Auburn football: Tigers have two weeks to sort out offensive issues

Running backs

Chip Lindsey said Sunday that they are going with the player who has the hot hand. Through three games this season that’s been JaTarvious Whitlow. Kam Martin was named the starter entering the season, Shaun Shivers was on the field first Saturday against LSU.

If you had to put a pecking order based on what we’ve seen in three games, it would look like this:

First team: Whitlow
Second team: Shivers
Third team: Martin

I’m not sure why Martin saw his touches go from 27 in Week 1 to eight vs. Alabama State and just two Saturday. Both his carries came on back-to-back runs on a second quarter drive that led to an Anders Carlson field goal. One carry was four yards, the other stopped for no gain.

Have Whitlow and Shivers been more dynamic than Martin? Yes. Shivers is averaging 7.1 yards per carry, Whitlow is averaging 5.8 and Martin 4.0. Still, it feels odd that Martin could have fallen out of favor that quickly.

What we’d like to see: All signs point to Whitlow solidifying the role as Auburn’s No. 1 back. He’s averaging 84.6 yards per game and is on pace to continue the Tigers’ streak of consecutive years with a 1,000-yard rusher. But instead of running him into the ground — and Auburn has not done that — keep all three backs and even Asa Martin part of the game plan. Fresh legs are a good thing.