During the 2022 season, the Auburn football team struggled in many different aspects. There was uncertainty and a lack of support from some of the coaching staff, the offense failed to find an identity, and too many games were lost.
One of the biggest issues on the offense was undoubtedly the offensive line. While Robby Ashford was brand new to the quarterback position in terms of seeing playing time and different players struggled with various injuries, the O-line was definitely a weak link in terms of production.
When new head coach Hugh Freeze took the job, he saw the problem and immediately tried to start fixing it, setting to work on recruiting offensive linemen to the Plains. This year, the Tigers are expected to have multiple new starters in the trenches, and there are expectations that the position group will have improved from last season.
According to associate head coach and running backs coach Cadillac Williams, the offense has seen a lot of growth throughout the spring practices they’ve held so far. He praised Jake Thornton, Kendall Simmons, and the rest of the offensive line coaches for the work they’ve put in during the past few weeks, and gave an optimistic take on where the O-Line will be during the 2023 season, per Auburn Undercover’s Youtube Page:
"“I just think that our O-Line, honestly, should be one of our strengths on this team. They’re long, they’re athletic… they have a chemistry already as a unit where they’re playing together, they’re feeding off each other… I think these guys have had a tremendous spring with picking up this new scheme, picking up things that we want to do in the run game, and it has been exciting for me to watch them.”"
With a dominant running backs room and an offense that is seeing real improvement with the new coaching staff, it’s likely that Auburn football will look like a whole new team when we watch them play this fall.