Brent Crouch knows how to make the X's and O's of volleyball suddenly sound easy.
And he knows how to act as an interpreter for a fan base in a city like Auburn.
“I mean, Freeze, I think he wants 100 wide receivers, the way he recruits,” Crouch laughed, comparing it to Auburn football. Indeed, Hugh Freeze is focused on adding a large number of offensive weapons. For Crouch, it's about keeping his offensive weapons in as many spots on the court as possible.
“Give me wide receivers everywhere,” Crouch is sure Freese is saying, and he's looking to do more this cycle with the addition of Cam Coleman, Perry Thompson, Malcolm Simmons and Bryce Cain. .
For Crouch, it's “give me a hitter anywhere.”
“If you have someone in the back row (who can attack), there's an outlet. There's more batters. And the more batters, the better, right?” Of course. Simple.
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There was a little more to it, but Auburn's volleyball team got closer to that vision with six spring exhibitions in March and April. He got four freshmen up to speed as early enrollees and watched two emerging outside hitters develop into his six. position player.
First, early registrants are:
Instant impact?
Rookie outside hitter Lauren Draves hit .250 at Auburn in the spring without preparing for her high school prom. The Gatorade Player of the Year from Washington State is one of several high-profile recruits to sign with Crouch's developmental program, which aims to make its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance next season.
Other players include Emma Moore, a 6-foot-3 in-state middle blocker and two-time Class 7A state champion from McGill Toolen, and Peyton Dunn, an Illinois native and setter. There's also Calei Edson, who is expected to compete for time. If you compare it to football, you're the quarterback of a volleyball team. Auburn also acquired defensive specialist Alexis DaCosta from Baylor in a transfer. This brings five new faces to the practice gym, including second-year former Gatorade Player of the Year Lakin Lorendin, also of Mississippi State, who redshirted last season and is heading to the court for the next round. I took a step forward.
Lorendin can be used as an example of how things have changed this spring. Laurendine is a talented player, but she redshirted her as a freshman last fall because Coach Crouch decided it would be detrimental to insert her into playing time immediately upon her arrival in the fall. . Unlike other sports, volleyball coaches don't have time to work with players during the summer due to NCAA rules. Once everyone gathers in early fall, games begin just a few weeks later in August.
For players who can graduate high school early and get through spring practice, playing as a freshman becomes more realistic.
“Volleyball is definitely trending here,” Crouch said. Auburn was able to capitalize on this trend this spring. Spring practice also saw an increase in 6-on-6 scrimmages, creating competition that Crouch hadn't experienced during his time at Auburn.
“The big difference was we were able to play six-on-six with guys literally competing for playing time all spring,” Crouch said. “And those freshmen need to get some real game time in the spring and will be ready to contribute this fall.”
In addition, new students who enrolled early were steered towards fall 2024 instead of spring being a continuation of fall 2023. This means less time wasted for everyone. With more information at hand about where the team is heading, for better or worse, outside hitter Akasha Anderson will enter the transfer portal after the spring and will commit to Michigan State, while middle blocker Kendall -Kemp won the portal and will transfer to Georgia State.
“Wide receiver”
Both Draves and Laurendin are expected to be candidates for playing time and starting spots next season, in part because of their all-around ability.
Both are outside hitters, but can play all six positions on the court without needing to be substituted. They're both 6-foot-1 and can attack from the outside up front and hold their own in the middle, but when they drop back in the rotation they have the flexibility to get down and scoop up digs and receive. have. Serve.
When an outside hitter who specializes in offense is rotated to the back where a player needs to receive a serve or scoop dig, coaches often do this by substituting a defensive specialist, which is what most middle This is how most blockers do it.
But having more defensive specialists on the floor creates a tradeoff. “As a result, you don't have a back-row attack because you don't have any hitters in the back row,” Crouch said.
Crouch likes to compare setters to quarterbacks and other players to wide receivers. At a certain point, the setter is choosing who to give the ball to, and the setter can choose to attack by dishing to the outside hitter. Whether left or right, she can choose to flip the ball to a middle blocker for a putdown, or send the ball over herself. If she has a defensive specialist behind her, she has no real play. But if you have a hitter there, that's one more wide receiver the quarterback can also throw to, and one more angle for the opposing team to consider.
“The last two years we've been recruiting outside hitters, we've focused on all-around players,” Crouch said. Draves and Lauren Dean have proven themselves that: Tracking expected first-ball sideouts — a measurement of how effectively a play receives the ball on defense — Auburn's coach said spring They put both Draves and Lauren Dean around 33%, which they calculated would be the top spot. If you can extrapolate their performance throughout the regular season, you'll rank them up in the SEC.
Spring full of ups and downs
Overall, it was the most eventful spring at Auburn during Crouch's tenure. This is the first time under Coach Crouch that so many early enrollees have experienced spring practice at Auburn.
But now some freshmen, like Lorendin, may not have to redshirt.
And now, Crouch thinks this may become the new normal as Auburn becomes the first team to make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
“The level of what we do in the SEC coming out of high school is so high that they need a year of training — or at least what we got this spring. It’s about coming and getting this far. Let’s compete and get stronger,” Crouch said.
