Four burning questions heading into Auburn’s spring football practice
Spring football is soon returning to the Plains.
Auburn kicks off its spring football practice on March 16 and looks to build off a nine-win season that included plenty of highs and lows. The Tigers’ coaching staff looks quite different now compared to last March, and there are question marks aplenty as Auburn gears up for spring ball.
Here are four burning questions for the Tigers to answer this spring.
Who replaces JaTarvious Whitlow?
Arguably the biggest question the Tigers face this offseason is who will replace star running back and leading rusher JaTarvious Whitlow, who entered the transfer portal last month.
Whitlow had 787 rushing yards as a freshman in 2018 and had 763 last season as a sophomore.
That’s the predicament Auburn is in, but the Tigers’ backfield is still crowded.
Junior Malik Miller, sophomore Shaun Shivers, freshman D.J. Williams and redshirt freshman Harold Joiner all return next season, each with a solid amount of experience. But perhaps the player with the biggest opportunity now is former Callaway running back Tank Bigsby, who signed with Auburn in December and enrolled early.
Bigsby rushed for 700 yards in the Georgia class 2A playoffs as a junior at Callaway. He rushed for 2,221 yards his senior season and had 22 touchdowns.
“I think (running back) is a position that we’re very deep and we’re very young and talented,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said at his National Signing Day press conference. “We feel very good about the guys that we have and to fit into what coach (Chad) Morris wants to do.”
Who replaces lost defensive big names?
Auburn did most of its class of 2020 recruiting prior to the early signing period, when the Tigers signed 23 players. Ten of those signees enrolled early.
Four-star defensive end Zykeivous Walker from Schley County, three-star linebacker Romello Height from Dublin and four-star Kobe Hudson, a receiver from Troup who doubled as the team’s quarterback his senior year, are three names to watch.
But the Tigers lose some big names on defense, notably seniors Derrick Brown, Javaris Davis and Marlon Davidson, and juniors Nick Coe and Noah Igbinoghene. How the defense replaces those contributors could go a long way in determining just how successful the unit will be next season.
Along with Walker and Height, the Tigers’ only other defensive early enrollee is four-star safety Chris Thompson Jr.
WHAT IS MALZAHN’S OFFENSIVE LINE PLAN?
Auburn lost a multitude of experience from last season’s offensive line.
Left guard Marquel Harrell, left tackles Prince Tega Wanogho and Bailey Sharp, right guard Mike Horton, center Kaleb Kim and right tackle Jack Driscoll have all left the program, which has opened up most offensive line slots heading into spring practice.
But Auburn is not short of options up front.
The Tigers signed three early enrollee three-star offensive linemen in Avery Jernigan from Pierce County (Blackshear, Georgia), Kilian Zierer from College of the Canyons (Valencia, California) and Tate Johnson from Callaway. Zierer will miss spring practice as he recovers from an ACL injury.
Auburn ranked 33rd nationally in rushing offense a season ago,and ran for 2,588 yards and averaged more than 4.7 yards per rush. The Tigers averaged a little less than 200 yards rushing per game.
“I’m not ready to say (the plan) right now,” Malzahn said. “We’re going to let (Morris) evaluate everything that we did last year and of course, we’ll have our fist drills and everything that goes with it here in February and then he’ll put the pieces of the puzzle together as we get closer to spring.”
HOW MUCH DEVELOPMENT WILL NIX SHOW?
Much of quarterback Bo Nix’s success in 2019 came when the freshman had a strong run game to fall back on.
Nix threw for 2,542 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, and ranked 84th nationally in pass efficiency. He held a 125.0 passer rating in 2019.
The AP SEC Freshman of the Year improved as the season wore on. He still struggled against some of the better opposing defenses, but that was to be expected out of a true freshman facing one of the toughest schedules in the nation, according to ESPN’s FPI preseason rankings.
But Nix struggled in his first true road start at Florida, a game in which Auburn’s defense kept the score respectable by forcing some timely turnovers. He also struggled in losses to LSU and Georgia.
The hiring of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Morris could do wonders for Nix’s development, given the coach’s track record, notably at Clemson.
“I know (Morris) and Bo (Nix) and Cord (Sandberg) have spent a lot of time together just talking about the new things we’re going to do,” Malzahn said. “I know our receivers are excited about it. I’d say there’s a good chance we could throw it more than we did last year and build around Bo’s strengths.”
There’s no telling how different Auburn’s offense will look now. But Nix will be a sophomore next season, and will have a year of experience under his belt. That alone could be enough to improve the offense, which will once again face a murderers’ row of opponents: Auburn travels to Georgia on Oct. 10, then closes its season with back-to-back games against national champion LSU and Alabama.
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