Auburn v Mississippi State Top PFF Players and Notes

by JGT

OFFENSE: 76 snaps
(Min. 15 snaps played)
PLAYER MSU '22 GRADE SEASON '22 GRADE
TE Luke Deal 68.6 55.6
RT Austin Troxell "TROX" 66.6 67.6
WR Ja'Varrius Johnson "JJ" 64.8 69.3
RB Jarquez Hunter 63.6 70.5
RB Tank Bigsby 62.3 78.0


DEFENSE: 83 snaps
(Min. 15 snaps played)
PLAYER MSU '22 GRADE SEASON '22 GRADE
DE Derick Hall 86.0 69.3
CB Jaylin Simpson "SIMP" 80.4 72.3
LB Cam Riley 72.3 55.9
CB D.J. James 71.9 76.9
CB J.D. Rhym 71.3 66.8

ALSO OF NOTE:

• Robby Ashford graded at 49.9. He was dinged badly for his missed throws, though PFF assessed three drops. PFF also had Auburn conceding 12 pressures on 30 drop-backs. As we all know, Ashford has to make a lot of things happen on his own.

• Troxell was the only lineman to grade over 60. Killian Zierer, Brandon Council and KJ Jones all graded under 50. That's absolute carnage. We talk about the OL problems so often that it's somehow almost easy (for me) to forget just how bad things are at that position. It's almost impossibly bad. To play seven guys each game and have maybe one of them be assessed as "average" each game is amazing in a perverse way.

• Shed Jackson was back up to 52 snaps against MSU and graded at 43.4. This staff seems so conflicted with him. Sometimes they play him a lot and sometimes they play him sparingly. Yes, I realize he's their best run-blocking wideout. It makes sense to play him more when Auburn is planning to run more, which makes me wonder why Auburn doesn't run more ALL THE TIME considering how limited Ashford is as a passer.

• Rhym came into the game with 94 snaps this season. He got 66 against MSU — and he played really well considering his lack of experience. He competes. It's shocking to me that he hasn't played more. Nehemiah Pritchett has been just so-so this season. It's abundantly clear that Harsin favored experience to an unrealistic degree.

• Wesley Steiner got six snaps. His grade was awful, but the sample size (for this game) is too small. Schmedding rolled with Pappoe, who graded at 70.2, and Riley for most of the night. He then used BARTON LESTER (10 snaps) and JAKE LEVANT (13 snaps) as the backup guys.

• That was Pappoe's best grade since the San Jose State game.

• Pappoe saw season-high snaps as a de-facto DE (six snaps) and as a de-facto SLOT defender (18 snaps). They used him very differently.

• Marquise Gilbert played a season-high 18 snaps ... largely because Zion Puckett went down early with an injury and didn't return.

• Jeffrey M'ba earned a season-high grade of 69.3 on 12 snaps.

• Jayson Jones played a lot early, but not late. He finished with just 17 snaps — his lowest tally since the Mizzou game. He graded at a season-low 49.5.