| #14 Auburn Tigers |
| #4 in SEC |
The marriage of Gus Malzahn and Chad Morris running the Auburn offense, should be interesting, if nothing else. At one point, nearly a decade ago, they may have been viewed as the top two offensive coordinators in the nation. Morris followed Malzahn (with a gap year) as offensive coordinator at Tulsa, and for five days in December of 2011, after Morris signed his extension with Clemson, but before Malzahn took the Arkansas State head coaching job, they were tied for the highest paid assistant coach in the nation. Following Morris’ disastrous two year run at Arkansas, and with Malzahn going 26-23 in SEC games since his 2013 BCS Championship Game appearance, they need each other to salvage their own reputations. One thing Morris has to work with, that he didn’t in Fayetteville, is a quarterback, in true sophomore Bo Nix. Nix had his freshman moments, but considering he was an 18 year old, who faced 7 top 20 teams, his 63.8 QBR is really good. It was better than Missouri’s Kelly Bryant, the most sought after quarterback in last year’s transfer market; or Wake Forest’s Jamie Newman, the most sought after in this year’s. I think the less Malzahn interferes here the better. Morris groomed DeShaun Watson, and while he and Malzahn agree on a lot of formation and pace issues, Morris’ offense suits Nix better, who is plenty mobile, but isn’t going to win with his legs. I expect Nix to take a big step forward as a passer under Morris. That’s just the start of the making of a really talented group of skill position players, with probably the best group of receivers in the SEC. Unless you think Ja’Marr Chase and anybody is the best group. Like Chase, Seth Williams would have been a high draft pick, were he not a true sophomore. Instead he returns to the Plains to headline a deep group with the ultimate possession guy in Eli Stove, and a burner in Anthony Schwartz. Schwartz, who was set to decide between football and track after the season, may end up getting pushed to track now, with the Olympics getting pushed back to 2021. Schwartz set a World Youth record in the 100 meter in 2017, winning silver in the U20 Worlds in 2018, and being named the Gatorade 2018 High School Male Track Athlete of the Year. The timeline now works better for him to run in Tokyo, and it’s certainly easier to continue to train as a runner than a football player during this. The running back room is also deep, but leading rusher JaTarvious Whitlow put his name in the transfer portal. He hasn’t picked a destination, so there is still a chance he could return, but it seems unlikely. How much room those guys have to operate depends on how four new bodies on the offensive line gel around returning starting center Nick Brahms. The line was solid in pass blocking, but struggled to create running room. Taking a grad transfer from Akron, the worst rushing team in the nation, doesn’t give me much confidence that the staff has confidence in the guys coming back. The defense is going to have to lean heavily on a stellar group of linebackers, after heavy losses along the line and secondary, each of which only returns one starter. If Big Kat Bryant can finally put it all together, that will help a lot on the line, where the Tigers seem to always have someone ready to step up. Losing both cornerbacks probably hurts more than losing the nation’s best defensive lineman, in Derrick Brown.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| QB | Bo Nix, Sophomore |
| WR | Seth Williams, Junior |
| C | Nick Brahms, Junior |
| . |
| LB | K.J. Britt, Junior |
| LB | Zakoby McClain, Junior |
| S | Christian Tutt, Junior |
