One day after spring football practice concluded — and the day after Jeremy Johnson was named starting quarterback — Auburn’s offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee discussed his impressions of the spring.
“Big picture, I thought we made good progress,” Lashlee said. “I thought we were better at the end than we were at the beginning, from an intangibles standpoint: physically, mentally, conditioning-wise, I thought we got better.”
The offense was beset by the departures of several starters from 2014 — namely Nick Marshall, Sammie Coates, Reese Dismukes and Cameron Artis-Payne. After 15 practices, most of those holes have been filled.
Only the running backs have yet to separate themselves from the pack at this point, but Lashlee said he saw several promising signs during scrimmages.
“I thought Roc (Thomas) had a very good spring game,” Lashlee said. “I thought the spring game was the best of the scrimmages he had. Peyton Barber was physical. He was running over good players like Cassanova McKinzy, Rudy Ford, the way he finished was like how an Auburn running back finishes runs. As for Jovon (Robinson), he might’ve not had the stats in the A-Day game, but he had a good spring.”
One aspect stood out in particular to Lashlee, a sign that bodes extremely well for the fall.
“For all three of those guys, we’re going to count on all three of them,” Lashlee said. “The biggest positive for the whole spring for us is all three of those running backs did not have one fumble in a scrimmage situation, not even a fumble they recovered on the ground.”
The wide receivers will be led by returning starter Duke Williams, widely regarded as one of the top receivers in the nation. Among the handful of guys fighting for the starting spot opposite Williams and Ricardo Louis, Lashlee named Marcus Davis and Melvin Ray as two who stood out, along with A-Day MVP Myron Burton.
With all the progress Lashlee has seen this spring, it would be easy for him to assume they can stroll into the fall ready to contend for a national championship. But he knows, from working with Gus Malzahn, that the work doesn’t stop.
“I do not think we’re where we need to be at yet,” Lashlee said. “But I feel like we’re going the right way, and we’re on the right track.”
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