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Despite a poor shooting performance, Sharife Cooper’s impact extends beyond points in Auburn’s win over Kentucky.
It was only a matter of time before Auburn freshman point guard Sharife Cooper had a game like he did on Saturday against Kentucky. Cooper was 3-for-13 from the floor (0-for-5 on three-point shooting) with 11 points, and his shooting was a microcosm of the game itself: ugly. But, you should dig a little deeper into the stat line. Cooper also finished with eight assists and a season low in turnovers with four. Something that will go unnoticed by most is that Cooper’s eight assists against Kentucky accounted for 35 percent of Auburn’s buckets, which is the highest percentage of any of his three games. Despite other players like Allen Flanigan and Devan Cambridge having more efficient scoring performances, Cooper is still the one pulling the strings.
Cornelius Williams is named Auburn wide receivers coach.
Auburn fans may be underwhelmed by Bryan Harsin’s selection considering Cornelius Williams’ is not coming to The Plains with a Power 5 resume. Nonetheless, Williams’ resume is impressive, especially his six-year stint at Troy where he coached 14 All-Sun Belt selections at wideout. Additionally, for the last two seasons, he was Troy’s passing game coordinator, an area of Auburn’s offense that certainly needs revamping. This past season, Troy’s passing offense was ranked 21st nationally in passing yards per game with 290.2 per contest. With a resume featuring stops at Troy, UAB, Jacksonville State and North Alabama, it’s expected that Williams has recruiting connections in the Southeast. The main question facing the hire is the development of a young receiving corps and the ability to continue to recruit the position at a high level in the SEC.
Reports say Tennessee has fired Jeremy Pruitt. Is this the lowest point in modern Tennessee football history?
With a 3-7 record in 2020, this season marked the lowest win total for a Tennessee football team since 1924. The 2010s was the worst decade in Tennessee football history. The Vols had six losing seasons with no other decade having more than two stretching back to 1920. Couple that information with an NCAA investigation, yes, this is the lowest point in Tennessee football history. The Jeremy Pruitt hire was a setback for the program. The gap between Tennessee and its SEC East rivals, Florida and Georgia, is as large as ever. This hire will heavily impact the trajectory of the Volunteer program in the 2020s.
