Austin Allen takes the reins this year.
(Beth Hall-USA TODAY Sports)
War Eagle, everybody! It’s time now for another Auburn football preview! On October 22nd, the Auburn Tigers host the Arkansas Razorbacks, after a bye weekend. Exactly 6 weeks into the schedule, the break could not come at a better time. Last season, Arkansas seemed loaded up with a veteran offense and a questionable defense. Early on, the offense could not get out of its own way, and the defense was shredded by good passing times. After a terrible 2-4 start to the season featuring losses to Toledo and Texas Tech, Arkansas turned the corner in an overtime win against Auburn, and finished the season 8-5.
This year, roles are reversed on the team. It’s the offense that’s depleted and unproven, while most defensive starters return. Auburn starts with a five game home stand this season. The Tigers open with Clemson, then regroup with Arkansas State, then Texas A&M, LSU and homecoming against Louisiana Monroe, before traveling to Mississippi State. A bye week precedes this Arkansas game at Jordan Hare Stadium. Arkansas opens with Louisiana Tech, then goes to Ft. Worth to battle a tough TCU team. Texas State follows as a tune up, then the Razorbacks go to Arlington for a showdown with Texas A&M. October begins with another tune-up against Alcorn State, then a brutal stretch follows. The Razorbacks host Alabama and Ole Miss, then travel to Auburn. After playing the Tigers, Florida, LSU and Mississippi State follow. Ouch.
After a slow start, Arkansas fielded a respectable offense last season, that averaged 35.9 points per game. Admittedly, there were multi-period overtime games against Auburn and Ole Miss figured into that average. This season, most of the players that produced those numbers are gone, as well as 3 starting offensive linemen. Brandon Allen’s younger brother Austin Allen takes over at quarterback, and the Razorbacks will turn to an oft-injured pair of younger runners to carry the ball this season. Receivers Keon Hatcher and Jeremy Spinkle should bring a bit of stablility to the receiving corps, having plenty of experience.
The Arkansas defense returns most of its starters, but it is a unit that was shredded at times in the passing game, last season. Former Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoades has been brought in to shore up a leaky secondary, and if the Arkansas spring game is any indication, the Razorbacks will at least look back for the ball in the air, this year. A pretty salty run-stopping unit is pretty much assured.
Last season, Arkansas was pretty average on special teams, and spotty kicking for points. This year’s spring game featured a lot of work on kicking field goals, and the team combined for just 13 good kicks out of 21. The Razorbacks were decent in coverage last season on both units, but hope this season to get more distance on punts, and more touchbacks on kickoffs.
Unit matchups, after the jump!
Auburn defensive line vs. Arkansas offensive line: Auburn brings a deep and talented defensive line into this game, a line that finally looked healthy this spring, after a couple of years of problems. Junior defensive end Carl Lawson and senior tackle Montravius Adams could have been drafted by the NFL last spring, had they gone out. Sophomore tackle Dontavius Russell really came on late last year, and was a force in Auburn’s spring game. Auburn’s end situation on the strong side is still a bit unsettled. Sophomore Byron Cowart was the heir-apparent this past spring, but it was true freshman phenom Marlon Davidson who started on A-Day, and he was impressive. Auburn has depth at both positions, and the team plans to rotate frequently up front. All eyes in this matchup will be on redshirt freshman left tackle Colton Jackson, who will have the unfortunate task of trying to slow Lawson down. Senior Dan Skipper will hold down the right tackle spot. A pair of sophomores will likely start at guard, Hjalte Froholdt and Brian Wallace. Junior Frank Ragnow gets the nod at center. In the spring game, the Arkansas starters had trouble running the ball, even working against the second-team defense. Advantage: Auburn.
Auburn linebackers vs. Arkansas backs: I think I’ll pencil junior Tre’ Williams and incoming senior transfer T. J. Neal in as starters, and I think we’ll see sophomore Deshaun Davis if Auburn uses 3 linebackers. There is talent behind those guys, although most of it is unproven. Senior Kody Walker and sophomore Rawleigh Williams III figure to be the go to guys in the Arkansas backfields. Leading the way will be sophomore fullback Kendrick Jackson. Advantage: Even.
Auburn corners vs. Arkansas receivers: Auburn will be talented, if a bit young at corner this season. Sophomore Carlton Davis is locked in at one starting spot, after a stellar freshman campaign. A battle is still on for the other spot, between redshirt freshman Jamel Dean, senior T. J. Davis, freshman John Broussard, and redshirt freshman Javaris Davis. One could also see senior Joshua Holsey at corner, if necessary. All of these guys showed great things this spring. Arkansas will go at receiver with senior Keon Hatcher, a talented guy who was banged up last season. Hatcher will be joined by Dominique Reed. Seniors Drew Morgan and Cody Hollister round out this unit. Even with Hatcher missing most of the season, these guys combined for 108 catches last season. Advantage: Even.
Auburn safeties vs. Arkansas secondary receivers and quarterback: I’m going to put senior starting Auburn nickelback Jonathan Ford here with the safeties, and it’s really not certain at this time who’ll be back there with him. Senior Joshua Holsey and junior Tray Matthews are veterans, but both are coming off surgery. Junior Stephen Roberts came off the bench last season to replace the fallen, and he looked good this spring. Junior Nick Ruffin held down the other safety spot this spring. Auburn should have a good bit of depth, here. Senior tight end Jeremy Sprinkle is the guy to watch, here, after catching 27 balls last season in a reserve role. Arkansas will also use an array of screen passes to running backs. Junior quarterback Austin Allen takes over the starting job this season, after being the primary backup the past two years. He looked decent this past spring, running the top offense against the twos in the Arkansas spring game. Advantage: Even.
Punting: Senior Kevin Phillips returns to punt again for Auburn, but he is being challenged by redshirt freshman Ian Shannon this summer. Phillips averaged 41.0 yards on 55 punts, with 5 touchbacks and 17 balls killed inside the 20. Auburn gave up only 7 returns all last season for a 12.4 yard average, but one of them was an average-inflating 53 yard touchdown. Senior Marcus Davis handled all Auburn punt returns last season, for a healthy 11.9 yard average. Last season for Arkansas, senior punter Toby Baker managed a 41.2 yard average, with 2 touchbacks and 23 balls killed inside the 20. Arkansas gave up 18 punt returns for just 6.9 yards per return. Junior Jared Cornelius returned punts last season for a 13.3 yard average. Advantage: Arkansas.
Kickoffs: Daniel Carlson was very good kicking off last season, notching 49 touchbacks on 69 kickoffs. When other teams did return the ball, the Auburn coverage held them to 21.2 yards per return. Auburn was dangerous returning the ball, averaging 27.9 yards per return, despite not having one go for a touchdown. Jonathan Ford and sophomore Kerryon Johnson return, here, sporting last season averages of 28.6 and 27.6, respectively. Junior Lane Saling takes over kickoff duties this season for the Razorbacks, after kicking off 9 times last season with 3 touchbacks. The Razorbacks gave up 19.5 yards per return. A rotating cast of return men averaged just 20.6 yards per return last season. The Razorbacks hope to get a spark this season with redshirt freshman T. J. Hammonds dropping deep. Advantage: Auburn.
Place kicking: Auburn junior Daniel Carlson is the man for Auburn. Carlson was 23 of 27 on field goals, and perfect on extra points last season. For Arkansas, sophomore Cole Hedlund appears to have the nod as the place kicker. Last season, Hedlund hit 9 of 15 field goal attempts, and all of his extra point attempts. Advantage: Auburn.
Auburn offensive line vs. Arkansas defensive line: The Tigers retool this year under new line coach Herb Hand. They’ll go with junior Austin Golson at left tackle, senior Alex Kozan at guard, senior Xavier Dampeer at center, junior Braden Smith at right guart, and senior Robert Leff at right tackle. This should be a veteran, dominating bunch. Arkansas counters with a veteran bunch up front. Seniors Taiwan Johnson and Jeremiah Ledbetter will start at tackle spots, and the end spots will be manned by senior Deatrich Wise, Jr. and junior Tevin Beanum. There is a bit of veteran depth behind these guys. Last season, the starters combined for 144 tackles, 13.5 sacks, and 30 tackles for loss. Advantage: Even.
Auburn backs vs. Arkansas linebackers: Senior Jovon Robinson looks to be Auburn’s feature-back next season, after coming on strong down the stretch last season. He’ll be joined in the backfield by a brutal tandem of H-backs, in sophomores Kamryn Pettway and Chandler Cox. Both of those guys are a threat with the ball in their hands, also. Pettway and Cox may also be featured as tailbacks behind Robinson. Last season, senior linebacker Brooks Ellis and sophomore Dre Greenlaw led the Razorbacks in tackles, and should be solid again. Finding a 3rd linebacker was a problem, and Arkansas used mostly a nickel defense in response. Advantage: Auburn.
Auburn receivers vs. Arkansas corners: Auburn appears set at the outside receiver spots coming out of spring, with senior Marcus Davis and junior Jason Smith as starters. The Tigers could be helped by an influx of talented true freshmen this fall. The rest of the group really didn’t impress, on A-Day. Arkansas will go with seniors Jared Collins and D. J. Dean on the outside. Advantage: Even.
Auburn secondary receivers and quarterback vs. Arkansas safeties: Auburn has potential threats here, in Darius Slayton, Logan Rice, and Ryan Davis. Tight ends will likely be used more, this season, and freshman Landon Rice reportedly has good hands. Still, none of these guys has much experience. Auburn is still unsettled at quarterback, having not named a starter coming out of spring drills. Tallying up the various rumors has sophomore Sean White at the top of the heap, but this decision won’t be made till fall. Sophomore Santos Ramirez and junior Josh Liddel seem to have the top spots at safety, while junior Henre’ Toliver will be the nickelback. Last season, Sean White carved this secondary up, and would have had a career day, if not for a ton of dropped passes by his receiving corps. Advantage: Auburn.
I think this game shapes up to be pretty tough for the Razorbacks. With an inexperienced backfield and a rebuilt offensive line, I think a road trip to Auburn will be daunting. Last season, the Razorbacks sold out to stop the run, and I think they’ll do that again. Against any sort of passing game, they Razorbacks had trouble, and returns the same cast of players on defense this season.
Most pundits pick both of these teams near or at the bottom of the division. I can definitely envision a year where the loser of this game will not go bowling. Those picking against Auburn in this one are figuring on Auburn having a second bad year in a row at quarterback, something that would be a first in head coach Gus Malzahn’s career. Meanwhile, expecting a new batch of running backs and quarterback to equal last season’s output by Brandon Allen, Alex Collins and Hunter Henry seems very unlikely.
Prediction: A tough year for the Razorbacks continues under the October skies in Auburn. The Tigers take care of business, and defeat Arkansas 38-17.
The post Rested Tigers Host the Razorbacks! (Previewing Arkansas vs. Auburn.) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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