NASHVILLE, Tenn. – To paraphrase a country song, the Auburn Tigers plan to dance with the ones that brought them while also making room in the dance line for some fresh faces when they play Maryland Saturday at Nissan Stadium.
"It gives me a greater appreciation of those kids that are finishing," Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said Friday, seated next to Maryland coach Michael Locksley at the TransPerfect Music City Bowl press conference. "I applaud them. I told them in our team meeting this morning – I'm not trying to beat up anybody – people have to make their own choices, and our choices make us. But there's many in probably both of our locker rooms that said, 'Man, I want to finish. I just respect that."
Opt-outs create opportunities for both teams. Maryland will be without its record-setting quarterback. The Tigers will have a new-look secondary and receiving corps.
"I'm also excited to see the younger guys," Freeze said. "I'm afraid of how they'll tackle all his receivers because they haven't tackled since fall camp. We're fixing to play a bunch of DBs that haven't probably tackled anybody to the ground since then. That will be interesting to see how we do with that.\
"Somebody asked me this morning about his quarterback situation, and I said, 'Well, I turned on the TV yesterday and there were two guys that hadn't taken any snaps and they threw for like 400 yards. It's just about opportunities. I think we both are kind of excited to see how the start of the '24 team will look tomorrow."
Sweet music: Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and Maryland's Michael Locksley received guitars on the eve of the Music City Bowl
After Freeze and Locksley received guitars as welcoming gifts – Nashville's equivalent of a key to the city – Auburn's coordinators spoke with reporters about the challenge of preparing understudies for their turn in the spotlight.
"It's been a good opportunity for a lot of our younger guys to step in and get some reps," defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said. "In that way it's been an energized bowl practice. It's an opportunity for some guys to step into new roles. I thought they really handled it well. We're excited about the product we're going to put on the field on Saturday and look forward to playing Maryland."
Despite Big Ten career passing leader Taulia Tagovailoa opting out, Maryland offensive coordinator Josh Gattis says the Terps plan to "be who we are" against Auburn, presumably providing a test for Roberts' young DBs.
"Up front we're going to be pretty solid," Roberts said. "You are going to see a lot of veterans with game experience: linebackers and D-line. On the back end, we're going to see some new faces. I think they're very talented faces. Very limited reps on the back end, but they're all very talented football players. These are guys that are the future of Auburn football, and I think have very bright futures. It's been a fun experience to watch them go in there and get better the last 10 days of practice."
Auburn fans should see familiar names at most offensive positions except receiver, where four high school signees and two transfers will soon join the Tigers' returners.
"We've got some faces that aren't there," offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said. "We're pretty limited in the numbers right now, but the guys that are there have really practiced well. They've done a really good job of continuing to grow.
"I think with the faces that we're adding, I think that room is fixing to be really, really special. These guys here right now, we've got to keep them healthy through this game. I think we've still got some weapons and some things that we can do on the outside that we need to try to take advantage of. Those guys are excited about stepping on the field and playing and showing what they can do tomorrow.
"Practices have been good. We know we've got a great opponent in Maryland. We've got our hands full. We've got to come out and play well, but our guys have had a good week of work, good workouts leading up to this one, and we're excited about the opportunity to play tomorrow."
The Tigers and Terrapins kick off at 1 p.m. CT Saturday on ABC. Andy Burcham, Jason Campbell, Ronnie Brown, Will Herring, Paul Ellen and Brad Law will have the call on the Auburn Sports Network.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer