Tre Mason needs more touches Saturday

Through 4 games into the 2012 season the Auburn offense is still searching for their identity on offense. The pass-offense is still attempting to become more consistent and the coaches have been incorporating a steady mixture of different players at the skill positions. The running game has primarily come from Onterio McCalebb and Tre Mason with Mike Blakely sprinkled in the lineup. Tre Mason currently leads the team with 275-yards rushing on 53 attempts. IMO, Tre Mason has performed well enough to garner more carries during the game. Until the pass-offense becomes more consistent Mason could easily be the player Auburn leans upon for some facet of identity on offense.

The play...



On this play, Tre Mason's quickness and vision are on display. The Auburn offense will execute their zone-read counter play with Tre Mason at running back. The play is designed to appear that Mason will run right at the point of the hand off. At the snap, Chad Slade pulls to his left followed by Philip Lutzenkirchen.

*Note on Chad Slade. Auburn has only run this play a few times but I noticed that Chad Slade lines up about a foot off the line than he normally does, which could tip off the defense he is about to pull to his left.

After receiving the hand off, Mason takes 1 step to the right and then cuts back to run left behind the pulling personnel. Chad Slade crushes the DE, leaving Mason 1 on 1 with the crashing OLB. Rather than attempting to sprint outside the OLB, Mason observes a very small cutback lane and takes it. He cuts back inside the shoulder of the OLB and darts up field for a 6-yard gain.

Play #2...



On this play Tre Mason's ability to get north & south very quickly is on display. Auburn will run a safe stretch play facing 3rd & 14. The opening through the "B" gap is very small but Mason's quickness to the hole allows him to exploit the small operating space. The DT on that side nearly collapses the hole but Mason manages to explode through and into the secondary.

The MLB manages to shed his block with a good angle on Mason but his quick feet and vision allows Mason to cut to his right to avoid the second tackle. He makes one final cut to reach the first down mark but is brought down after a 13-yard gain.

Against Clemson and ULM, Mason had his most carries of the season. He gained 106-yards on 14 carries against Clemson and 90-yards on 22 carries against ULM. During Auburn's 2 conference games, Mason was limited to 8 carries against MSU and 9 against LSU. Onterio McCalebb had a total of 19 carries in conference play for 28-yards, while Mason had 17 for 79-yards. Mike Blakely had 11 carries for 42-yards against MSU.

Up to this point, Mason has clearly been the most productive rusher in conference play and hopefully will be a focal point of the run-offense against Arkansas this Saturday.