AU feeling refreshed

[aubiefifty 17,487]

dothaneagle.com

 

Auburn offense 'almost feels like new team' with stars now healthy

By Josh Vitale jvitale@oanow.com

Posted: Monday, December 19, 2016 8:06 pm

Auburn offense 'almost feels like new team' with stars now healthy dothaneagle.com

AUBURN - A Sept. 10 game against Arkansas State, Auburn’s second of the season, marked the first in which quarterback Sean White and running backs Kamryn Pettway and Kerryon Johnson were the focal points of the offense.

The results in a blowout victory were better than anyone could have hoped at the time: White completed 17 of 23 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns, Johnson rushed for a career-best 124 yards and two touchdowns, and Pettway turned the first 15 carries of his collegiate career into 152 yards.

 

It marked the beginning of Auburn’s future on offense. It also marked one of the only times all three would play a game together completely healthy.

Pettway injured his quad two weeks later against LSU and missed the Tigers’ Oct. 1 win over Louisiana-Monroe. Johnson injured his right ankle early in an Oct. 8 win at Mississippi State, sat out the following game against Arkansas and never played at 100 percent even after his return. White injured his throwing shoulder Oct. 29 at Ole Miss and played at less than full strength the next two weeks against Vanderbilt and Georgia before sitting out Auburn’s final two games.

That’s why the offense that has taken the field for Auburn in its first few Sugar Bowl practices this past week “almost feels like a new team.”

“We were kind of drained out, and now it's like we have new guys in there, really,” Johnson continued. “When you operate at 100 percent, your explosion is better, everything is better. Your energy is up. We've been doing really well. You can definitely tell having those guys back has really helped.”

It’s a feeling Auburn is probably still getting used to. Even when that trio carried the Tigers’ offense through an impressive six-game winning streak, each of them dealt with injuries. Pettway and Johnson each missed a game and a half, and White came off the bench to relieve an ineffective John Franklin III at halftime of the Vanderbilt game on Nov. 5.

By the time the final three weeks of the season rolled around, Johnson — even with his ankle admittedly not at 100 percent — was the “healthy” one in the group: White had arguably the worst game of his career (6 for 20, 27 yards and an interception) in a Nov. 12 loss at Georgia as he played through the shoulder injury that ended his regular season, and Pettway missed that game and the next after pulling his left quad against the Commodores.

But after getting more than two weeks off to heal following an Iron Bowl loss on Nov. 26, all three of White, Johnson and Pettway appear to be back to full strength.

Johnson and Pettway both described their injuries as 100 percent healed, and though White has not addressed the media since the day after that loss in Athens, senior guard Alex Kozan said the quarterback has “looked good” in practice.

“It’s a different vibe we have going right now,” Pettway said. “We know everybody is healthy. Everybody is moving around and flying around. We feel good going into the bowl game.”

And if Auburn is going to earn a victory over high-flying Oklahoma in New Orleans on Jan. 2, those three will have to be a big reason why.

The Sooners offense ranks third nationally averaging 44.7 points per game, so the Tigers will need the healthy offense that rolled the Red Wolves for 706 yards and 51 points all those weeks ago to put on one of its best performances of the season just to keep pace.

"If we don’t score points we won’t win. We’ve proven that through the whole year,” Johnson said. “We know what we have to do. We have to run the football. We have to make explosive plays. That’s where our focus has been and that’s what it’s going to continue to be.”

[FoundationEagle 637]

Same story, different year.  Let's bookmark it. Then we can just repost it this time next year 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

We'll see just how they really feel come Jan. 2, 2017. I've heard this song many times before.