Press Conference: Joel Gordon previews Auburn Football's Fall Camp

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
We got Mike back here, Maya, Jason, Nathan, Burt, yep.

**Michael Giddens** (0:07)
Coach, there's been a lot of talk about running the ball on offense, but how close are you guys to achieving? I'm sorry, Michael Giddens, War Rapport, Auburn Express TV.
How close are you guys in the other aspects of the offense, particularly the passing game with these receivers? Are there any receivers that are standing out, or have stood out here this summer?

**Joel Gordon** (0:28)
Yeah, your first question was about the run game.

**Michael Giddens** (0:33)
How close are you in the other aspects of the passing game?

**Joel Gordon** (0:36)
Got you. You know, we're going to find out a whole lot more tomorrow than practicing and training all through the summer, and that's not real football. So when we line up against the defense and figure out what that looks like again tomorrow, we'll have a much better feeling of where we are. But I think what you're able to see over the course of the summertime is guys are a lot more comfortable.
They understand the offense more and more every single week, and we pushed them pretty good, you know, all the way through the summer, probably more so than we have in years past, you know, in this offense.
So, there's gonna be a lot of opportunities for guys to show what they did over the summertime, but I think there's definitely been some growth in that room. You know, the first guy that stands out is, you know, Chas, you know, he's the most experienced guy in the room. He's one of the most physically gifted guys in the room. He's one of the smartest guys in the room. So I think when you add all of that up, you hope that that guy is standing out every single day. And I think he did that throughout the summertime. And there's other guys too that have had really good summers that we're excited to see what it looks like starting tomorrow.

**SPEAKER_1** (2:01)
For Nathan, Jason.

**Justin Ferguson** (2:04)
Justin Ferguson, Auburn Observer. AG was in here just a second ago saying, you want to have three and a half running backs heading into a game for rotation-wise.
What does that kind of mean to you? And how do you feel about the depth and just what y'all want to go into the season with?

**Joel Gordon** (2:17)
I'd say we want a whole number four, not three and a half. But no, I mean, you know what he means, like you got to have the next man up and ready to go, you know, and I think everybody knows that Cobb is the guy that's coming back in that room that has proven, you know, he's a really good football player and was really consistent in this program a year ago. And after that, there's a lot of question marks, to be honest with you. So, I think what we saw from that room throughout the summertime, you know, much like the wide receivers, is everybody's improving and everybody's getting better. But I think the reality is until we get out there and, you know, those guys got to run the football and try to create explosive plays and they got to step up and pass protect, we're not really going to know exactly, you know, what the pecking order is.
But there's been guys that have been consistent, you know, throughout the summer. Omar has been, you know, since we walked in the door here, Omar Mabson has been as consistent as anybody on our side of the ball. He loves Auburn. He works his butt off.
You know, that's physically, that's mentally. He's a great teammate. He's a leader, you know, for us. And he's gotten better, you know, even though we're not playing against, you know, anybody, you know, throughout the summertime, you can see that he's getting faster. He's getting smoother. And I think it's just a nature of, you know, it's another exposure to reps in this offense. And guys, as long as they're working on it, man, they're going to get better. But those two guys had really good summers. Not that they're the only two.
You know, there's guys, man, there's two or three more guys that are going to be battling in that room that have done, you know, good things throughout the summer as well. That real football is going to kind of paint the picture of, you know, what that looks like. We're going to know a whole lot more in about five days.

**Justin Ferguson** (4:20)
Nathan King, Auburn 247 AG was telling us about Ty Buster's injury. Obviously, that makes Stanton Ramill's return all the more important. What have you seen from Stanton going all the way back to the spring with his recovery? And AG's talked a lot about the leader he's tried to be for this offense in the offseason.