SEC Preview: Auburn Tigers
August 3rd, 2008 by Chris Pendley
Auburn has spent the last couple of seasons as a quiet fantasy contributor. Like LSU, Auburn operates a multiple-contributor system, and while it hasn’t shown the level of success that LSU has, it does have the only undefeated season between the two teams this decade. This year looks like more of the same, right down to the team construction.
HC Tommy Tuberville enters his 10th year at Auburn, which gives him the second-longest tenure in the SEC at his school. This seems almost strange given the yearly rumors that spring up about him moving places, but he’s built an excellent team here – and going 5-0 against Alabama over the last five years plus 4-1 in bowl games can’t hurt. What will be new are the coordinators; OC Tony Franklin comes in from Troy and DC Paul Rhoads comes from Pitt after previous DC Will Muschamp was stolen by Texas. Franklin prefers using a spread offense, but Auburn doesn’t have the personnel for it yet, so it’ll be curious to see what approach he takes.
Tiger fans can rejoice that QB Brandon Cox is no longer with the team, meaning Kodi Burns should be the starter from Day 1. Burns should offer improved performance from Cox, but that’s like saying Taylor Bennett is a better QB than Reggie Ball. We’re at least a year away from seeing a productive Auburn fantasy QB, although that statement comes with a disclaimer: if Chris Todd (Texas Tech transfer) can wrestle the starting job away from Burns he has previous experience in Franklin’s offense (high school), which could push this timetable up a bit. That shouldn’t matter in most cases, but keep that in mind.
Last year RB Brad Lester went and got himself suspended for the first five games and lost the starting job to Ben Tate , who turned in a halfway decent 900-yard, 8-TD effort. Both Lester and Tate return, and of the two Tate is the more readily draftable of the two, but 1,000 yards and 10-12 TDs is probably his peak. Auburn will likely commit to a two-plus back approach, and what Lester doesn’t take flex Mario Fannin might, meaning Tate might only see 40-45% of the team carries tops (last year, he saw 37%). What should help the rushing numbers is everyone returning on the offensive line.
All the starting WRs return for Auburn, which sounds exciting – but look at the QB paragraph again and revise that thought. Last year Rodgeriqus Smith (pictured above, Icon SMI) led with 700 yards and 5 TDs, which should pretty much describe the offensive output of the Tiger passing game. While the total output should improve, there’s no guarantee Smith will improve on his numbers that much except possibly a couple of additional TDs, meaning the Auburn WR corps can be pretty much ignored. At TE, Gabe McKenzie is probably the best fantasy option, but that’s a pretty bad option for one and Auburn should deploy a two-TE setup on a fairly regular basis. (The other TE is Tommy Trott , who as receivers go, makes a pretty good blocker.) If you are in a custom league and do not want to draft a TE high, think about McKenzie.
Auburn’s defense underachieved from a fantasy perspective last year, and it may do the same again this year. Auburn loses both its starting CBs and half the defensive line, but the entire LB corps returns. While Muschamp led a relatively conservative and effective defense, it remains to be seen how Rhoads will design this D. Pitt’s D didn’t do a whole lot last year, so this D/ST remains a wait and see for now. Predictably, with a completely putrid offense Auburn had the return game to match, so don’t expect a boost there.
At K, Wes Bynum had an excellent year for a freshman; with what might be possibly adequate improvement in the Tiger offense, Bynum should see some increased scoring, making him a decent K option, although likely he won’t be a starting K on most teams. Bynum should be an adequate bye week fill-in, depending on the matchup
Summary
Auburn’s turned into the poor man’s fantasy version of LSU, which isn’t exactly a compliment. While they’re an excellent real-life team, the things Auburn does well don’t translate to fantasy, as spread-out production across numerous players doesn’t make for a fun fantasy year. K Bynum is the best bet for consistent production, and Tate could turn into a passable RB2 type in some leagues, but other than that there’s just not a lot here yet. Maybe a 9-3 team, but nothing for fantasy.
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