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Auburn is looking like the team to beat this season. The Tigers have a lot of things going for them, both offensively and defensively. But even the team to beat has areas that could use improvement if you look closely enough.
Let’s dig into the nuances of the 2015 Auburn team prior to the season to see where its strengths and weaknesses are.
PROJECTED OFFENSIVE STARTERS
Strength: WR D’haquille Williams
Williams missed the beginning of preseason camp due to an unrevealed discipline issue, but he’s now back at practice, working on becoming the biggest impact player on offense for Auburn this year. Williams has strong hands, speed, and physically outmatches most defenders. Once Johnson and Williams sync up during the course of fall practice, the two of them will be effective.
Weakness: Lack of experienced skill players
The team must replace Rimington Trophy winner Reese Dismukes at center. But the majority of the Tigers’ new faces are skill players. Gone are QB Nick Marshall, WR Sammie Coates, RB Cameron Artis-Payne, RB Corey Grant and WR Quan Bray. Auburn seems to remain talented at the skill positions, but needs to prove that on the field.
PROJECTED DEFENSIVE STARTERS
Strength: Veteran linebackers
Both Kris Frost and Cassanova McKinzy could easily have gone to the NFL with the numbers and performance they had last season. However, they elected to return for another year of Auburn football under defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Defense dominated the first scrimmage of preseason camp, which Gus Malzahn was very happy about. Frost and McKinzy will be the rocks upon which Muschamp builds his War Eagle castle.
Weakness: Secondary
The primary concern at secondary is the lack of depth. Three players on the secondary transferred away in May, one of them citing the reason as “things are just not going well there,” according to the Montgomery Advisor. Indeed, the secondary has been a weakness for the last two seasons, allowing 230.1 passing yards and 22 touchdowns last year. Malzahn and Muschamp will look to Jonathan “Rudy” Ford and Jonathan Jones to carry the secondary. If one of them gets injured during the course of the season, Auburn will need to be ready for inexperience to take his place.
POSITION UNITS
Strength: Running backs
The four-way race to be Auburn’s running back has dominated camp headlines. Having four qualified running backs to choose from is not a bad thing, as some programs struggle to even identify one reliable back. By the end of the competition, Auburn will have one fantastic starting back, one great backup, and still have depth in the position.
Weakness: Tight ends
C.J. Uzomah and Brandon Fulse have departed, which means Auburn now has only freshman to choose from to fill the tight end slot. Tight end has never been a priority in Malzahn’s offense, but it’s a position that is still utilized. Chris Laye has had good spring and fall camps thus far, and Jalen Harris is expected to also start playing immediately at the position once the season starts.
SCHEDULE
Strength: October
Auburn starts the month with a game against the San Jose Spartans. After a subsequent bye week, they travel to Lexington to play Kentucky. They then play Arkansas and Ole Miss, two games that could be tricky if Auburn does not have the presence of mind to prepare for them accurately. However, Auburn does have the stronger team against both those division foes.
Weakness: Alabama
The Tigers were lucky to have not only an easier schedule this year, but a schedule in which the harder teams are spaced between easier or non-conference games. However, the Iron Bowl is a standing date with the Crimson Tide that the Tigers will never be able to get out of. This season in particular, when so much hype has been piled onto this Auburn team, the game against Alabama will be a large determinant for whether they not only win the conference, but go on to claim a spot in the College Football Playoff. A lot will be riding on this game.
FAN BASE
Strength: Sights set high
To be frank, Auburn’s goal this year is national championship. That’s this team’s destiny. At least, that’s what it’s starting to feel like for the fans. And that’s exciting, no doubt about it. Auburn fans cannot wait until they step out of Alabama’s shadow and represent the SEC properly by reclaiming national dominance in primetime.
Weakness: Too much hype
Part of being set on a pedestal, however, is being an easy target for shots. Both the Auburn program and the fans are feeding into the idea that the Tigers are the team to beat nationally. That can easily cause a team to overestimate its abilities, become lazy in its practice, and fall in an unnecessarily lost game due to silly mistakes and underpreparation. Auburn has a right to swagger, but it should also tread carefully.
Christine Wang is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. She covers Auburn, Arkansas and Ole Miss.
