As former players of some of the Tigers' best teams of the last dozen years, the first-year position coaches are focused on getting their alma mater back to championship caliber.
"At this place, you're expected to win," said Williams, who replaced the South Carolina-bound Lance Thompson at linebackers coach after receiving a trial run during the Birmingham Bowl. "I want to win. I want that challenge. You put your back against the wall, and you just scrap it out and put your best foot forward. That’s what this place is about."
They personally know what it takes to compete for SEC and national titles.
"The reason I came to Auburn was that Auburn was built off of toughness, and guys I saw before that paved the way for me were tough, hard-nosed guys," said Burns, who took over as Auburn's wide receivers coach this offseason after Dameyune Craig's departure to LSU. "And that's how Auburn has won."
Burns and Williams also know the expectations for the Tigers outside of the Plains, especially after a 7-6 campaign in 2015. Auburn isn't a preseason darling this time around. Things have changed.
But both former Tigers built their playing careers off defying similar expectations.
Burns was a heavily hyped blue-chip passer who won and lost the starting quarterback job. But instead of transferring out of the program, he made a sacrificial move to wide receiver, where he became a key possession target for Cam Newton in the undefeated run to the 2010 national title.
Williams was a self-described "little skinny linebacker" in the early 2000s for head coach Tommy Tuberville. After a redshirt season and a freshman campaign, he emerged as a starting linebacker in 2003 and became a first-team All-SEC selection in 2004—when the Tigers went undefeated and won the SEC title.
Together with veteran defensive line coach Rodney Garner, offensive graduate assistant Jonathan Wallace and defensive graduate assistant Craig Sanders, Burns and Williams are part of Gus Malzahn's new-look and semi-homegrown coaching staff for 2016.
"What Coach Malzahn has done is he's hired guys that have played here, and have put their blood, sweat and tears in this school and on that field," Burns said. "With recruiting...I'm talking about a school because I played there. I am Auburn. I believe in everything I say about the school. I believe it and really believe from the heart."
Burns and Williams' respective positions at Auburn are under a lot of scrutiny heading in 2016. The Tigers have to replace the top two receivers from a unit coming off its worst statistical year since Malzahn arrived, and they lost three linebackers to graduation ahead of a transition to another new defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele.
Williams is using that as motivation for his younger and thinner unit.
"Right now, I tell them we don't have to say anything. We can walk silent and carry a big stick," Williams said, echoing his own linebacker coach at Auburn, Joe Whitt Sr. "I told them in this room we're going to be a group of overachievers, and that's OK. You have to have that mentality that outside this room nobody thinks you're worth a crap."
For Williams, the focus is on developing his linebackers like Whitt developed him into a feared force for a title-winning defense over a decade ago and being a motivator on the practice field:
Williams even models his practices after Whitt, who started as Auburn's linebackers coach in 1981 and stayed in that role for 25 seasons. Whitt coached on five different SEC championship teams and 17 bowl teams, spanning some of the best years in program history.
"I know it works," Williams said. "I have seen it and actually experienced everything that he's instilled into a linebacker. ... You still have to develop guys. Some coaches like them microwave-ready. They want you to come out of high school and play. That's not realistic. You're paid to coach and paid to develop players."
Williams must develop a unit that currently has a leader in junior Tre' Williams but little else in experience. Jeff Holland is practicing with the edge-rushers on the defensive line, making sophomore Deshaun Davis—who had five tackles in 2015—the second-most productive Auburn linebacker heading into the fall.
The new assistant spoke highly of the progress underclassmen Richard McBryde, Darrell Williams and Montavious Atkinson have showed this spring, but the unit won't be complete until later this year, when Illinois transfer T.J. Neal arrives.
Burns is experiencing something similar on the offensive side of the ball. The wide receivers he's inherited combined for only 575 yards last year, putting more pressure on a stellar recruiting class Craig signed and other underclassmen such as Darius Slayton and Ryan Davis.
Auburn has physically gifted true freshman Kyle Davis already on campus, but he is limited in what he can do in practices while recovering from shoulder surgery. Four-star signees Nate Craig-Myers and Eli Stove won't arrive until this summer.
But while other coaches may see that dependence on youth as a problem, Burns sees it as a golden opportunity.
"I'm excited to work with these guys," Burns said. "The best thing for me is that they are freshmen, so I get to mold them in how I want them to be—what my expectations are. I can take them personally and show them the way and how we do things at Auburn."
According to Burns, how Auburn does things at receiver has a lot to do with blocking for runs—the base of Malzahn's offense. With an experienced group of running backs and the potential of a quarterback such as John Franklin III or Jeremy Johnson on read options, Burns is placing a high priority on toughness.
"The offensive line has to do its job up front, but we also have an obligation as receivers to block and make sure that runs go from 15-yard runs to 60- and 70-yard runs," Burns said. "That's a mentality in our room we've got to get back...It's the extra-effort things I expect you to do and go over and beyond to be a receiver at Auburn."
Both Burns and Williams say they understand the challenge ahead of them in what will be a make-or-break year for the entire staff.
And they're ready to attack coaching at their alma mater with plenty of excitement and enthusiasm.
"You can't catch me without a smile on my face," Williams said. "In the same breath, I understand the responsibility and expectations. Coming to work every day, it gives you a goal, because a lot of people are depending on you to get this thing right."
All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Recruiting rankings are courtesy of 247Sports.
Justin Ferguson is a National College Football Analyst at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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