2026 Tennessee Football Know the Opponent: Auburn Tigers

The 2026 College Football Season is fast-approaching, and the Tennessee Volunteers will kick off the season against Furman on September 5th.The Vols will find themselves squaring off against plenty of familiar faces when Auburn travels to Knoxville on October 3rd. Volquest takes an early look at the Tigers ahead of the 2026 season. 5-7 season leads to the end of the Hugh Freeze era at Auburn A look back at the 2025 season: Head Coach Hugh Freeze entered last season needing to make Auburn into more of a contender if he hoped to retain his job, but he was not able to do that. The Tigers started the season 3-0 with wins over Baylor, Ball State, and South Alabama, then conference play started. Auburn would go on to drop four straight games in conference play. They ended the skid with a 33-24 win over Arkansas, but the next week spelled disaster for Freeze. The Tigers lost 10-3 to the Wildcats, and Freeze was fired after the Tigers fell to 4-5 on the season. Defensive Coordinator DJ Durkin was named the interim Head Coach for the final three games of the season. A Durkin-led Auburn team took Vanderbilt to the wire, losing 45-38 in overtime in his first game as interim Head Coach. The Tigers throttled Mercer, but ended the season with a 27-20 loss in the Iron Bowl to Alabama. The coaching search to replace Freeze went into full effect at that point. Alex Golesh takes the reins on the Plains Alex Golesh, a name Tennessee fans are plenty familiar with from his time as Offensive Coordinator in Knoxville, was tabbed to replace Freeze and lead the Tigers into the future. Golesh was Tennessee’s offensive coordinator for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He played an instrumental role in the Vols’ offensive success, and he was tabbed as a finalist for the Broyles Award, which recognizes the top coordinator in college football, following the 2022 season. After helping Tennessee finish 11-2 in 2022, Golesh left Knoxville to take the Head Coaching job at USF, where he has been for the last two seasons. In a remarkable turnaround, Golesh posted a 23-15 record in three seasons at South Florida. He took over a program that went 1-11 in 2022, but he quickly led them to a bowl game in his first season as a head coach. The Bulls finished the 2023 regular season at 6-6 and went on to blow Syracuse out 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl to finish 7-6. Golesh followed that up with another 7-6 season in 2024. The Bulls capped the season with a 41-39 win in a five-overtime thriller against San Jose State in the Hawaii Bowl. After two seasons under Golesh, the Bulls were ready to break out in the AAC in the 2025 season, and they did just that. Golesh’s team posted a 9-3 record last fall, the best for South Florida since 2017. En route to nine wins, South Florida pulled off a week one upset against No.25 Boise State, then they followed that up with an 18-15 win on the road in The Swamp over then-No.13 Florida. After another successful season as the head coach at South Florida, Golesh was mentioned for a handful of head coaching vacancies but ultimately landed at Auburn to replace Freeze. Defensive Coordinator DJ Durkin retained, creating continuity for Auburn As mentioned above, DJ Durkin was tabbed as the interim head coach after Hugh Freeze was fired, and he was another name frequently mentioned as a possible full-time replacement. After Golesh was hired for the Head Coaching job, it was quickly determined that Durkin would return to lead the Auburn defense. In 2025, Auburn’s defense finished the regular season ranked No. 12 nationally in rushing defense and No. 30 in total defense. Durkin’s defense allowed its lowest yards per carry (2.86) and rushing yards per game (99.3) for a Tigers’ team since 2003, and the fewest yards overall allowed (329.2) since 2017. Durkin does have some continuity coming back despite a huge roster turnover for the Tigers. All-American linebacker Xavier Atkins is back in the fold to lead the Tigers’ defense. He had a standout season last fall, totaling 84 tackles, nine sacks and an interception. Atkins is joined by All-SEC Freshman team selection Elijah Melendez at Linebacker. He had 29 tackles a year ago. Starting defensive back Kaleb Harris is back in the secondary for the Tigers after totaling 50 tackles and an interception. He is joined by rising sophomores Eric Winters and Anquon Feagans, both of whom lived up to early expectations last fall. Junior defensive back Sylvester Smith also returned and has seen plenty of playing time for the Tigers, including multiple starts. Auburn had a huge roster turnover this off-season When you factor in losses to graduation and the NFL Draft, Auburn had one of the most substantial roster turnovers, arguably, of all time. Auburn saw an in-and-out transition of over 100 players. The Tigers lost 69 players to the transfer portal alone. They did bring in 39 players, according to the On3 Database. So what does that look like? Golesh brought in familiar faces on the offensive side of the fall to replace key losses from 2025 Auburn sustained multiple key losses on the offensive side of the football following the 2025 season. Five-star wide receiver Cam Coleman entered the transfer portal for greener pastures, and he was joined by the next four receivers on the Tigers’ depth chart, including Perry Thompson, Eric Singleton, Horatio Fields and Malcolm Simmons. Additionally, former five-star quarterback Deuce Knight, who had been dubbed the future of the program at the position, also left Auburn for Ole Miss. So, Golesh brought in plenty of familiarity to replace the lost contributors, starting with USF Quarterback Byrum Brown. Brown entered the transfer portal and quickly followed Golesh to Auburn, where he will assume the role of starting quarterback. Brown left USF with 15 program records and threw for over 3,000 yards on multiple occasions. He also has a wealth of experience as a starter, having started 32 games over the course of his career. He threw for 7,690 yards with 61 touchdowns and 19 interceptions and rushed for 2,265 yards with 31 touchdowns over his time in Tampa. Auburn lost depth pieces at running back, but they were able to retain top running back Jeremiah Cobb for the 2026 season. They will complement him with guys from the transfer portal like Baylor transfer Bryson Washington and Troy transfer Tae Meadows, in addition to USF standout running back Nykahi Davis. At receiver, the Tigers brought in a number of familiar faces, including four of Brown’s favorite targets from a season ago. The group consists of former Tennessee wide receiver Chas Nimrod, top pass-catcher Keshaun Singleton, Jeremiah Koger, and Christian Neptune. Auburn also brought in immediate help along the offensive line with Cole Best and Cole Skinner coming in from USF. Best started 23 games at center for the Bulls, and he was an All-American Conference selection last fall. The duo will be joined by Michigan State transfer offensive tackle Stanton Ramil, who should play a role right away for the Tigers. Best will prove vital in replacing fourth-round 2026 NFL Draft selection Connor Lew at center. The Tigers also lost offensive guard Jeremiah Wright to the NFL Draft. Alex Golesh recruited and landed a commitment from tight end Jonathan Echols at Tennessee before taking the job at South Florida. Echols ultimately followed Golesh to Tampa, and he did the same when Golesh left for Auburn. He caught nine passes last fall. Echols will be joined by Bowling Green transfer Arlis Boardingham in the tight end room. Auburn brought in more help on the defensive side as well Auburn retained a bulk of its defensive production last fall, as mentioned above, especially at linebacker and the secondary. However, the Tigers did lose plenty of production along the defensive front, with pass-rushers Keldric Faulk and Keyron Crawford headed to the NFL, as well as defensive tackle Bobby Jamison-Travis. The Tigers did plenty of work in the transfer portal to replace lost production, starting with four-star EDGE transfer Da’Shawn Womack. The LSU and Ole Miss transfer arrives on the Plains with plenty of opportunity ahead of him. He is joined by Missouri EDGE Nate Johnson. A LSU transfer defensive lineman Walter Mathis played in 12 games last fall, and he should slot into a role for the Tigers right away. All-Sunbelt selection Cody Sigler should find plenty of opportunity along the defensive front as well. The Tigers also brought in more depth in the secondary, with guys like Arizona transfer Jack Luttrell, and USF starting Safety Fred Gaskin III.