Auburn Football: Biggest Storylines Heading into Fall Camp
This summer on the Plains, the only things hotter than the sky-high temperatures have been the takes on where the Auburn Tigers football team will finish in 2015.
Some experts pencil Auburn as a potential national title contender. Others have the Tigers finishing with another middle-of-the-road season.
But the time for talking is about to be over, because fall camp is right around the corner.
Auburn will open fall camp August 4 with eyes on September's season opener against Louisville in the Georgia Dome.
This 2015 Auburn team has plenty of talent and potential, but it will also have its fair share of question marks when it returns to the practice field next week.
Here are three major storylines to watch as head coach Gus Malzahn's Tigers head into fall camp.
Wanted: More than one go-to receiver
Auburn's offense might be inexperienced, but Malzahn and his staff have a lot to work with this fall. Jeremy Johnson is getting legitimate Heisman buzz at quarterback. The running back room will be led by two former 5-star recruits, Roc Thomas and Jovon Robinson, and the offensive line has three players with starting experience.
That leaves the wide receivers—a position where the Tigers have their most established offensive star—and not much else in terms of consistency.
D'haquille "Duke" Williams had 24 more catches last season than the second-best returning receiver, former Georgia game hero Ricardo Louis. The reception counts drop down to 13 with Marcus Davis and then bottom out into single digits.
| D'haquille Williams | 45 | 730 | 5 |
| Ricardo Louis | 21 | 261 | 3 |
| Marcus Davis | 13 | 92 | 1 |
| Melvin Ray | 8 | 182 | 1 |
| Stanton Truitt | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Tony Stevens | 1 | 22 | 0 |
Auburn has plenty of players behind Williams, and it will need them to step up this fall.
Sammie Coates was a deep-ball specialist, shaky hands and all, with speed to stretch defenses past their breaking points. Louis has the potential to be his replacement, along with Tony Stevens.
"I've been progressing as a receiver, getting better and learning," Louis said in January, according to Ryan Black of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. "I've been learning from Duke as well. Next year, we're going to be 'them guys.' We're going to be those guys the quarterback looks to."
Davis' steady hands make him a top contender for a starting job, while Melvin Ray and Stanton Truitt have shown flashes of big-play potential in the past. Myron Burton Jr., Darius Slayton and Ryan Davis haven't had much of a chance to prove themselves.
Now that Auburn has a stronger presence in the pocket with Johnson, the team needs to see improvement from its receiving corps outside of Williams.
Fall camp will be a great chance for a receiver or two to step up and earn some major playing time.
How will the freshmen fit in?
Auburn had several top recruits from the class of 2015 enroll early, most notably the JUCO trio of Robinson, Jason Smith and Maurice Swain.
But fall camp will be the first chance for the rest of Auburn's newcomers to hit the practice field.
The 5-star defensive end Byron Cowart headlines this list, and there's a chance he could carve out a major role in a defense that struggled in the trenches for most of the 2014 season.
"At worst, Cowart will start the season as a situational pass-rusher. At best, he wins a starting job immediately," James Crepea of AL.com wrote. "The only thing slowing Cowart from seeing the field instantly would be a subpar fall camp or if easing him into the action is part of Will Muschamp's grand plan for managing the hype that surrounds the heralded defensive end."
Another top freshman to watch is 4-star running back Kerryon Johnson. The electrifying former Mr. Football winner could break into the backfield like Thomas did last season or find a way to contribute as a return man.
"I really feel like he will factor," Malzahn told Phillip Marshall of AuburnUndercover. "He’s a guy we expect to play. He has a unique skill set and can do a lot of different things. He can do a lot of things with the ball in his hands."
Other names to watch during fall camp will be defensive pickups Jeff Holland, Darrell Williams and Jordan Colbert. The young players will get their first major opportunities to impress Muschamp and the rest of the staff as Auburn rebuilds its defense in 2015.
Cornerback depth
A special group of newcomers will have even bigger pressure to perform in 2015—the cornerbacks.
Auburn signed the trio of Carlton Davis, Javarius Davis and Jeremiah Dinson in February. While they lack the name recognition of a Cowart or Holland, these freshmen will play big roles in a thin position group, as senior cornerback Jonathan Jones told Ryan Black of AuburnUndercover:
"We’re going to depend on some freshmen. We’re going to need a few guys to step up and play the way we need them. I think the older guys are going to get them ready and once we get to fall camp and we get the chance to be out there with the coaches, the younger guys who are going to need to help us are going to be ready to work.
"
The Tigers lost cornerbacks Kamryn Melton, Joe Turner and Kalvaraz Bessent to transfers this offseason. Spring injuries to backups such as T.J. Davis forced the staff to start walk-ons at cornerback for the A-Day game.
With Josh Holsey transitioning to nickelback in Muschamp's system, Auburn needs bodies at cornerback behind Jones and Michigan transfer Blake Countess.
"That was part of the deal in the recruiting process," defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson told Black. "Right now we just lack numbers. ... We're going to need some guys that can finish down the field."
Auburn's pass defense has ranked 12th or worse in the SEC in four of the last five seasons. Last year, the Tigers ranked 91st nationally in allowing pass plays of 20 yards or more.
As Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee has said multiple times this offseason, Auburn doesn't need great defense in order to compete for championships.
Malzahn's offense makes it so that the Tigers need "just enough" defense, and they'll have to rely on some brand-new players in order to cross that threshold this season.
Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.
Justin Ferguson is an on-call college football writer at Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @JFergusonBR.
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