The Auburn Tigers have made a strategic move by promoting special teams coordinator Tanner Burns to the role of nickel coach, while maintaining his current responsibilities. This move, first reported by college football insider Matt Zenitz, sees Burns stepping into the defensive room, focusing on enhancing the secondary. Auburn is also expected to hire a separate coach to oversee the edge positions.
Burns, who has been with Auburn for the last two seasons, has a long-standing working relationship with head coach Hugh Freeze, dating back to their time at Liberty. While Auburn boasted one of the SEC’s best pass defenses in 2023, their secondary took a slight dip in 2024. The team allowed 213 passing yards per game last season, a slight increase from 2023’s 202.2. Though the change seems minimal, with other SEC defenses improving, Auburn’s pass defense dropped from third to ninth in the conference.
To address this, Burns’ fresh perspective and expertise—particularly his success with special teams—could be the key to getting the secondary back on track. Under Burns’ guidance, Auburn ranked highly in special teams, including a ninth-place national finish in punt return defense this season.
Auburn’s defense, already the team’s stronger unit, showed improvement overall, allowing 256 points in 2024, down from 294 in 2023. With Burns now adding his defensive expertise, combined with improvements on offense, the Tigers could be poised for a serious SEC title push.
