Auburn players say they are excited about Chad Morris offense

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AUBURN, Alabama—Coming off his best season yet with the Auburn Tigers as a wide receiver, catching 37 passes for 321 yards and his first three touchdown receptions, senior Eli Stove is looking for bigger and better things with the return of Bo Nix at quarterback and the addition of Chad Morris as offensive coordinator for the Tigers.

With Seth Williams and Anthony Schwartz returning to give Auburn its top three receivers back from last season, Stove said the group is pumped up about what it has seen from Morris’ offense so far.

“We’re very excited,” Stove said of the wide receiver group as a whole.”We have a lot of explosive plays. Coach Morris is bringing in a lot of good plays and deep balls and intermediate plays to get everybody open. We’re really excited in the receiver room right now.

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“I would say his plays just get people open a lot more. We’re going to have more explosive plays down the field, of course. We’re going to be throwing the ball a little bit more. I think everybody does (like the offense). We’re doing good in practice. We’re learning.”

One of the biggest areas of improvement needed for Auburn’s offense is having the ability to attack down the field with speed guys like Stove and Anthony Schwartz. Making explosive plays in the passing game is one of the keys to having a high-scoring offense. That’s a big priority at the moment, said Stove.

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“I guess everybody, including myself, needs to work on down the field balls because that’s what we’re going to be doing a lot,” he said. “Just deep balls and catching, basically all the time. Not just me and him. Really just Shed Jackson and Seth as well, and more receivers. Everybody's going to have more opportunities to go down the field and catch some. I think that's what everybody has to improve on and make sure and constantly be a thing.”

Getting a taste of working with Morris during bowl practices, Stove and his teammates are really getting their first true look at him on the field this preseason because of the lack of spring practices. Stove said so far nothing has changed with Morris showing up and being the same guy day-in and day-out for the Tigers.

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“He’s the same dude,” Stove said. “He’s a good coach. He’s always going to be interacting with us. He’s going to let us know if we mess up. He’s not going to bash us or nothing. He’s going to say what he has to say and you’re going to go to the next play.

“He always says, ‘Don’t make the same mistake twice.’ I think that’s what everybody has to really focus on because you can’t make the same mistake twice. In a game you’re only going to get that one play.”

It’s not just the offensive players that have seen the changes in practice. Sophomore linebacker Owen Pappoe said the defensive players have also seen a big change in what the Tigers are doing on the offensive side of the ball under Morris.

"I would say, man, salute to Chad Morris," Pappoe said. "We talk about it almost every day in the linebacker room. I can’t really say too much about it, but y’all are going to see it this season. It’s going to look like a whole new Auburn offense, man. All the stuff they’ve brought in, it’s ridiculous, but they’re looking really good out there."

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