While all eyes are on Ashton Daniels and what he can do at quarterback for Auburn on Saturday evening against Alabama, DJ Durkin knows that to be successful on offense, the Tigers will need to run the ball, and run it continually.
"The running game will be critical," Durkin said. "We need to establish our run game. That's the thing for us we feel that we always need to do. It gives you an advantage in the game. I feel like our running backs will be ready to go, and we have a good plan for them."
A healthy dose of Jeremiah Cobb, who needs 64 yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark on the season, and Omar Mabson and possibly Durell Robinson could help take the pressure off of Daniels, who enters the game making just his second start for the Tigers. In the loss two weeks ago against Vanderbilt, the Stanford transfer completed 31-of-44 passes for 353 yards and two touchdowns, bringing some much-needed energy to an Auburn offense that a week before had been held to three points by Kentucky.
There could also be some plays explicitly designed for Deuce Knight, who showed off his running ability against Mercer last week, running for 162 yards and four touchdowns on just nine attempts.
"I think, obviously, Deuce (Knight) had a lot of the rushing yards in (the Mercer) game," Durkin said. "Some of it was designed that way, some of it wasn't. There were definitely designed runs for Deuce (Knight), and there were also plays where the look wasn't what he wanted, and he took off and ran with it. He did a great job with it, and the game just kind of went that way based on the style of defense they were playing."
Will we see Knight in some of those designed plays? Possibly. But for Auburn's offense to be productive against the Crimson Tide, the running game will have to be there.