1,000-yard rusher streak snapped a blow to the OL

[aubiefifty 18,200]

Prince Tega Wanogho: Auburn’s streak of 1,000-yard rushers ending like ‘blow to our face’ for O-line

Posted Jul 22, 3:02 PM

Boobee Whitlow is day-to-day for Auburn after suffering an upper-body injury on Saturday. It's unclear if he'll be available against Ole' Miss.

307 shares

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Auburn’s offensive line has a bone to pick.

As the Tigers’ record streak of nine consecutive seasons with at least one 1,000-yard rusher came to an end last season, Auburn’s linemen took it personally. Seeing that streak — one that began in 2009 when Gus Malzahn was in his first year as offensive coordinator — come to an end on their watch left the Tigers’ offensive linemen with a bad taste in their mouths this offseason.

“That was pretty much a blow to our face, to the whole O-line, and we feel like we have to do better, and we’re going to do better," starting left tackle Prince Tega Wanogho said last week at SEC Media Days.

After seeing that streak halted for a variety of reasons — an inexperienced unit up front, replacing the top-two running backs from 2017, a new offensive line coach and minor injuries to both the line and backfield — the Tigers hope to wash away that bad taste this fall.

Auburn returns all five starting offensive linemen from last year’s unit, with all five of them being redshirt seniors, including Wanogho, a preseason All-SEC first-team selection. The Tigers also enter their second year under veteran offensive line coach J.B. Grimes, their leading rusher in redshirt sophomore running back Boobee Whitlow and hope to reinvigorate the run game with new running backs coach Cadillac Williams, who replaced longtime assistant Tim Horton in January.

 

Can Auburn’s returning offensive line take next step in 2019?

Auburn returns all five starters from last year's offensive line, which underwhelmed for much of the year but had a strong finish to 2018.

“We’ve just got to fight,” Wanogho said. “That’s what it is. We’ve just got to fight, our whole O-line at the line of scrimmage. That’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve just got to keep fighting. I’m going to do my job, the guy next to me do his job and everybody do their job, we’re going to do it, we’re going to get it. I feel like that’s what we just need to do. We’ve got to fight every game we play.”

Auburn came woefully short of keeping its 1,000-yard rusher streak alive last season, when Whitlow finished the year with just 787 rushing yards on 150 attempts. Although he appeared in all 13 games, he dealt with a few minor injuries that hindered his workload — he had only six games with double-digit carries — and the Tigers generally used more of a by-committee approach in the backfield than they had in prior seasons under Malzahn.

While the offensive line had its share of struggles, especially early in the season with three straight games of failing to rush for 100 yards as a team (against Arkansas, Southern Miss and Mississippi State) and a meager 19-yard rushing effort against Texas A&M, the group jelled later in the season and enters 2019 with high expectations. The group expects to be one of the better offensive line units in the country this year, and along with returning all five starters, the Tigers’ linemen are motivated by their shortcomings a year ago.

“Those guys take everything personally,” defensive tackle Derrick Brown said. “Defensive linemen are a little more loose, but they're more serious on that side. But them coming into the offseason, man, like — Marquel (Harrell) is being a more vocal leader. They're not accepting stuff anymore. I'm telling you now, if you're playing against an Auburn offensive line, you'd better bring that A-game. Because if you're not, it's going to be a long day for you.”

Talk is just that, however, and Auburn’s offensive linemen know they have to back it up on the field once the season begins — especially with this being the last time out for all five starters: Wanogho, Harrell, Kaleb Kim, Mike Horton and Jack Driscoll.

“We actually did take that personally,” Wanogho said of the streak ending. “We know this is for us, and we try to prove something every time we’re on the field. That’s the mentality we have every time. That’s what we want to do.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[bigbird 60,939]

11 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

19-yard rushing effort against Texas A&M

[gr82be 14,901]

Just win.

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

10 minutes ago, bigbird said:

How did we win that game again? That fourth quarter was like a fever dream. 

[Tiger 8,854]

Give us two 1000 yarders and a bunch of wins and all will be forgiven

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

I think our offensive linemen are who they are.  None of them, outside of possibly Tega, are NFL quality linemen.  I am however hoping to see them operate stronger as a unit by knowing their assignments and their roles.  It would be a huge step up if they have improved their strength and technique to get more of a push this year then they were able to generate last year.

[bigbird 60,939]

20 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

How did we win that game again? That fourth quarter was like a fever dream. 

Thank you Ryan Davis

[tbone1430 1,353]

Fully expect us to get back to cranking out 1000 yard rushers. Even with Boobee banged up some of last year and average O line play we were only 213 yards from it, basically an extra 16 yards more a game for him which should be easily made this year. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

1 minute ago, bigbird said:

Thank you Ryan Davis

Thank you Jimbo for calling a really dumb last five minutes.

[DAG 34,725]

18 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Thank you Jimbo for calling a really dumb last five minutes.

Why is this overlooked ? 

[aujeff11 6,243]

At least @NorthGATiger got his RB by committee. 

🤪

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

53 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

At least @NorthGATiger got his RB by committee. 

🤪

No sir.  We did not have another back on the roster to carry the load to correctly have RB by committee.  We had BW and situational backs that are great when they are mixed in with a power running game.  Given the choice, I would much rather find myself at the end of a season with two healthy workhorse backs with 900 yards each than our only workhorse back injured with 1500 yards.

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 minute ago, NorthGATiger said:

We had BW and situational backs that are great when they are mixed in with a power running game. 

Swap KJ for BW and that’s same thing as the year before. 

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

Just now, aujeff11 said:

Swap KJ for BW and that’s same thing as the year before. 

Yes.  That is my point.  KJ had 1000 yards but that did us no good as he was not healthy enough to play well against UGA in the SECCG.  Had we had another quality workhorse back then maybe things would have been different.  Instead, Gus keyed in on riding KJ into the ground and the season was sink or swim on one man.  You have got to start recruiting 2 backs a year that can carry the load and share carries.  

[McLoofus 35,182]

21 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

No sir.  We did not have another back on the roster to carry the load to correctly have RB by committee.  We had BW and situational backs that are great when they are mixed in with a power running game.  Given the choice, I would much rather find myself at the end of a season with two healthy workhorse backs with 900 yards each than our only workhorse back injured with 1500 yards.

I contend that our backs were situational because of Gus's preference and not because of necessity. 

Almost every player in our offense has been situational for years now- see WR draft interviews- and it is one of the main reasons we've mostly had an ineffective offense during that time. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Oh, and last year wasn't a product of "running back by committee". It was a product of no blocking. 

Hopefully we finally see this season what it looks like when 2 RBs and a QB all get over 75 touches and none of them get more than 225. (Were the QB somebody else, I'd say 3 RBs instead.)

[aujeff11 6,243]

52 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

Yes.  That is my point.  KJ had 1000 yards but that did us no good as he was not healthy enough to play well against UGA in the SECCG.  Had we had another quality workhorse back then maybe things would have been different. 

You mainly have a recruiting issue. 

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

Why is this overlooked ? 

No idea.  But he gave us that game.

[NorthGATiger 1,801]

3 minutes ago, aujeff11 said:

You mainly have a recruiting issue. 

I think this year we have enough "Quality" workhorse backs to share the load and not cripple one for the sake of getting 1000 yards ( BW, DJ, HJ, MAR as every down backs) and (Worm, Kam as change of pace backs)  I think you need to recruit a 200+ LB back every year that can be a 3 down back in this league.  So recruiting wise I hope we are moving in that direction.

Unfortunately, our problems are not just a recruiting issue to me.  As McLoofus pointed out above, we still peg RB's and all skill players into to many situational roles instead of getting all of the best talent on the field on most plays rather than bring them in to run the same play they have ran 100 times already.  Gus would rather have a guy at the Y that isn't the starter there sit on the bench even though he is a better WR than two others that are starting at other WR positions.  What good did it do to bring Malik Willis in at QB when you only run the zone read with him?  You fooled nobody and you did absolutely nothing to prepare your QB for his future.

[Tiger 8,854]

20 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

What good did it do to bring Malik Willis in at QB when you only run the zone read with him?  You fooled nobody and you did absolutely nothing to prepare your QB for his future.

So, so, soooo dumb

[alexava 6,974]

2 hours ago, DAG said:

Why is this overlooked ? 

I remember Pat Dye saying this on Finebaum the next week. I think the question was , who deserves the mvp or most credit for the win....I don’t remember exactly. But he said Jimbo deserved the most credit for the win. 

[alexava 6,974]

1 hour ago, NorthGATiger said:

No sir.  We did not have another back on the roster to carry the load to correctly have RB by committee.  We had BW and situational backs that are great when they are mixed in with a power running game.  Given the choice, I would much rather find myself at the end of a season with two healthy workhorse backs with 900 yards each than our only workhorse back injured with 1500 yards.

You just pissed all the Worm fans off. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 minutes ago, alexava said:

You just pissed all the Worm fans off. 

Nah. Worm has such total command of our psyches now that we just use it as motivation like he does. Motivation to bitch louder, type harder, post longer, and show the world how committed we are to completely wasting our time. WE'LL BE HERE WHEN YOU WAKE UP AND WE'LL STILL BE HERE WHEN YOU GO TO BED. GRINDING.

[abw0004 10,300]

47 minutes ago, NorthGATiger said:

I think this year we have enough "Quality" workhorse backs to share the load and not cripple one for the sake of getting 1000 yards ( BW, DJ, HJ, MAR as every down backs) and (Worm, Kam as change of pace backs)  I think you need to recruit a 200+ LB back every year that can be a 3 down back in this league.  So recruiting wise I hope we are moving in that direction.

Unfortunately, our problems are not just a recruiting issue to me.  As McLoofus pointed out above, we still peg RB's and all skill players into to many situational roles instead of getting all of the best talent on the field on most plays rather than bring them in to run the same play they have ran 100 times already.  Gus would rather have a guy at the Y that isn't the starter there sit on the bench even though he is a better WR than two others that are starting at other WR positions.  What good did it do to bring Malik Willis in at QB when you only run the zone read with him?  You fooled nobody and you did absolutely nothing to prepare your QB for his future.

Fortunately I think DJ Williams is really going to surprise many this year.  I have been really impressed by him.  Another player many have forgotten is Joiner.  I would not be surprised to see him in many plays with another running back due to how he is planning to be used this year.  I actually liked Joiner better as the wildcat than Whitlow.

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 hour ago, NorthGATiger said:

think this year we have enough "Quality" workhorse backs to share the load and not cripple one for the sake of getting 1000 yards ( BW, DJ, HJ, MAR as every down backs)

I believe we have lot of quality work horse backs this year (different than 2017!) andyou better believe Shivers can be one too. He seeks contact, delivers some blows and can take a hit. 

Also, don’t think HJ will be a workhorse back. He will be doing some jack of all trades role. 

Lastly, DJ is a very impressive back that may leave out of here as one of the all time greats.  I was high on him before he committed to us.    Bama fans were too when they thought they thought they would miss on Trey Sanders. 

1 hour ago, NorthGATiger said:

Unfortunately, our problems are not just a recruiting issue to me.  As McLoofus pointed out above, we still peg RB's and all skill players into to many situational roles instead of getting all of the best talent on the field on most plays rather than bring them in to run the same play they have ran 100 times already. 

I think Malzahn seeks out the best talent that fits his puzzle pieces. Players are role driven and are critical parts that form the whole, and that’s not going to change as long as Gus is here. 

 

1 hour ago, NorthGATiger said:

Gus would rather have a guy at the Y that isn't the starter there sit on the bench even though he is a better WR than two others that are starting at other WR positions. 

Who?