AUFAMILY Forums: Auburn's "team" strengths for 2012 - AUFAMILY Forums

I've rated each position on the 2012 Auburn football team based on the following:

1) Average star rating per position
2) Game experience
3) 3-deep percentage
4) Percentage of players with at least 20-gms of experience

Based on the above criteria, here is how the 2012 Auburn Tigers might breakdown in terms of strength by position.

DL: 94.4 rating
WR: 89.5
LB: 83.4
TE: 79.6
RB: 66.1
DB: 58.5
OL: 44.3
QB: 41.5

The DL might be the strongest unit on the team. Based on talent, they have the 5th best star average of 3.47 on the team but have 6 players with 20-games of experience or more. The experience factor is what pushed them to the top of the list, which was a major element the 2011 DL lacked. An experienced Auburn DL in 2010 resulted in a top 10 run-defense.

Before I calculated the above rating system, I thought the TE position would be the strongest "position" in 2012. The 5 combined TE's have an average star rating of 3.80, highest among all the positions. What dropped the TE position in the ratings was lack of experience with only 1 of 5 TE's with 20-games of experience.

Based on star rating alone, the OL is the 2nd best position on the team with an average star rating of 3.60. What hurts is only 1 of 16 OL have 20-games of experience coming into 2012. The concern is that only 6 of the scholly OL has appeared in an actual game and that includes Blake Burgess. I believe this unit has talent and great potential but experience level at OL and DL is vital, especially in the SEC.

It should be noted that of the 8 positions, Auburn's average star rating by position reveals that the 2012 team will be it's most talented in 6 of 8 positions since Chizik has been the coach. Recruiting has been very productive but now it comes down to building experience. In theory, the 2008 and 2009 classes should be providing needed experience and leadership but only 1 scholarship player remains from the 2008 class. There are 13 players remaining from the 2009 class and 22 from the 2010 class to lean on in 2012. It's important to remember the majority of the "top recruits" signed have come during the last 3 recruiting classes, which means the talent level is bottom heavy when it comes to experience.

Looking back at the 2010 team, Auburn had 4 DL with 20-games of experience and 5 OL with 20-games of experience coming into the season. Auburn's experience and talent on both sides of the line, was a major reason why Auburn went undefeated in 2010. In 2012, Auburn will have 6 DL but only 1 OL with 20 games of experience. Based on my rating formula, Auburn's front-7 could be very solid in 2012, which means Brian VanGorder will have a great first-year situation and clearly better than the one Ted Roof faced before the 2009 season.

Scot Leoffler will have talent to work with but his first season could be a challenging one as he puts all the pieces together to get the best 11 on the field. He has to build an offense behind a very young OL and must find and develop a starter at the quarterback position. He also needs to find 2-3 receivers, who will step up to compliment Emory Blake. The most likely scenario is for Loeffler to build his offense around the RB and TE position and branch out from there as the season progresses. Loeffler will work with an offensive roster that contains 23 players rated as 4-stars or better, so the talent is there. The concern is the lack of experience, which cannot be coached and must come over time.