5 Position Battles to Watch

[aubiefifty 16,910]

5 key position battles to watch during Auburn’s 

Posted Jul 31, 7:00 AM

Josh Bean

Auburn QB Joey Gatewood fires a pass during the 2019 Auburn A-Day scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn on April 13, 2019.

 

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By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

Auburn opens fall camp Friday, just more than four weeks out from the team’s season-opening tilt against Oregon in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 31. As the Tigers prepare for the marquee matchup with the Ducks, they’ll also have to settle a handful of preseason position battles — including one very notable one — ahead of the 2019 campaign.

Auburn will have 14 practices during the camp portion of practice to sort out some of these position battles before the Tigers shift their focus fully to Week 1 preparations. Here’s a look at five key position battles looming this preseason for Auburn.

5. Punt returner

Auburn is tasked with replacing its top punt returner from last season in wide receiver Ryan Davis, who averaged 9.86 yards per return in 2018. The Tigers will look to fill that void with five key candidates this preseason: cornerbacks Noah Igbinoghene (who is also the Tigers’ top kick returner) and Javaris Davis, wide receivers Eli Stove and Matthew Hill, and nickelback Christian Tutt.

Of those four, only Tutt had in-game reps as a punt returner last season, averaging 13 yards on five attempts. Each of the other candidates saw reps in the return game this spring and are “capable of making big plays,” according to head coach Gus Malzahn, who seems confident in what the Tigers will be able to do on special teams this season.

4. H-back

After losing four-year starter Chandler Cox to the NFL, Auburn seeks to remodel its H-back position this season and turn it into a more versatile role, potentially consolidating it along with the tight end spot.

Redshirt sophomore John Samuel Shenker exited the spring as the leading candidate to take over the starting role, but Auburn also introduces grad transfer Jay Jay Wilson into the mix this fall. Wilson, a former tight end and linebacker at Arizona State, arrived this summer. The Sun Devils used the H-back position similarly to how Auburn utilizes it within Malzahn’s offense, and the Tigers’ seventh-year head coach is optimistic that it will help carry over for Wilson this preseason.

“He’s a physical guy,” Malzahn said of Wilson. “He’s a guy that has played that position. Now, he also played defensive end, but he’s got a good football mindset.”

Spencer Nigh, more of a prototypical blocking H-back, will also be in the mix for the job this fall.

3. Split end receiver

With Darius Slayton declaring for the NFL Draft early and subsequently getting selected by the New York Giants this spring, Auburn will need to find a new deep-threat receiver to fill the role at split end in Malzahn’s offense. While Auburn’s receivers are largely interchangeable among the various positions, the Tigers will need to establish a new go-to receiver on the outside to replace Slayton’s production from last season (35 receptions, 670 yards, five touchdowns).

The two most likely candidates to step into that role are sophomore Seth Williams and grad transfer Zach Farrar. Williams, who spent a lot of time in the big slot as a freshman, has developed more into an outside receiver this offseason, and Malzahn likes what the big-bodied sophomore brings to the table in terms of overall skillset. He should be the Tigers’ No. 1 option in the passing game this year, regardless of where he lines up, but the 6-foot-3, 224-pounder will look to build off a freshman campaign that saw him catch 26 passes for 535 yards and five touchdowns.

“Seth is a guy that proved last year that you can put him out there and you can throw it up high, and he's pretty good at going and getting it,” Malzahn said. “That's a big weapon. He's capable of getting it when he's double-covered, so I think that's good.”

Farrar, meanwhile, arrived on campus within the last two weeks from Youngstown State, where the former three-star prospect and one-time Oklahoma signee caught 20 passes for 307 yards and a touchdown in six games last season.

“There's going to be some competition with things,” Malzahn said. “Zach Farrar is a grad transfer receiver…. I think he'll be a factor. But we've got so many other guys that can run. To have a chance to have a go-to guy, you've got to be able to run. So, we've got a lot of different options. We'll make that clear the first game.”

2. Second defensive tackle

Auburn got a humongous boost this offseason when defensive linemen Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe all announced their decisions to return to the Plains for another season instead of bolting early for the NFL. Despite returning those three cornerstones of the defense, the Tigers will still need to replace four-year starting defensive tackle Dontavius Russell, who never put up flashy numbers but often handled the dirty work along the defensive line, taking on double-teams and opening things up for those other three linemen.

Replacing Russell is no easy task, and it will likely be a by-committee approach for Auburn at the second defensive tackle spot next to Brown this fall. Junior Tyrone Truesdell enters fall camp atop the depth chart, but he’ll face competition from redshirt junior Daquan Newkirk and sophomore Coynis Miller Jr. during the preseason. Newkirk is coming off an Achilles injury for the second straight offseason, but he has been lauded by teammates for his powerful, quick-twitch skills, with Brown admitting his fellow defensive tackle has more upper-body strength than he does. Miller, on the other hand, has an immense amount of talent, but defensive line coach Rodney Garner wants to see the sophomore take that next step both mentally and in terms of his conditioning.

While Auburn may not have the type of defensive tackle who can play 50 snaps a game, the Tigers like the talent they have among those three options. There’s also the potential for Coe and Davidson to see some time on the interior of the line, as Garner said both are capable of playing all four spots along the line this season.

1. Quarterback

The most talked-about and anticipated position battle of fall camp for Auburn comes at the most important position on the field, quarterback. The Tigers are replacing two-year starter Jarrett Stidham, and the competition that spanned all throughout spring practices and summer player-run workouts will continue into the preseason between redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood and true freshman Bo Nix.

Those two separated themselves as 1A and 1B on the depth chart this spring, with two-year backup Malik Willis transferring to Liberty after being eliminated from consideration. Malzahn has said he wants to name a starter as early as possible during fall camp, and while he doesn’t have a firm timeline of when he would like to name a starter, he’s confident the decision will become evident to both the coaches and players over the course of practices.

Whichever player earns the starting job, the Tigers will enter a pivotal 2019 campaign with a freshman starting quarterback for the first time during Malzahn’s tenure. Gatewood has just one game of experience after redshirting last season, appearing only during mop-up duty in the Music City Bowl, while Nix is a former five-star prospect who enrolled early this spring. Each one brings similar yet distinctly different skillsets to the role, and both impressed over the course of spring practices.

No matter the ultimate outcome, this position battle will be one that truly shapes Auburn’s season, as well as Malzahn’s job security.

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

[Win4AU 4,054]

I’d like to see Schwartz and Worm returning kicks.

[WalkingCarpet 1,379]

I just hope whoever we have at punt returner is sure handed. I know he graduated like 8 years ago but I still have Vietnam flashbacks to Quindarius Carr dropping punts like WalMart drops prices. 

[Barnacle 9,064]

21 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

I just hope whoever we have at punt returner is sure handed. I know he graduated like 8 years ago but I still have Vietnam flashbacks to Quindarius Carr dropping punts like WalMart drops prices. 

Quan Bray was phenomenal. Sure hands first and foremost.

[McLoofus 35,182]

30 minutes ago, WalkingCarpet said:

I just hope whoever we have at punt returner is sure handed. I know he graduated like 8 years ago but I still have Vietnam flashbacks to Quindarius Carr dropping punts like WalMart drops prices. 

It was weird, how bad it was for 2-3 years there. But I feel like we've worked our way out of that. At first we just literally stopped returning punts. Didn't matter how much green was in front of the guy. Fair catch every time. Now it seems the guys are allowed to return them. Porter is a beast and he was our ST coordinator last year so I'm optimistic. Ryan Davis had the one major fumble but that was indeed a fumble and not a muffed punt. And he touched the ball way more than almost everyone else, so I'll chalk that one up to bad luck. 

[aubiefifty 16,910]

i expect more with porter. and i wish anytime a punt or kick returner takes it all the way or just a nice run they would replay them in slow motion. i live for that stuff........................lol