Nov. 3, 2016
By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - Gus Malzahn is playing and winning with young guys on offense, so much so that last Saturday was something of an eye-opening experience.
"I looked out there one time and all our receivers were, I think, true freshmen," said the Auburn coach.
Rookies and veterans combined to help Auburn beat Ole Miss 40-29 last Saturday, finish the weekend No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference in total offense and hoping for more in Saturday's 11 a.m. game against Vanderbilt in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Auburn played last Saturday without injured senior Tony Stevens, who leads the team in receptions. But that didn't stop redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean White from completing passes to eight of his teammates as much of Auburn's offense continues to fall in the hands of true and redshirt freshmen and sophomores.
"This is the first year for our running backs. We've got a new offensive line," Malzahn said on Auburn's Tiger Talk radio show Thursday.
"It's a young group, they've gotten better, we're believing. We're still making mistakes, but they're playing hard and they're overcoming them."
Freshman Eli Stove led Auburn against Ole Miss with five catches. A variety of receivers and running backs were next: redshirt freshman Darius Slaton was second with three catches. Sophomore running back Kerryon Johnson was after that, followed by senior Marcus Davis, junior Jason Smith, sophomore running back Stanton Truitt, sophomore tight Jalen Harris and freshman Kyle Davis.
Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said earlier in the week he's OK with spreading the ball around.
"We're not a lot of superstars this year. But that's OK," he said. "It's a good team offensive mix, and that's why eight different guys caught a ball last night, and they were all productive catches. You look at Marcus Davis, one catch, but it was 33 yards. Jason Smith, one catch, 33 yards. Jalen Harris, one catch, touchdown. And I can go on and on and on. It's kind of just: 'What plays to we need to call and how's it going to work out?' And sometimes that's actually easier as a coach, because you don't worry about, 'well, I've got to get this guy the ball. I got to get that guy the ball.' Let's put the guys in the position we think they'll do best."
Auburn, winners of five straight, is 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the SEC. Vanderbilt is 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the league.
AlsoÃÆ'¢Ãƒ¢'¬¦
- Malzahn said it's been a good week of practice.
"The thing about this team is they've responded every time that I've asked them to do something. That's really a tribute to our leadership."
- Malzahn said Vanderbilt will be tough on defense
"This is going to be a very physical football game. That's the way they play. That's the way we play.
We're going to need to run it, and they know that."
Charles Goldberg is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @AUGoldMine