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Auburn WR Coach Kodi Burns - Post-Transfer Portal · The Auburn Undercover Podcast

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  Yeah. Cody, just uh first just talk
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  about I mean now it's I guess a couple
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  of months back but it feels like a
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  whirlwind. Uh what's it like to be back
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  at Auburn?
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  >> Incredible. Um this is home. Always has
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  been, always will be. Um phenomenal
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  place. Phenomenal town. Everything about
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  Auburn and what you learn is football's
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  a real thing, but it's also about all
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  the sports. It's about the university.
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  It's about that logo you put on your
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  chest. just means a lot to to be at a
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  place like Auburn and I'm blessed to to
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  be here once again. Yeah.
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  What just was kind of I guess the the
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  initial reaction maybe the emotions of
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  it when AG kind of told you about like
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  this opportunity and wanting to bring
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  you along of course you know coming back
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  to your your own modern
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  >> Yeah I think surreal right just
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  emotionally
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  incredible um just my journey to get
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  here as a player now my third time here
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  as a coach just incredible and being
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  able to come back with somebody I really
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  respect, believe in, and coach Gooish.
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  Um, again, I'm at a loss of words. And
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  to be able to come back to my
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  university, my alma mater, and really
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  help us get the program back to where
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  you're winning championships again, cuz
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  every time I've been here, that's what
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  I've done. And so, I'm excited to be
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  back at at my alma mater and give back
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  to just give back so much of what Auburn
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  gave to me. and um I'm ready to get to
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  work, which that's all we've been doing.
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  >> You you know what it takes at Auburn and
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  you know what it takes in this offense.
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  How how would you describe that and as a
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  wide receiver group what it takes to be
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  successful on both of those fronts?
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  Yeah, I think I talk to my players right
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  now all the time about it and here at
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  Auburn, you got to be different. And I
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  think it starts with just the edge and
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  and the toughness factor that you got to
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  be able to be critical in the run game
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  to be able to help there. And that
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  obviously opens up the pass game. And
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  when you look at defenses, right, you
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  have to be able to stop the run. That's
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  football one-on-one. I don't care if
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  you're offensive coach, defensive coach,
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  they always talk about we have to stop
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  the run, we have to run the ball. And so
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  when you're able to run the ball due to
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  receivers also helping in the run game
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  as a defensive coordinator, you got to
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  allocate resources in the box. So now
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  you go from two high to one high. And
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  that's when as a wide out, you want to
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  go eat. And so our offense is wide open.
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  We're going to take what the defense
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  gives us. And um we're have a lot of
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  opportunities for receivers to go
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  one-on-one and be out in a lot of space.
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  And that's when we operate at a high
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  clip. and um why there's been success
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  dating back to us at Tennessee, Coach
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  Kolas at UCF, and also USF the last
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  year.
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  >> Yeah. What what excites you about this?
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  I mean, it's a rebuilt wide receiver
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  room, but you know a lot of the guys
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  that are in it here. What excites you
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  about this room,
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  >> man? Just uh these guys know the system.
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  Um ultra competitive. Um and then also
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  guys that have been proven, right? Like
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  we open up, you play Boise, number 25 in
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  the country, and then have two guys that
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  essentially go for 100 yards. You know,
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  you play Florida in the swamp at USF,
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  really good defense. Obviously struggled
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  a little bit offensively last year, but
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  defensively a real team, and you go in
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  there and you win in the swamp, which is
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  hard to do. Um, and then you play Miami,
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  you got a guy that goes for close to 140
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  yards, and Chaz and Keshan that went,
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  you know, close to 100 as well. So, we
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  have guys that are proven, um, at this
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  level. I don't care how you slice it.
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  And that's the one thing about the
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  country and and as far as playing
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  football. I don't care what level you're
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  playing at, everybody has really good
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  skilled players. The difference in that
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  league and in the SEC is the O line D
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  line. It's just a different ball game.
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  But there's a ton of good skilled
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  players. Man, dating back to when I was
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  at MTSU, I had NFL guys. When I was at
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  Arkansas State, I had NFL guys. Um, so
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  anywhere you you go, there's going to be
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  really talented, skilled players. and
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  and as long as those guys translate into
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  what you do and fit the specs and and
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  and the mold of what you want to do, um
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  you're you're going to be fine. So,
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  again, obviously rebuilt, there were
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  some talented guys in the room, a couple
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  guys last year that chose to do
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  something else. And that's what college
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  football is right now. And what you have
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  to do is you have to adjust, right? You
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  got to adapt. And what we did is we
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  brought guys in that we feel like can go
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  out there and get it done.
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  Sorry if you already asked this, but
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  what's the value of familiarity between
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  a quarterback and his wide receivers?
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  Someone like Byron Brown's trying to
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  make the jump to the SEC to have a bunch
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  of guys that he's played with already in
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  his career.
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  >> Yeah. From a quarterback perspective,
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  you know, you always preach timing,
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  precision, and accuracy. And a
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  quarterback has to be comfortable with
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  who he's thrown the ball to. And so, you
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  can really um accelerate that process
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  when you have familiarity with the guys
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  that you're throwing to. So, there's a
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  couple guys that have played a ton of
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  ball last year with Byron Brown um that
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  he feels really comfortable with that
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  you can really close your eyes as a
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  quarterback and know this is where he's
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  going to be at and that gives you
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  confidence, right? And you don't have to
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  spend time figuring things out in a game
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  in the season like it's already been
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  proven. He already knows what it is. And
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  so I think that's the biggest key is
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  just everybody being on the same page
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  and you don't have to figure out who you
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  are as a team throughout the course of
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  the first couple games and figure it
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  out. So
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  >> feels like that would be beneficial to
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  receivers making the jump in the SEC
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  too. The fact that they have a
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  quarterback that they that they just
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  spend at least one season playing with.
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  >> Yeah. Look, I I think I obviously I play
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  quarterback like quarterback is the
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  hardest position to play in all the
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  sports I think. And so as a receiver,
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  like our job is to be where we're
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  supposed to be for the quarterback,
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  right? And so definitely helps for the
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  wide outs, but more so it helps the
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  quarterback being comfortable with the
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  guys he's throwing to.
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  >> You mentioned, I mean, Keshan's got a
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  lot of pub. Kog's got a lot of pub. Chaz
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  is a guy that that people seem to have
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  overlooked a little bit. You mentioned
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  him. What does he bring to the table for
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  you guys?
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  >> Man, Chaz is uber explosive. Um, I
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  signed Chaz um, out of high school at
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  Tennessee and he played quite a bit of
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  ball in the SEC and has been proven. Um,
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  and he's explosive. He's really, really
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  talented. And again, he got overlooked
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  because when you look at last year, he's
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  a guy going into the season and really
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  the first few games was kind of the guy
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  and then he ended up getting a lower uh,
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  body injury and so he missed a lot of
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  time, but he was on track to go for
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  close to about 1,200 yards. So just who
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  he is as a person. He's really really
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  smart. He's dynamic and he's one of the
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  more explosive players I've I've ever
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  been around. Like he can really run and
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  he's a good player.
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  >> When you look at some of the former
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  players who like came back with you guys
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  after Bryce Kenn, what are your plans
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  for him and your goals see them do this?
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  >> Yeah, you really want to see those guys
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  continue to grow and develop, right?
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  They've Bryce did a ton special teams
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  didn't necessarily take a ton of snaps
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  at receiver. Um, and then Sam as a as a
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  young player as well that really red
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  shirted and you those guys have a chance
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  to being on offense where we're uber
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  explosive that they'll get exposure to
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  things they've never seen and really
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  done before. So, I'm just excited to
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  work with them on a day in and dayout
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  basis to where they can truly grow and
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  develop as wide outs. And that's the
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  key, man. You got to you still there's
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  still um as hard as college football is
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  and a ton of transfers and guys leaving
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  them, there's still you still have to
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  develop players, right? That's our job
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  is to to to get the best out of the guys
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  that you have. And so I'm excited to get
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  a chance to work with both those those
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  players.
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  >> Cody, you you guys come in and and know
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  you got to sign some high school kids,
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  too. Go grab a few guys late. just talk
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  about the additions you made and and
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  maybe what uh what what fans might see
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  out of those guys.
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  >> Yeah, so um really dating back to the
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  the last place I was at at USF. There's
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  guys that we were really high on and you
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  kind of call them out of reach that man
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  they're they're probably going to be
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  bigger than than where we were at the
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  time. And so been a blessing to be able
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  to get those guys here and number one
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  Deshawn Spencer who I was big on, man. I
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  thought he was always one of the better
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  slots in the country and had an
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  authentic relationship with him and his
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  whole family and and we thought we had a
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  real chance and and we honestly did at
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  the end at USF and obviously just the
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  timing of everything that where we get
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  the job this Sunday right before signing
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  day and then he's here and it makes
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  sense right cuz he wanted to be in this
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  system that we run in this offense but
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  it's obviously hard to turn down the SEC
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  so excited to be able to work with him
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  uber talented comes from an inc
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  incredible program at Sarah just put put
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  players out and man long time ago we had
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  Bis Jones right at Tennessee who I
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  coached for a year and went third round
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  and they're all kind of that same mode
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  and they got the other kid that came out
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  of there as well. So um super super
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  talented and super excited to work with
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  him. Then you got big Brian Williams
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  right um a kid that um is really really
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  talented uh played at a real program at
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  TFA where they're playing national
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  games. So he's had that exposure to some
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  of the best players in the country. And
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  you talk about size, you talk about the
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  ability to bend and move and he he looks
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  like a slot when he runs routes. And so
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  I'm expecting a lot, you know, from him
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  as far as developing really really quick
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  with this size, his body control. And
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  really for a quarterback, the bigger
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  guys, like the catch radius is is really
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  what stands out to me. And so he's
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  really smart, uber talented, excited to
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  work with him. And then you got the
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  Brady Marches, right? So, um, just how
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  everything works just worked out that,
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  you know, he gets out of his deal at
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  Michigan, he's able to come here and be
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  an Auburn Tiger. Uber excited. He's
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  another guy that I was on pretty early
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  at the other place and and it got to a
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  point like coach like we love you, but
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  man, like we got some other stuff out
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  there that's a little bit bigger. So,
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  again, he's got he's got a chance to be
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  a really good player. He's talented. He
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  can really really run. He's tough. He's
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  gritty. He's kind of that old school
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  receiver that you like. So, I'm excited
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  to get a chance to work with him as
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  well.
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  >> Cody, we got the news recently that Gus
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  Wells has decided to retire. He was your
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  coach for a stretch of your career. You
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  knew about him getting back to to high
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  school and obviously he had a had a big
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  impact on your on your career. Just your
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  your memories of of a coach and how you
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  sort of received the news that that he
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  he decided to to to uh to step down.
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  >> Man, um really mentor to me. um
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  everything that he meant throughout the
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  course of my life um as a player, as a
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  coach, giving me that opportunity um and
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  really what he what he's meant to
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  Auburn, right? Like when you talk to
• 10:42
  when I talk to coach, it's he talks
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  about Auburn like we like, man, I I want
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  us to get back. Like what do we got to
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  do to continue to, you know, grow and
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  get better? And so, man, just the the
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  most respect for who he is as a person,
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  Miss Christie, his daughters, um what
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  they've meant in my life is big. And and
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  really like all he's wanted to do was
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  help his former players in any way that
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  that played here for him. And that's the
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  man he is is that when you call him,
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  it's all about connections. It's all
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  about, you know, um the relationships.
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  And that's what he is. He's a
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  relationship based person. He's
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  authentic. He's genuine. And again, um
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  this is Auburn is a tough job, yet it's
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  the best job in the country. And for him
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  to be able to to do what he did here
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  while he was here, I thought um spoke
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  highly of who he is as a coach and who
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  he is as a person. And I respect him for
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  his time here. And again, this dates
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  back for me from me being in high school
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  growing up as a young kid in the state
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  of Arkansas, seeing that this guy, Coach
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  Mazine, this offensive genius, that man,
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  I just want to have a chance to play for
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  him. And it just so works out that I'm
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  coming out of high school, he's at
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  Arkansas, I choose to go to Auburn, and
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  then two years later, he shows up and
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  he's my coach. And then two years later,
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  we win a national championship. and then
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  three years later we go back to a
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  national championship and then four
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  years later we go to an SEC
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  championship. Right? So,
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  however you view him, he's done a lot
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  for Auburn and I respect him and truly
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  love him as a person and and and a coach
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  as I would.