Before Auburn’s two bye weeks, the Tigers had played in six consecutive games, and during that time frame, the offense has evolved under Chad Morris in his first season at Auburn.
The conference-only slate has forced the first-year offensive coordinator and the offense to learn on the fly.
“Having a normal schedule, you usually have some opportunities in there to evolve and get guys, grow guys up in some games before you get into your conference matchups,” Morris said. “But this year, unfortunately, we’ve jumped right into conference play. So you kind of had to learn on the run, you had to evolve and find out who your team is, who and what our offense is good at over the course of experience.”
Many key individual players on the offense this season have helped aid in the evolution, but Morris knows that it starts with the offensive line.
“We’ve been able to run the football effectively, and a lot of that’s attributed to our offensive line,” Morris said. “Coach Bicknell’s done a great job with those guys and those guys growing up.”
In the running game, the emergence of Tank Bigsby, the true freshman running back with over 500 rushing yards through the first six games, has been essential to Auburn’s offense.
“When you look at Tank and how he’s grown and developed over the last several weeks -- actually the entire year -- you’ve seen flashes of what he’s capable of doing,” Morris said. “He’s explosive when he puts his foot in the ground, and he makes a decision. This is a guy that’s got a career ahead of him.”
Under center, Bo Nix has struggled at times this season, but in the Tigers’ last two games, he has improved upon his earlier struggles. In Auburn's games against LSU and Ole Miss, Nix combined for four touchdown passes through the air and 538 passing yards.
Morris feels that Nix and his receivers have a strong connection with each other.
“I know Bo is extremely comfortable with those guys and what they’re capable of doing,” Morris said. “We always talk about what we’ve got to do to win our 1-on-1s, and that’s going to be critical for us over the final four weeks of the season is being able to win our 1-on-1s with the ball in the air. Seth brings a certain dynamic, and Flash does, and Eli does.”
While Auburn’s offense has seemingly picked up steam following wins against Ole Miss and LSU, Morris sees the offense as a continued work in progress.
“I would say we’ll continue to be a work in progress,” said Morris. “But I think we have a really good idea of who we are and what we’re good at.”
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
