Josh Crawford and Dallas Rivers among others pushing Webb for time. Wide receiver has Trent Sherfield and C.J. Duncan as its leadership guys and playmakers. There are some other good players there who return and three talented freshmen. Mason has seven tight ends led by the awesome DeAndre Woods, who is returning from a knee injury after getting off to a superb start in 2015 before going out for the year in the third game of last season. The o line looks very solid with good experience. Left tackle Andrew Jelks, an excellent player and leader, is back after being out for the entire 2015 season with a knee injury. That’s a big boost to the offense and the team. Center Barrett Gouger is a 315-320 pound 5th year senior, who’s physical, tough and a leader, and Will Holden is a big, strong right tackle. They’re the foundation of a solid offensive front. Coach Mason will once again coach a talented defense led by linebacker Zach Cunningham, who returns from a first team All-SEC season in which he posted 109 tackles,  forced 4 fumbles and recovered three fumbles. Oren Burks, a stud safety for the Dores, moves over to the star position, a combination linebacker-safety position. Oren is a ballhawk and had three interceptions last year, one for a pick six against Kentucky. Oren is a super athlete and tremendous character guy and leader for this football team. Torren McGaster is an outstanding cornerback. He’ll be a leader also on the defense. Adam Butler will lead the defensive line. He’s a heckuva good player. This defense should be stellar. The key for Vanderbilt is getting out of the gates. The Commodores open with South Carolina at home at 7 PM CT/8 PM ET, Thursday, September 1st, @ Vanderbilt Stadium. ESPN will televise it. Huge game for the Dores which will be trying to ruin Will Muschamp’s first game as the Gamecocks head coach.  Should be a pretty classic game. If Vandy can defeat South Carolina, that would be a huge step in the right direction for a team trying to prove that they can not only compete, but win in the SEC. There will be home games against South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ole Miss and Tennessee, and a road game @ Auburn, so it’s quite a gauntlet for a team playing with a chip on their shoulders, but I like the progress Coach Mason has made, and a bowl game is a real possibility for this team. The Dores also have to play @ Georgia Tech, September 17th, and @ Western Kentucky, September 24th, so that’s tough also. Getting to six wins would be very good, anything better would be outstanding and a huge boost to recruiting. Coach Mason has picked up 10 solid commitments this summer for 2017, and he’s building momentum. He just needs to win his share on Saturdays. It’s possible for Coach Mason and the Dores to reach a bowl game. They just have to prove they can win the ones where they’re in it in the fourth quarter. 

Today

Georgia, Kirby,

State, Mullen,

Tennessee, Butch,

A&M, Kevin Sumlin.