Good Morning, Auburn Family. Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter was one of 80 players who earned a spot on the preseason watch list for the 88th Maxwell Award, presented annually to the most outstanding player in college football. 

Hunter is coming off a career year at Auburn, where he finished with 909 yards rushing, 118 yards receiving and seven touchdowns.

Heading into 2024, Hunter ranks 18th all-time at Auburn with 2,172 career rushing yards. He also has 17 career rushing touchdowns in three seasons on the Plains. 

What else do we have mixed in for today’s Brew? Check it out below!

🎾 Auburn tennis alumnus Tim Puetz and doubles partner advance in Paris
🥎 Softball lands a Power 5 transfer
🐅 And much, much more!

🎥 WAREAGLE+: TALKING TIGERS

Talking Tigers - John Cohen
John Cohen has been Auburn's director of athletics for 19 months. His first order of business was hiring Hugh Freeze. This spring, he hired Jordan Szabo to oversee the Women’s Tennis program and Kate and Chris Malveaux to become the co-head coaches for Auburn Softball. Construction continues at Plainsman Park, with a new video board in the north end zone at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the horizon. All of that with the new world of NIL and the transfer portal.

A look back at 2024 and a look ahead to 2024-25 are among the topics with John Cohen in this Talking Tigers Podcast.

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Puetz Proceeds in Paris. Auburn tennis alumnus Tim Puetz and partner Kevin Krawietz earned an opening-round victory in men’s doubles on Sunday morning. Puetz and Krawietz defeated Daniil Medvedev and Roman Safiullin, a Russian duo playing as individual neutral athletes, 6-4 to advance to the second round. 

Puetz and Krawietz will now face Gael Monfils and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France in the second round at historic Roland-Garros today.

🔼 Leaders Gonna Lead. As she nears her final season in the Orange & Blue, Carly Thatcher reflects on her journey at Auburn and how balancing soccer and her social life with the goal of heading to medical school in hopes of becoming a physician has been a massive challenge.

“There was a semester in my sophomore year when I was taking three upper-level science classes and had pretty much no free time between all my responsibilities. It was hard, but it felt good to accomplish it. It really taught me to make every day count.”

Thatcher states she’s treasured her time on the pitch not because of goals, assists or any sort of athletic achievement but because of the group of teammates she gets to take the field with every week.

“My teammates are also my best friends,” she added.

Read On the Plains With Carly Thatcher for her thoughts on the “mental strength” needed for soccer, her time as a senior leader and her legacy.

🔼 This Thor Has a Different Kind of Hammer. While our eyes were perhaps on USA Gymnastics and Auburn’s Suni Lee yesterday, former Auburn hooper JT Thor was dunking on the hardwood as he repped South Sudan in the Olympics.

🔼 Less is More. Landing a fourth Power 5 transfer and adding depth to the Tiger outfield for the 2025 season, co-head coaches Chris and Kate Malveaux have announced the signing of Georgia Lessmann. An outfielder from Enterprise, Alabama, Lessmann spent her freshman season at the University of Iowa.

Athletic success runs within the Lessmann family. Her father, Corey, played baseball at Briar-Cliff University. Her brother, Jackson, played baseball at Enterprise Community College. Her older sister, Olivia, played softball at the University of Dayton and was a graduate assistant for Auburn softball during the 2023 season.

🤔TIGER TRIVIA

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🐅 ONE BIG THING

Put Us In, Coach. Is it softball season yet?!

📅 ON THE DOCKET

Thursday, Aug. 15
⚽️ Soccer vs. Clemson @ 6:30 p.m. CT

Saturday, Aug. 31
🏈 Kickoff On the Plains vs. Alabama A&M @ 6:30 p.m. CT ESPN+/SECN+

🐅 Go here to view the entire Auburn Athletics Calendar

🎉TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: The Tigers have now had a player make the Maxwell Award watch list six times over the last five years.

Quarterback Bo Nix (2020, 2021) and running back Tank Bigsby (2021, 2022) both made the watch list two different years and wide receiver Seth Williams was on the list in 2020. 

🐅 Happy Tuesday y’all!