John Reed-USA TODAY Sports
In 2013 it was Tre Mason, in 2014 it was Cameron Artis-Payne. These skilled backs were able to beat out other SEC forces like Nick Chubb, Jeremy Hill and Alex Collins. This year the Auburn Tigers have a chance to rekindle that offensive fire that they have obtained the past two seasons. Gus Malzahn‘s offense has not ceased to amaze anyone since the beginning of his collegiate career, and 2015 will simply be another chance to prove that he is one of the best coaches in all of football.
But one question remains; will Auburn have another SEC leading rusher? If so, who would it be?
There’s one big running back that Auburn fans should be very excited about. That’s incoming junior college transfer Jovon Robinson. Robinson sits at 6-foot-0, 240 pounds and has lightning speed, which will be a dangerous combination for any defense, no matter what conference. Jovon had quite a year while playing for Georgia Military Football in 2013. He broke the junior college record by rushing for 2,387 yards and 43 touchdowns all in his junior year. He has now sat out for a year but will still be one to watch for sure. Malzahn has been very successful with his junior college transfers in the past with recent players like Nick Marshall and D’haquille Williams. If there is any running back to pick to be the SEC’s leading rusher for 2015, Jovon Robinson would be a wise choice.
But Robinson will surely not be the only back with success in 2015. The departure of Cameron Artis-Payne and Corey Grant left a great string of backs that have true potential to make something happen for the Tigers next season. Roc Thomas is will be the back that Tiger fans will be most familiar with. However, he wasn’t given the chance to get off to an explosive start last season. By the end of the regular season he had only 43 carries for 214 yards and 2 TDs. He will come into his sophomore season getting many more touches. Thomas also entered his freshman season weighing just 205 and needing strengthening, so that could go a long way for the Tiger offense.
Another back that should be included in the mix is Peyton Barber. Barber had significantly low playing time last season, only receiving 10 carries for a very impressive 54 yards. Barber is a big back, weighing close to 230 and should be a great asset to the power game. Other running backs will come into play like redshirt freshman Kamryn Pettway and true freshman Kerryon Johnson, who have both showed true talent in their time at Auburn thus far.
Most of Malzahn’s success with the running game has been based off of having plenty of backs to work with. It can definitely be seen here that there will be plenty of backs to shuffle in and out for Auburn in 2015. The other SEC West teams may very well be having nightmares about the Auburn Tigers on Saturday nights this fall.
