In yesterday’s victory, Jackson Arnold threw for 142 yards, and Jeremiah Cobb had another 100-yard rushing game, both stepping into the roles this season has thrown at them. However, such an exceptional performance would not have been possible without one key piece - the offensive line.
South Alabama’s defense could only get two tackles for loss and one sack against the Auburn offensive line. This steady presence allowed Arnold to take his time to find the open receiver and make good decisions with the football. Arnold spoke very highly of the offensive line’s ability to protect him in the pocket.
"I thought they played their butts off again,” said Arnold. “Fantastic for the run game and a fantastic passing game. They picked up. They’re heating us up a good amount. They picked up blitzes phenomenally since we got sacked one time. So yeah…I’m proud of them.”
The offensive line is historically one of the most thankless positions in American football, putting in the hard work every game and receiving nothing more than complaints when there’s a sack. Auburn’s offensive line is a hard-working group led by junior and captain Connor Lew, junior Xavier Chaplin, senior Dillon Wade, senior Jeremiah Wright, and senior Mason Murphy.
“It’s communicating with each other. In the past games, keeping the pocket clean,” said Wright. “I feel like we did a better job today with width and the depth of the pocket. We still need to fix a few technique problems, but everything else still did better than that.”
Last week, Auburn’s offensive line struggled against Ball State, allowing five sacks and eight tackles for loss. Heading into a tougher stretch of the schedule soon, the lineman knew they would need to step up their game.
“We were kind of disappointed with our game performance last week, so we knew we had to do something this week,” said Chaplin. “We knew what we had to work on, so we did that and got it done.”
With this veteran leadership also comes several transfer players and incoming freshmen, meaning the line has had to learn to work together with new faces and a shifting dynamic from last year. Chaplin spoke on how they’ve learned to work together in this beginning stretch of the season.
“I feel like it’s really building our chemistry because we know we are going to get on each other,” said Chaplin. We know we are going to go until we can’t go anymore. Earlier, we had a drive, 10 straight run plays, we just kept going, kept going, and kept pushing rocks."
The Auburn offensive line will get the chance to show its improvement this week in Norman as the Tigers face the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, September 20, at 2:30 CDT. The game will be available to stream on ESPN.
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.
Jackie is a senior majoring in Psychology. She started with The Plainsman in fall 2024.
You can follow her on X (Twitter) at @jackie_domingun
