When to expect to know the o-line starters

[WFE12 9,191]

When Auburn expects to know its starting offensive line for 2018

James Crepea 

Auburn has work to do in identifying its starting offensive line, with competitions ongoing at center and right tackle, but J.B. Grimes is optimistic about the unit he inherited back from Herb Hand.

Grimes acknowledged the Tigers have "a lot of work to do" but likes the talent he had to work with, most of which he recruited during his first stint on the Plains, and sees determinations being made in the second half of fall camp.

"We have some guys that I believe are SEC talent, as far as their ability is concerned. It's my job to get those guys to play better," Grimes said before a meeting of the Cullman County Auburn club Thursday. "We don't have to play tomorrow. We've got a little time. We've got summer, we've got fall camp. And then we jump off into it against the University of Washington. By that time, we should have a starting lineup pretty well solidified.

 

"Right now, we don't have that. We don't have that full starting lineup right now that I can say, 'Hey, these are the five guys we would trot out there against Washington.' We just don't have it. And it probably won't manifest itself until sometime middle-to-late fall camp."

Prince Tega Wanogho Jr., Marquel Harrell and Mike Horton are the clear starters at left tackle, left guard and right guard, respectively. Grimes said those three, who all have starting experience, "outperformed everybody else" during the spring.

The most uncertainty remains at center and right tackle. Kaleb Kim and Nick Brahms competed at center before suffering injuries in the spring and Austin Troxell and Calvin Ashley competed at right tackle and graduate transfer Jack Driscoll will join them over the summer.

"We're not ready to make a call on the starter at this time," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said, "but we have good competition, which obviously helps with depth and everything that goes with that. That's the positive to that."

 

At center, Grimes said Auburn doesn't have "that guy right now that I can hang my hat on," but that was due in large part to injuries.

Brahms "was about to make a little jump" before breaking his leg and Kim underperformed in the first spring scrimmage and responded well and then suffered a high ankle sprain that ended his spring.

Right tackle is "a dead heat" between Troxell and Ashley.

"Trox outperformed Calvin and then Calvin came on," Grimes said. "At the A-Day Game, I really thought Calvin had a heck of a day. He looked like what I had envisioned him being."

That changes with the addition of Driscoll, who Malzahn and Grimes can't discuss yet by NCAA rules, but the UMass transfer is expected to start.

Grimes understands the urgency in deciding a lineup though.

Whereas Herb Hand had a tendency to mix and match personnel, Grimes prefers to keep players locked in spots and allow them to build chemistry.

 

"I really want to get to that as quickly as we can. And I'm sure Gus does, too," Grimes said. "... I think by the time we get this group and polish them up and everything, I think this can be a very competitive (group). I'm cautiously optimistic that this group can be a good SEC offensive line.

"We'll be OK. We got to get better to get that way, but we'll be all right. These are SEC players, OK? We got some work to do, a lot of work to do, but we'll get there."

 

[Zeek 16,617]

Prince | Marquell | Kaleb | Mike | Jack

That's how I see the line shaping up. We have a solid amount of talent at RT that should continue to develop nicely.

 

[AuburnNTexas 7,128]

I liked that he said Prince played well. If the light has come on for him that goes a long way toward having a solid unit. WE have 3 solid players to compete at RT. We really need somebody to win at center quick. O-line is my biggest worry but Grimes feeling good about Prince helps.