Auburn football: 5 Wildcats to watch in Week 1

Like the Auburn teams at the start of Gus Malzahn’s tenure of head coach, Kentucky is going to try to beat you by running the ball down your throats. Last season, the Wildcats ran the ball over 44 times a game and it worked out well as they averaged 278.8 rushing yards per game while putting up 36 rushing TDs and 6.32 yards per carry — all of which led the SEC.

Now, the team has lost Lynn Bowden Jr. who led the team with over 1,400 rushing yards last season but make no mistake, the Wildcats have a lot of talent and speed at running back.

Senior Asim Rose may be the starter to open the season and while Rose is very talented, Auburn needs to keep an eye on No. 20. Kavosiey Smoke broke out onto the scene as a RS freshman last season and while he only received 101 carries compared to Rose’s 149 and Bowden’s 185.

Despite ranking third on the team in carries, Smoke was still able to put up 616 rushing yards and six TDs on a very impressive 6.1 yards per carry.

At 5’9″ and 204 pounds, Smoke may not have the size that Rose has but the RS sophomore is extremely explosive and is a threat to take it to the house every time he touches the ball.

Behind a stellar offensive line, Kentucky should once again, have one of the best rushing attacks in the conference. Despite losing their leading rusher, they return three players who had over 500 rushing yards last season (four if you count Wilson’s 514 yards in 2018.)

Auburn did well in stopping the run last season but I am understandably a bit nervous going into 2020.