Auburn football practice notes, observations from Alex Golesh's first spring

AUBURN — Practices are underway for the Alex Golesh era of Auburn football, as the Tigers took to the field at the Woltosz Football Performance Center on Tuesday, March 17, to kick off spring practices for the 2026 season.

The first stretch of offseason practices will last through April 18, culminating with Auburn‘s A-Day spring practice, but in the meantime, here’s a glimpse into the Tigers’ first practice under Golesh:

Auburn football injury updates from first spring practice

Beyond quarterbacks, Auburn had four players in non-contact uniforms: Offensive lineman Jacob Strand, linebacker Demarcus Riddick, safety Jack Luttrell and tight end Jonathan Echols. The first of those three — Luttrell, Riddick and Strand — were all sidelined for some time last season due to injury.

While he wasn’t in a non-contact uniform, Michigan State offensive line transfer Stanton Ramil didn’t appear to be present for Tuesday’s viewing window.

Notes and observations from Auburn football’s first practice under Alex Golesh

• Let’s start with Golesh, who’s quite the jogger. He was all over for the nearly half-hour of viewing available to the media, from stretching a warmups through individual periods.
• Onto quarterback Byrum Brown, who (heads up) has quite the throwing motion. It looked like the sort of thing that’s beyond saving, but clearly, it’s worked. He’s got quite the windup, almost like he’s throwing something between a baseball and shotput.
• Maybe I’ve missed it with previous centers, but South Florida transfer Cole Best went through individual drills with a football in his snapping hand. Don’t believe I’ve seen that before.
• Some individual positional notes:
  • Auburn’s running back rotation will take at least the spring to flesh out, but Jeremiah Cobb was often first to take handoffs Tuesday.
  • Both Chas Nimrod and Keshaun Singleton will likely be heavily involved in the offense, but both took plenty of reps from inside, at the slot position.
    • While they weren’t primarily first up for passing reps, two holdovers were heavily involved at wide receiver: Bryce Cain and Duke Smith.
  • One name that did catch plenty of passes from Brown was tight end Xavier “Tree” Newsom, whose size very much lives up to his moniker. The Howard transfer spent one season with the Bison, and he’s played as many at his current position.
  • On the defensive line, it looks like Auburn’s nose tackles will be Dallas Walker IV, Jourdin Crawford, Saint Farrior and Tavian Branch.
  • Cornerback Rayshawn Pleasant primarily took first-rotation reps, but one teammate to monitor’s Florida State transfer Shamar Arnoux. He’s listed at 6-foot-2 and 189 pounds but appears larger.

Adam Cole is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at acole@gannett.com or on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @colereporter.To support Adam’s work, please subscribe to the Montgomery Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football notes, observations from Alex Golesh’s first spring practice