Andy Burcham, the Voice of the Auburn Tigers, tells McElroy & Cubelic what he wants to see from the team in fall camp, how great the recruiting boon has been, and how stacked the non-conference schedule is for basketball
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McElroy and Kubelik in the morning starts now. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Hour number two underway Tuesday, August 6th right here on JOX 94.5.

Glad you guys are with us. Glad you guys have chosen to be a part of the show. Listen online at jocksfm.com. Apps in your App Store, iPhone, Android. Download it for free. Tell your home smart speaker to enable the jock skill. Andy Burcham is going to be with us every Tuesday, now through the fall, discussing Auburn athletics. And Craneworks will bring him to us in the fall, but he's joining us today. A little bit of a preseason version of the voice of the Auburn Tigers. Andy, how are you doing?

And Andy, there's a lot of hype around this Auburn receiving corps before they took the field. Now I think even a little bit more momentum is building around that group just based on a little bit of the practice viewing windows, some of the pictures, videos that are coming out across social media. What are you hearing just about the pass catchers, that new room for that Auburn football team heading into this season?

Yeah, Colt, and good to be with you today. And it is primarily a new room for Auburn. I mean, you do have a Camden Brown and a Caleb Burton III that are back from a year ago. But the freeze four, as they've been called, Perry Thompson and Bryce Kane, Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons, are making the waves that you would hope that they would.

as true freshmen. And then you add guys like Robert Lewis and Keandre Lambert-Smith and Sam Jackson, transfer pool guys, veterans that come in from another program. And it's a really interesting mix in this wide receiver room. It is dramatically better than it was a year ago. And we knew that Auburn had to get dramatically better.

in that wide receiver room. I've got to think that it excites no one more than Peyton Thorne to have those guys available. He has some size. He has some guys that can get separation. He has more than just Revaldo Fairweather that he can throw the jump ball to, that fade to the back shoulder to this year. And just from everything I'm gathering and getting out and watching a little bit of practice as well,

This wide receiver room is living up to the billing through four days of practice. All right, let's keep that there. It's four days of practice. But in talking to guys on that side of the football and some guys on the other side of the football that are going up against those receivers, there's no question that it's incredibly – it is much more talented than it was a year ago, Colt.

Absolutely. Andy Burcham, voice of the Auburn Tigers, joining us from the Buyers' Right Hotline, will be with us every Tuesday this fall. And that should make Peyton Thorne's life easier. It also should be just a smidge easier based on his experience being around the program, being around the coaches. You've had a chance to catch up with him some this offseason. Do you see a different confidence in the Auburn quarterback?

I do, and I think a couple things. One, there is more talent around him, not only at wide receiver but up front. My guess is we'll talk a little offensive line if it's you and me today, Cole, on jocks. But I just – listen, he came in a year ago in June. He missed spring practice, hadn't transferred yet, and had to pick up a brand-new system and a brand-new program and a brand-new coaching staff.

And there were times a year ago where it was a struggle for Peyton Ford. I do think that he was a better runner than we gave him credit for a year ago, and he showed his wheels a little bit, and I think we'll see that more this season. But listen, getting to go through a full year, getting to go through spring practice, and getting some better talent around him, he looks more confident. He looks a little more relaxed.

He looks a little more in control than he was a year ago. Again, all of this is said, and we're just four days into practice. Alabama A&M hasn't come to town yet. Cal hasn't been here. New Mexico, Arkansas, Oklahoma, that month of September that Auburn has. But so far...

and look forward to seeing the scrimmage this Saturday. To me, it looks like a more confident Auburn quarterback, and I think that should be good news for the Auburn family that is anxiously awaiting what this team is going to be like this season. What would you like to learn in the scrimmage on Saturday specifically? Is there a position group? Is there just a part of the team? What would you like to come away from feeling much better about based on what you're going to see?

Well, and I'm not concerned at all about the offensive line, but I am interested in watching that offensive front on Saturday. And I think Connor Lue has a chance to be a really special player at center for Auburn. I thought he had a really – I mean, he's an All-American, freshman All-American a year ago. I love the fact that they were able to ring in Percy Lewis to move to left tackle. He's a big body at 6'7", 355. He walked by me at practice yesterday. Okay.

and he is every bit of that. He's an imposing figure there. But being able to move Dylan Wade in to the guard, Jeremiah Wright, I think the only thing that's held back Jeremiah Wright has been injuries. And I look for him to have a big year. And then, of course, you've got Tutal Miller out at right tackle. But then turn it around to the other side of the football. And I think I mentioned this last week. Guys like Trill Carter and Gage Keyes and Isaiah Rakes and Phillip Bleedy, Jason Jones, who's back. That's a lot of new names coming.

in that interior defensive front. The only question I have is we just haven't seen those guys yet in a scrimmage situation. So that's a side of the ball that I'm going to be watching is up front defensively just because there are so many new faces. I think Auburn has talent. I think Auburn has depth. We just haven't seen them yet. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see them on Saturday.

Absolutely. Andy Burch, voice of the Auburn Tigers, joining us on the Bioswap Hotline, heading into a scrimmage on Saturday. Recruiting continues to be trending upward for Hugh Freeze and his staff. How much better can this get? A lot of people thought maybe just Big Cat weekend, you get a couple of significant commits then, but it seems to still be trending upward and

Apparently a couple of flips could be on the way here soon. How far can this go for Coach Freeze and his staff, Andy? Well, Colin, you know this. I mean, it just never ends in this day and age. In the day and age of the transfer portal with a December signing period now and then that February signing period, it just never ends at this point. And Hugh Freeze made it known really since signing day last year

that he was going hard after the Alabama signing class, the state of Alabama signing class. Let me be clear when I say that. The state of Alabama signing class this year. And he identified the top ten. He said, I want to get all ten of them. And they have commitments from many of them at this point. And it hasn't ended. They had a commitment yesterday, as a matter of fact. So I think it still could continue to get – I think it will get better.

I think this staff recruits incredibly well. I think adding Charles Kelly to your staff not only helps you on the field in the secondary, but it helps you recruiting because he's always been known as a great recruiter. Marcus Davis, the wide receivers coach, has really developed into an outstanding recruiter for Auburn. Spent some time with Josh Aldridge in Birmingham a couple weeks ago.

He was there. We were there at the Greater Auburn, the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club. And he was part of the panel that we had on the stage and just talking with Josh about, and this was prior to Big Tap Weekend, just talking about the philosophy of this staff and how they get after it. And Cole, it's not just the folks like Josh Aldridge or Charles Kelly or the head coach,

But there's a lot of folks behind the scenes that do great work. Will Redman is Auburn's director of player personnel. He's an impressive young man to talk to, and that group that he has, and the recruiting folks, I mean, they just do a very, very good job. I don't see it ending, Cole, anytime soon. No, absolutely not. Andy, I wanted to go back one more on Peyton Thorne. We've heard Hugh Freeze talk about it, and it's the addition of –

Kent Austin on his staff. I don't think a lot of people understand maybe the importance of this or what this is actually going to mean for Peyton Thorne or the offense. How do you view that addition to this Auburn coaching staff? Well, it is an addition on the field, but it's not an addition to Auburn because he was an analyst for Auburn a year ago. So I think it's kind of the best of both worlds. And yes, he is new to the coaching staff, but he is not new to Peyton Thorne because he was working with Peyton

a year ago on that first staff that Hugh Freeze put together. So there's some familiarity there, but now he is the one calling the shots at the quarterback spot for Auburn. So I think that helps Peyton in a couple ways. Listen, it's kind of a – it's a multilayered confidence that we see in Peyton Thorne. He's back. He's been here for a year now. He's gone through a full season, all of the rigors of the 23 season,

Spring ball, the added talent at wide receiver, the added talent up front, a tailback room that other than Brian Battee is back. You have almost an entire tight end room that is back, including Rivaldo Fairweather, who a lot of folks are sleeping on that young man. So I think there's a bunch of different things, and I think Kent Austin as his quarterback coach,

is just another piece to that puzzle, so to speak, for Peyton Thorne. I think it's all positive for Peyton right now. But again, we're four days into practice. A lot of things can happen, and you've got to keep guys healthy. Hugh Freeze talked about this last Thursday, the balance –

in this day and age of practicing, practicing hard in the preseason, but keeping guys healthy. And you've got to find that balance somewhere to get everything out of the practice that you can, that you want to, and yet keep guys healthy as well. One other quick one before we let you go. A couple of really cool non-conference games announced for Bruce Pearl's basketball team this year and the next few years. I know you have to be excited about those.

Well, it's an incredibly ambitious schedule. I'm not sure Auburn's ever had a non-conference schedule like this year. That includes Houston, in Houston, Purdue at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ohio State at the Holiday Hoopsgiving in Atlanta that has become a tradition now for Auburn, and then, oh, by the way, Duke at Cameron, and then the field that Auburn faces is

In Hawaii, which could include the two-time defending national champs in UConn. It is an incredibly tough schedule for Auburn. I think it is with...

in mind that Auburn has a great deal coming back, especially on the inside. They love the pieces that they've added to the puzzle on the perimeter. So, yeah, this is an enormous undertaking for Auburn in the preseason. And then you get to February and you've got a schedule that includes both Texas and Oklahoma, oh, by the way, in addition to Arkansas and Kentucky, an outstanding Alabama team as well. And you get Alabama twice, so

Boy, this is going to be a fun, fun basketball season because every game out there is a big one for the Auburn team, to be sure. Absolutely. Andy, appreciate the time. Always great catching up with you. Look forward to next week.

My pleasure, Cole. Have a great day, bud. Yes, sir. Andy Burcham, voice of the Auburn Tigers, joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. We'll update on some of the things happening around fall camp for the Auburn Tigers, so basketball scheduling as well. When we come back on the other side, we'll get bad about it. Josh Newberg is going to be with us at 8.30 this morning and talk recruiting Auburn around the SEC, Alabama, what could be next for the Crimson Tide as far as commitments. We'll do all of that here in about 15 minutes.

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