Life in the SEC is tough. But this past season, life in the SEC Western Division was the toughest of them all.
Featuring an eight-win Auburn team, an Arkansas team that was a victory over LSU away from crashing the BCS party and the two participants in the BCS National Championship game, this division was one of the toughest in recent memory. Even the team who represented the division in the SEC Championship didn't come out victorious in the National Championship; that's how intense this division is. So what does this mean for Auburn in 2012?
While 2012 was supposed to be the year Auburn would be fully rebuilt from depleted recruiting classes preceding Gene Chizik's arrival, that assesment has seemingly been pushed back to 2013.
At last count, eight players who signed in Gene Chizik's first full signing class in 2010 are gone from the group that was ranked fourth nationally after signing day. Eight players that would be juniors or redshirt sophomores are gone, which forced many true freshman into action this past season.
We saw many of those true freshman and redshirt freshmen grow and improve from the Utah State season opener to the Chick-fil-A Bowl at the end of the year. That experience should pay off in 2012 and even more in 2013.
Much like last off-season, this year's spring and summer practices will likely be dominated by the quarterback situation.
Sophomore Kiehl Frazier will be the most talented quarterback on the roster, but has the least experience.
Senior Barrett Trotter showed flashes in the bowl game of what many people expected to see throughout the entire season, but he was benched halfway through the season for a reason.
Junior Clint Moseley started the final six games of the season, but was injured in the bowl game.
True freshman Zeke Pike has enrolled at Auburn to get a jump on summer practice, but as we saw with Frazier this past season, it's rare for a true freshman to make an impact in the SEC no matter how talented he is.
The rest of the offense received big boosts this past week to offset one major detraction: running back Michael Dyer transferred to Arkansas State, but juniors Onterio McCalebb, Philip Lutzenkirchen and Emory Blake all decided to return for their senior season at Auburn.
The offensive line will likely be more talented than it was in 2011, but will be younger. Greg Robinson and Christian Westerman both competed for playing time in the summer, but ultimately redshirted. They are both too talented to keep on the sidelines.
Reese Dismukes returns as the anchor to the offensive line as a sophomore with 13 games of experience. Starting guard and redshirt sophomore Chad Slade could be bumped outside to right tackle to replace A.J. Greene, opening up the left guard position for Westerman. That move would create a young, talented offensive line core for the next three years to compete in football's toughest division.
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