The first game of the Alex Golesh era is behind us, and Auburn's new head coach was blown away by what he saw.
Golesh led his team onto the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the annual A-Day game on Saturday, capping off his first spring practice session since being hired in late November. He got to display what his team has worked on this spring and showcase several unknown players who could become big-time contributors to the team this fall.
Outside of coaching in the game, Golesh got to take in a gameday atmosphere at Jordan-Hare, which included over 34,000 fans in the stands, the pregame Tiger Walk, and the Auburn University Marching Band performing its traditional stand tunes. To say the least, he was excited to finally experience his first home game and "first win" of his tenure as Auburn's head coach.
"First of all, I'm beyond grateful for what that Tiger Walk crowd was for our kids," Golesh said postgame. "Like for me to get off the bus, and it looked like that was incredible. I don't know how many people were here, but it was really, really cool. It was great to get a game-day environment. I can only imagine what it's going to be like with 88,000 (in Jordan-Hare Stadium)."
Not only did Golesh compete in his first game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but he also concluded his first spring practice session. He says he looks forward to giving his team a few weeks off following a grueling 15 practices, and to spending time on the road recruiting with his staff this week. Before the downtime away from the field, he reflected on the spring session and how he felt his team had progressed.
"I do love this group; they're intentional and what they do," Golesh said. "They've worked some highs, some lows, through spring. They've answered the bell in the regard that every time I've asked them to do something, they've done it. We've asked to turn it up. They've turned it up. We've asked for more attention to detail. They've paid more attention to detail up until this point; they've done what we've asked them to do. We got a huge, huge summer ahead of us."
Next up for Auburn is a busy summer of workouts and recruiting. All of it leads to Auburn football's first game, set for Saturday, Sept. 5, when the Tigers face Baylor in Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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This article originally appeared on Auburn Wire: Auburn coach Alex Golesh reflects on first Auburn A-Day game