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Henry Patton

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I have been writing about sports for five years now and currently work at AuburnSports.com 

Thorne 'confident' heading into second Auburn season

It has become common to see transfer quarterbacks take a leap in their second year at a new program.

Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow went from average SEC starters to Heisman winners; Bo Nix became a first-round pick after his final season; Jaxson Dart had an okay first year at Ole Miss and became one of the best quarterbacks in the country in his second season in Oxford.

While Payton Thorne may not be a Heisman contender in 2024, Auburn has given him the necessary resources to make a year two leap.

Thorne has had a full offseason to learn his team which is a major contrast to the year prior as he wasn't in Auburn until June.

"Having a full year is a huge difference," Thorne told reporters at SEC Media Days. "Last year getting here in the middle of summer, obviously that's not ideal going into a new offense, a new team, a new atmosphere.

"Now we have a set plan, a full offseason... You're just familiar with everything. So, yeah, there's no doubt there's going to be more confidence that comes with that. I think that good things are coming because of that."

Revamped receiver room set to have major impact

Auburn isn't exactly known for its receiver play.

In its 132 years of existence, Auburn has only seen two players - Terry Beasley and Ronney Daniels - ever reach the 1,000-yard mark, and both did that just once.

For reference, in his 11 seasons as an FBS head coach, Hugh Freeze has produced five receivers with a 1,000-yard season.

In the 2023 season, Auburn did not have a receiver reach the 400-yard mark, which just isn't going to work in modern football.

The receiver position was a glaring weakness, so Auburn's staff remedied that in a big way.

Auburn's two highest-rated recruits in its top-10 2024 class were Cam Coleman and Perry Thompson, both of which are receivers.

Coleman finished as the No. 7 player in the class of 2024 and showed why during spring camp which culminated in him winning A-Day MVP as a high school senior.

Heavy competition in overhauled Auburn backcourt

Auburn's backcourt saw a massive overhaul in the off-season.

Denver Jones is the only returner of the four regular rotation guards from the previous season.

Out went Aden Holloway, Tre Donaldson and K.D. Johnson and in comes JP Pegues, Tahaad Pettiford and Miles Kelly.

"The backcourt will look a lot different," said Bruce Pearl. "We’ll obviously have a new point guard, and right now I’ve got JP and Denver Jones, Tahaad competing at that position."

Pegues, who is entering his senior season, played point guard during his first three seasons at Furman, so he's used to the position at the college level. The same cannot be said for Jones and Pettiford.

Jones has been a career shooting guard in college, but started to run a bit of point guard to end the season.

Auburn 'has a chance' with 4-star USC commit

Daune Morris is committed to USC, but Auburn hasn't stopped its pursuit of the 5-foot-10 and 180-pound running back.

Morris, from Murfreesboro, Tenn., made his second trip to the Plains, and the visit was everything he wanted it to be.

"This weekend was great," Morris said. "I got a chance to get around Coach (Derrick) Nix, around the family here, and the culture. I felt that everything was great this weekend."

Nix, the first-year offensive coordinator and running backs coach, is Morris' primary recruiter, and he has nothing but positive impressions of Nix.

"Humble guy," Morris said of Nix. "Very great guy. And I feel like he's a great running backs coach. Better coach off the field and I feel like that plays a big part in leading and being a great coach."

Tigers remain leader for interior OL

During a visit to the Plains in March, Jacobe Ward named Auburn the leader in his recruitment.

About three months later, that remains true for the offensive guard from Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Ga.

"Still standing," Ward said when asked if Auburn was still his leader. "My relationships with Coach (Jake) Thornton and Coach (Hugh) Freeze. They check up on me every single day to make sure I'm straight. Just coming here just to see how they were going to be willing to take me in, it really surprised me."

Considering that Auburn sits atop Ward's recruitment, it's not surprising that he enjoyed his weekend back on the Plains.

Auburn's recent history big for transfer forward

Auburn isn't a new place to Dillon Mitchell.

The former Texas forward from Tampa, Fl., took his first visit out of high school to Auburn, so the Plains were a familiar site for Mitchell.

"Learning about the program," Mitchell said. "Learning about the culture. Learning about everything Auburn's about. The success they've had with guys in my position. I came here out of high school, they were my first visit. Visiting again was pretty dope."

And since his initial visit to Auburn, the Tigers' coaching staff has remained mostly unchanged, which is meaningful to the 6-foot-8 and 205 pounds forward.

"When you see coaches that's been together for a couple years, it shows the loyalty, shows about the culture that they've built," Mitchell said. "Those are kind of big things that I look at."

What JP Pegues can bring to Auburn

Auburn has its point guard.

The Tigers landed their first portal commitment in former Furman guard JP Pegues, who spent three years with Paladins before transferring.

Pegues, who stands at 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, averaged 18.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game on 42 percent shooting and 36 percent from deep. He also shot 87.5 percent from the free-throw line.

In his final seven games of the season, Pegues averaged 25.6 points per game on a true shooting of 63.4 percent.

Pegues is a bit different from previous Bruce Pearl guards as he looks bigger than listed height and weight, and has a calm, controlled pace to his game that is rare for a college guard to possess.

Here's a deeper look into his game:

K.D. Johnson transferring after 'pretty good' three-year run

After three seasons at Auburn, K.D. Johnson entered the transfer portal on Tuesday.

Johnson’s production peaked his first season at Auburn when he averaged 12.3 points and 1.9 steals per game on 50 percent true shooting.

Johnson's true impact this season came on the defensive side of the ball where he ranked in the 86th percentile, per Synergy, allowing just 0.749 points per possession while holding his matchups to 32.1 percent shooting.

“I want to congratulate K.D. on three years of being in the NCAA Tournament, a regular-season championship, a tournament championship,” said Bruce Pearl. “That's a pretty good three-year run.”

After averaging 27.8 minutes per game in his first season on the Plains, Johnson’s court time steadily decreased to where he only averaged 17.7 minutes a night, more than a 10-minute decrease.

And with Denver Jones coming back for his final season combined with Tahaad Pettiford, who Pearl said he plans to play off the ball, the minutes were only going to go down for Johnson.

End-of-game collapse ends Auburn's season

For most of the game, it felt like Auburn was in control.

The Tigers led for 33:39 and even when Yale went on a run at the start of the second half, Auburn immediately responded and pushed the lead to as much as 10.

With 7:27 to go, Denver Jones hit a three to push Auburn's lead to 68-58. After that point, Auburn committed six turnovers, shot 2-of-7 from the line and was out-scored 20-8.

Something was missing in that stretch, and that something was Chad Baker-Mazara.

Auburn was up 12-5 early on and was getting whatever it wanted, but then Baker-Mazara was ejected and the energy shifted away from Auburn.

Auburn preparing for classic Ivy League offense

Ivy League offenses in the tournament are never an easy cover.

It's been proven time and time again with the most recent example being Princeton upsetting Arizona in the 2023 tournament.

The Ivy schools run unique offenses, and it's something that most schools aren't used to.

"They're really, really hard to cover," said Bruce Pearl. "With their five-out offense -- it's a unique offense and it's something that we see some but don't see a ton."

Tales from the locker room: Auburn wins SEC Tournament

For the first four years of his Auburn career, Jaylin Williams was winless in the SEC Tournament.

In his fifth and final season, he finally picked up his first SEC Tournament win. And then two days later, he was a champion.

It was a sweet moment for the man who had stuck at Auburn for half a decade.

"Feels good, man," Williams said. "Last couple years, we lost first round, I just feel like – seeing it now, learn from it. Keep working, opportunity is going to come. Stick around at Auburn, don’t hit the portal, do what you have to do. Your family has your back. Your teammates will always have your back. Stick around and great things are going to happen.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Aden Holloway, who is playing his first collegiate season.

Auburn and Florida playing for SEC Championship

Auburn is 40 minutes away from its fourth banner in the Bruce Pearl era.

Standing in their way? The Florida Gators, the one team that the Tigers had no answers against.

It's Todd Golden versus his mentor, Pearl, for an SEC Championship.

"I would be lying if I said I wouldn't prefer it to be someone else," Golden said. "But to meet them in the championship, it's going to just be an awesome game and a great opportunity for us. Neither side will be taking it easy on each other."

In their only matchup of the season, Florida jumped out a 9-0 lead and led by as much as 27 en route to an 81-65 win.

A key difference in that one? The game was in Gainesville, a place Auburn hasn't won in since 1996.

"We played fantastic at home all year," Golden said. "We had a bye that week and they were coming off -- I think they had beat Alabama by like 18 right before they played us. We had some things going our way in regards to the lead up to the game."

Notebook: Auburn versus Mississippi State

As it had been the previous two times the teams played, Auburn and Mississippi State engaged in a physical, gritty matchup.

In the end, it was Auburn who pulled out a 73-66 win over the Bulldogs to clinch a berth in the SEC Championship game.

The seven-point win was the lowest margin Auburn has won by all season, and its the first Tiger win that wasn't a double-digit game.

"It was a rock fight because both teams were playing really, really physical," said Bruce Pearl. "That's Mississippi State's MO. Our MO is playing hard all the time, not always quite as physical. They beat us on the boards, but we hung in there. We hung in there. I thought that was really important."

Notebook: Auburn versus South Carolina

It's safe to say that Auburn owns South Carolina at this point.

The Tigers cruised to an 86-55 win over the Gamecocks in their SEC Tournament opener.

Auburn shot 49 percent from the field and 47 percent from three and held South Carolina to 28 percent shooting and 25 percent from deep.

The Tigers will play Mississippi State on Saturday after the Bulldogs dominated Tennessee 73-56.

"Proud of our kids," said Bruce Pearl. "Coaching staff did a great job of getting us prepared. Guys had a really good week. We're looking forward to the opportunity to play Mississippi State tomorrow."

Rivals is part of the Yahoo family of brands

It's been an up-and-down freshman season for Aden Holloway.

In the first 13 games of SEC play, Holloway went through an extended slump, posting 5.5 points per game on 25 percent shooting and 20 percent from deep.

And then Auburn went to Athens where, after coming off the bench for the last month, Holloway returned to the starting lineup and put up 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep.

"It was definitely a good feeling, just being able to see the ball go in the basket," Holloway said. "Especially after going through something like that; I've never experienced that ever in my basketball career. Just a little adversity this year, (it) never hurt nobody."

Explaining Auburn's recent surge from deep

For most of the season, inconsistent has been the best way to describe Auburn's three-point shooting.

There were matchups such as the Baylor, Notre Dame and Indiana games where the Tigers' shooting potential was on display while there were others, like against Appalachian State and Alabama, where Auburn couldn't hit a shot to save its life.

For most of the season, Auburn had been unable to string multiple good shooting performances together, but over its last four games, the Tigers are shooting 44 percent from deep on 22.5 attempts per game.

It's a good time for that to happen, too, as the Tigers play their final regular season game before the single-elimination tournaments start.

Let's take a look at how Auburn has been generating and hitting threes:

Auburn looking to avoid letdown in Columbia

It's home stretch time for the regular season.

Auburn has two games in its season before postseason play, and it's the lightest stretch of the season.

It'll start in Columbia where Auburn will play its final road game of the season against Missouri.

After making the NCAA Tournament in Dennis Gates' first season, Mizzou has been dreadful in year two as it sits at 8-22 on the season and 0-16 in conference play.

Despite the brutal season, Bruce Pearl and Auburn, knowing that seeding is on the line, aren't taking the other Tigers lightly.

"Missouri has played everybody tough," Pearl said. "They have not laid down. They have not quit. They play as hard as anyone in the league. They’ve got three great guards that can really score and take over games. It’s senior night at Missouri, I can’t imagine the intensity and passion those guys are going to play with to get the victory. But it means a lot to us too."

No. 1 player in class of 2025 'loves it' in Auburn

It's hard to top hosting the best player in a recruiting class.

A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1 player in the class of 2025, was in Auburn for the first time and was in attendance for the Tigers' win over Mississippi State.

“It’s a great environment," Dybantsa said. "They weren’t lying when they said it’s hard to win here. Obviously, students are very loud, very active, family-oriented. I love it here.”

With Dybantsa being the No. 1 player in his class, the likelihood of him being a one-and-done is incredibly high, so he wants to go somewhere that has proven it can prepare guys for the NBA.

On Saturday, he got to see Bruce Pearl's five-out, NBA-style offense in person. That, combined with Auburn's recent track record of producing NBA talent is a big deal for Dybantsa.

"Obviously, I want a coach, a program with experience that’s done things that I’m trying to do," Dybantsa said. "Like obviously, put guys in the NBA, I’m trying to go to the NBA. Guys with experience, coaches with experience, that’s big in my recruitment.”

Auburn gearing up to face quality MSU defense

Auburn is all but out of the SEC title race, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to play for.

The Tigers are widely projected as a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and considering Auburn's recent history in five/12 matchups (New Mexico State), Bruce Pearl knows how important it will be for Auburn to hold serve.

"Right now we’re sort of slotted as a four seed in the NCAA Tournament," Pearl said. "And to be in that 4/13, 5/12 block gives you a fighting chance to advance, you’re the best team to go to the Sweet 16. You get a five seed and you run into that 5/12 matchup, that’s a 50/50 matchup."

It certainly won't be easy for Auburn to do so as it faces a Mississippi State team that has won five of its last six and beat the Tigers earlier in the season in Starkville.

"Mississippi State is the third-toughest team to come to Neville Arena this year with Alabama and Kentucky being the two toughest opponents we’ve had based on the NET rankings and Mississippi State is a NET 31, just one slot out of Quad-1," Pearl said. "So we’ll have our (work) cut out for us."

How two defensive teams got into a track meet

A year prior in the same building, Auburn and Tennessee combined to score just 89 points which led to a 46-43 win for the Volunteers.

This season, despite the two teams both having top-5 defenses, was the exact opposite.

Tennessee, behind an unconscious shooting night from Dalton Knecht, pulled out a 92-84 home win over Auburn on Wednesday.

In the first 15 minutes of the game, the teams combined for 52 points which meant the game was on pace for a score in the 60's, which made sense. And then from there, the offenses exploded and it became a track meet.

"We score 84 points on the road against a good defensive team like Tennessee, you should be able to win," said Bruce Pearl.

So how did Tennessee (Knecht) score 92 against a defense that hadn't given up over 90 all season? And how did Auburn manage to have its best offensive road performance against the No. 4 defense in the country?

Here's a closer look:
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