After early struggles in camp, Auburn’s pre-snap communication is ‘in a good spot’

By Peter Rauterkus | prauterkus@al.comHead coach Alex Golesh made his frustration with Auburn’s pre-snap communication clear after the team’s first preseason camp scrimmage.Pre-snap issues aren’t uncommon early in camp, but it was still frustrating for Golesh. Even for an offense that featured many players who played together at South Florida last season, there was still work to be done to clean up those small mistakes.Now just three days away from the season opener, the Tigers have improved in that area, and some on the offensive line have described it as one of Auburn’s biggest strengths.“I’ve never been more proud of this group in terms of communication,” starting center Cole Best told reporters on Tuesday, “being on the same page and getting each other right.”On both sides of the ball communication is vital for Auburn against Baylor. Offensively, it creates the ability to operate without penalties. On defense, Golesh said it’s about anticipating crowd noise, as Saturday’s game will feel like a home crowd inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.One thing that has helped the offense is having Best and Byrum Brown together. They were USF’s starting center and quarterback, respectively, in each of the last two seasons and are naturally on the same page.They’re the unquestioned leaders of the offense and Golesh holds them both accountable when things go wrong operationally.“When one gets his ass ripped, the other one does, too, if something’s wrong pre-snap,” Golesh said. “It’s been really comforting to know that both those guys have done it for so long together, understand each other, and then Byrum has all the trust in the world in Cole leading that front.”Having those two leading the offense makes Golesh feel more comfortable, but he’s been intentional about putting the group in game-like situations during camp to fix the pre-snap issues. “We started it right from Day 1 in terms of introducing the ability to snap and motion and all these things with crowd noise, with chaotic looks up front on defense,” Golesh said. “Early on, it was just getting used to it, us growing through the mechanics of it.”With that kind of preparation, Golesh believes the offense’s pre-snap operation has “come a long way” since that first scrimmage, but recognizes that you can still only know so much before the team does it in a game for the first time.“No matter how loud we make it out there, how crazy we make it, it’s still just a matter of guys settling in on a game day,” Golesh said. “But I would say we’re in a really good spot there.”Peter Rauterkus is an Auburn Sports Reporter for AL.com covering football, basketball and all things Auburn sports. He joined AL.com in July 2024. Prior to joining the sports staff at AL.com, Peter spent time...