Sept. 28, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. -- Rhett Lashlee goes way back with Gus Malzahn, back as a record-setting school-boy quarterback for his coach at Shiloh Christian in Springdale, Ark., back to learning the coaching game with him at Springdale High, at Arkansas and at Auburn.
He's learned the way to run an offense along the way.
Malzahn, Auburn's head coach, officially turned the play-calling over to his protÃÆ'Æ'©gÃÆ'Æ'©e and the Tigers' offensive coordinator before last week's win over LSU; and Lashlee will be calling the shots again when Auburn plays host to Louisiana-Monroe at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
It's been some 25 years in the making, and it's something that Malzahn said is time so he can see big picture as the head coach.
"Really, the last 10 years in college football, he's been arguably one of the best play callers," Lashlee said Wednesday night. "I think for him, as our leader, speaks volumes of him trying to do what's best for our team. It's not just about our offense, it's about everybody. He feels like it allows him to be a better head coach -- he's a better head coach, we are a better team and we will be better for it.
"It's just our job starting with me and our offensive staff to do the best job we can for those kids."
Kids? Lashlee has his own, twin girls, Rowyn and Scarlett; and twin boys, Thomas and Hudson, who are the oldest.
"They don't have a clue what play is being called nor do they care," their dad said. "Their excited when they hear Auburn won, but after that, they are more excited about Legos and Star Wars."
Auburn fans may recall Lashlee called much of the game for his football-playing kids last season in a 26-10 win at Texas A&M. Now, he's down to do it more.
"It's like anything else you have to prepare for it, first and foremost you just want to put guys in a good situation," he said. "I don't look at it any differently than I did before because you are still preparing the quarterback and the offensive guys to execute. The pressure is the same. We got to go out and get results and got to win. Nothing has changed."
And Malzahn, as the head coach, has veto power and more. Lashlee said it would be "foolish" not to rely on Malzahn's expertise.
"It's his offense. He's the one who, 20-something years ago, put it together. He's very involved. During the week, not a lot has changed. He's still a part of our planning and process, and so is the whole staff. We do it together.
"A lot gets made of calls.' Who's calling this, what's the call', and rightfully so. But a lot of times it's more about the execution. Do the guys know what to do? Did they execute it right? Did we put them in the right position? So that's when it brings everybody together, just the whole process throughout the week. Because you can have the best play call in the world, and if you don't execute it right, it's not going to matter."
The transition to Lashlee will include ways to improve Auburn's red zone production. The Tigers have a lot of field goals, as in six in the win over LSU, but not enough touchdowns. The red zone offense, Lashlee said, is "the biggest concern."
"Everybody knows that. It kept us from maybe giving our defense some breathing room last Saturday and it will catch up with you. It has already in a couple of games this year," Lashlee said. "Sometimes you play some pretty good offensive football, but if you don't finish the drives with touchdowns, it doesn't feel that way or doesn't look that way. That's been the big emphasis this week, not just the red zone, but just in general finishing drives with our guys."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine