Sept. 29, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn needs more touchdowns, and Rhett Lashlee says the toughness of quarterback Sean White and running back Kerryon Johnson may be the ticket to finding the end zone on a more frequent basis.
Auburn's offensive coordinator said Wednesday he likes White's confidence, and that Johnson has answered questions about his durability in the first month of the season. "He ran like an Auburn running back," Lashlee said in high praise of Johnson's performance in last week's 18-13 win over LSU.
Lashlee, White, Johnson - the whole Auburn offense - will be looking for more, and especially will be looking to be more productive in the red zone, when the Tigers meet Louisiana-Monroe at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at homecoming in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
White stats were good enough last time out, completing 19-of-26 passes for 234 yards. But while Auburn scored six times against LSU, every one of the points came via a Daniel Carlson field goal.
White wanted some touchdowns.
"I think he'd be the first to tell you we're still very much in pursuit of that perfect game," Lashlee said. "But I love his competitiveness and I love his toughness, and he's playing well right now.
"I think he's going to get more confident each week. He's getting more confident with the guys who are playing around him, too. They're getting more continuity. Sean has the ability to be a very accurate guy. He's steady. He's doing what I thought he would do and think he should do. He's done a good job, too, of making plays with his feet at times."
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Johnson rushed 22 times for 93 yards against LSU, proving, Lashlee said, that the sophomore is "tough enough" to handle the workload in the SEC, noting that he ran over a safety on one play and other times he "made some guys miss."
"He ran extremely hard, and that's what really stood out. There were a couple of times he punished some guys. He's the guy that you think will make people miss, but he's done a really good job of running downhill."
Johnson leads Auburn in rushing, but a play in which he was stopped on fourth down at the LSU 1 left him disappointed.
"But that's who he is," Lashlee said. "He came off, and I noticed it then, he was mad at himself. He gave all that he had on that play, but that's the kind of kid he is."
Lashlee said Johnson's partner, Kamryn Pettway, "have really complemented each other very well." They're the only two running backs from the same school ranked in the Top 10 in SEC rushing. And brings Lashlee to his immediate goal: Find the end zone.
"That's," Lashlee said, "the No. 1 thing."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine