Who would have imagined Alex Golesh having a smooth transition after Hugh Freeze’s departure? The Auburn head coach is committed to reviving the football program, but at the same time, Golesh is also working hard to revive the trust of the players on the roster. And it appears he’s been successful with his approach because he received a second chance from the Tigers’ leading rusher for the 2026 season, Jeremiah Cobb.

“One, the experience; two, an in-state guy—that means a lot to our program. Got an all-conference running back, and we had to kind of rebuild it around him,” Auburn’s head coach Alex Golesh said on WSFA12 News. “[Cobb is the] definition of an Auburn man. [He] has done a really good job of being at the forefront, publicly [saying], ‘I’m staying. I’m going to be a part of the reason why we win.'”

Jeremiah Cobb’s return provides a major boost for Auburn. He was the team’s leading rusher last year and is now set to play under Alex Golesh, signaling his confidence in Golesh’s leadership. Cobb’s journey to Auburn is anything but usual. He came in to perform under Bryan Harsin, but when he was fired, Cobb signed with and played under Hugh Freeze.

Revealing the past he has with the Tigers’ leading rusher, Golesh added, “Really, everything right about college football is Jeremiah Cobb, and he’s been exciting to be around. I go way back with him. He told me no four years ago. I remind him of that semi-regularly, but I’m glad he’s here.”

Despite recording just 62 carries in his first two seasons, he had his breakthrough in 2025 when Captain Damari Alston left midseason. He recorded 969 rushing yards in 2025 with five 100-yard games and a career high of 153 yards in a win over Arkansas. He averaged 5.5 yards per carry and scored five rushing touchdowns as a junior.

Apart from the production, what makes him a perfect fit for Alex Golesh’s system is their tie. Though Cobb initially chose an SEC program over Golesh’s South Florida team, his decision to stay at Auburn marks a significant recruiting win for the new head coach.

Cobb’s trust in Alex Golesh makes sense, as his offensive system produced a top 10 national rushing attack in 2025, averaging 224 rushing yards per game and ranking no. 6 in yards per rush nationally. Plus, the addition of running backs coach Larry Porter just strengthens their case even more.

Securing a player like Cobb is a massive win for Golesh, especially in the current landscape of college football, where player retention is a constant battle. Golesh himself recently weighed in on one of the biggest challenges programs face, which is tampering.

Alex Golesh gets real on tampering

Alex Golesh revamped Auburn’s program after taking over for Hugh Freeze. The team, which lost more than 36 players to the transfer portal, brought in 39 new players, the third-highest total in the FBS. All credit goes to Golesh, who worked tirelessly towards this turnaround. One of his major additions was USF’s quarterback, Byrum Brown.

But with all the portal success, the issue of tampering is also creating a massive rift in college football. One of the major examples of that is Duke’s lawsuit against QB Darian Mensah, who entered the portal even after signing a deal with the team and was linked to the Hurricanes, who influenced his decision.

Now, Golesh addressed the entire tampering issue college sports are facing, noting how there’s no difference in SEC recruiting compared to G5 when it comes to tampering.

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“(Tampering’s) been going on for a really long time; this portal era amplified it in every imaginable way,” Golesh said. “There eventually need to be guardrails on this thing. I think we all want to know the rules in which you can operate in … the truth is, right now, there aren’t any, so you operate ethically with what you feel like is right.”

In this modern era of NIL and the transfer portal, players tend to look for better deals, as Carson Beck did with Georgia, moving to Miami for $4 million. So, even head coaches have to go the extra mile to get their favorite players. As Golesh navigates the murky waters of the transfer portal, keeping a homegrown star like Cobb in the fold is the kind of foundational win that could define his tenure at Auburn.