There are thousands of new faces on campuses all over college football this year, and Auburn’s Cam Coleman is considered one of the top-new arrivals by ESPN.
Everyone around the Auburn Tigers campus are fully expecting that 5-star recruit Cam Coleman will explode as a truly game changing wide receiver during his freshman year. He already put on a show at Auburn’s A-Day game in the spring, being named MVP.
Acknowledging that Coleman is primed for a serious breakout season isn’t merely confined to insiders on The Plains – ESPN+ has listed the talented freshman 21st on their list of 100 newcomers to the college game.
By newcomers, writers Max Olson and Eli Lederman are including (mostly) transfers. Coleman is No. 2 on the list among true-freshman, only behind Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, also a wide receiver.
“Coleman, a five-star signee, has absolutely wowed Auburn coaches with his spectacular play since his arrival,” wrote Olson and Lederman on ESPN+. “The 6-foot-3, 197-pounder has made the transition to college ball look easy and leads a freshman wideout group with Malcolm Simmons,Perry Thompson and Bryce Cain that has the potential to be special. Add in transfers Robert Lewis(Georgia State) and KeAndre Lambert-Smith (Penn State) and the Tigers have an extremely talented receiving corps for Year 2 under Hugh Freeze.”
Ever since Coleman showed up in the spring, his rapid progress within the offense has really stood out to the Tigers coaching staff and players alike.
Coleman’s ability to use his length and speed to make circus catches only tells part of the story, it’s his willingness to really learn from veterans like KeAndre Lambert-Smith which has also stood out.
Of course, veteran quarterback Payton Thorne stands to benefit perhaps the most, especially if Coleman and the strong group of receivers assembled by Freeze can deliver on their talent and early promise.
The school of thought that Freeze might be more inclined to develop Coleman and Co. a little bit slower might be totally debunked already, but he’s well aware that they all will require to iron out some blown assignments seen in practice.
“And a still too many missed assignments by the younger guys,” Freeze admitted on Monday. “We’re going to talk straight about that today when I give them the truth. One of the hardest things today is that you’ve got to figure out, as a coach, how you speak hard truth to a player. Especially a young one”
Colemans diligent approach to honing his craft will doubtless respond to his head coach’s bold demands, even if it’s highly unlikely that he will be at the sharp end of the dressing down.
Furthermore, Coleman is also extremely unlikely to get his head turned by ESPN showing him some love, after all, there’s a lot to prove yet.
