To join in the chorus of praise for Auburn’s newly-revived rushing attack would be easy. … So here we go! (No need to make things difficult when you don’t have to, and in this case, the stats pretty much speak for themselves.) Following Auburn’s first two football games of the season, the numbers looked a little something like this:

• No. 1 in the SEC at 345.5 yards per game
• No. 2 in the nation, behind only the triple-option attack of the Air Force Academy
• Running backs Ben Tate and Onterio McCalebb ranked No. 1 and 2 in the SEC. Both ranked in the top 10 in the nation, averaging over 130 yards per game.
• McCalebb’s 148 yards vs. La Tech were the most ever in an opening game for a freshman. His 114 versus MSU made him the first Auburn freshman to start his career with consecutive 100+ yard performances. *
• Tate and McCalebb both rushed for over 100 yards in back-to-back games, something that had never happened before in Auburn football history.

… And that’s to say nothing of the success that Kodi Burns has had operating out of the Wildcat formation.

The Doubters

For those who say it’s simply a product of poor competition, well, I wouldn’t be so sure about that. One need look no further than Auburn’s new offensive coordinator to see what this offense is not only capable of but has been doing regularly for the past three years.

Auburn OC Gus Malzahn (Birmingham News)

For Auburn fans who may have forgotten, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has already spent one year in the SEC, during which he led the University of Arkansas to a Western Division title and a berth in the SEC Championship Game. More to the point, he had two different running backs go for over 1,000 yards on the season.

Yes, they were both NFL-caliber running backs (Darren McFadden and Felix Jones), but Malzahn produced another 1,000-yard rusher in 2007, in Tulsa’s Tarrion Adams (1,225 yards).

In 2008, Tulsa’s rushing attack finished fifth in the nation at 268 yards per game, while producing another 1,000-yard season for Adams, who ran for over 1,500 yards.

Simply put, every year that Malzahn has coached college football, his offense has produced at least one 1,000-yard rusher.

Does that mean there will be one this year at Auburn? I wouldn’t bet against it.

Cautious Optimism

Having said all that, it’s still best to maintain a little pragmatism in gauging the team’s expectations. In truth, the early-season bar may have been set too high. According to Head Coach Gene Chizik, the team’s rushing goal for the year was to average over 200 yards a game, not the 300-yard benchmark set in the first two games.

Again, to point out the stellar nature of those performances, Auburn hadn’t rushed for over 300 yards in consecutive games since 1985, when Bo Jackson was in the backfield.

There will undoubtedly be games when the ground game can’t get untracked. Maybe the team will come up against a nation-leading defense (they have been known to lurk around the SEC from time to time) or simply sag enough in the passing game to allow opposing defenses to sell out on the run.

But even so, given Malzahn’s recent history, I think it’s safe to say that a successful running attack will once again become the norm, and not the exception. And while they may not rush for 300 yards a game, the commitment to the ground attack appears to be here to stay.

War Eagle!

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* A bit of trivia here: Does anyone know who the upperclassman was that opened his career with five 100+ yard performances? Answer below if you think you know. (Smiley face emoticon to the first one who gets it right!)

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As I was driving to Mississippi a couple of weeks back, I heard a couple of guys on regional sports radio discussing the fact that Chizik’s recruiting efforts have, to this point, apparently emphasized the importance of finding an elite-level running back.

The context of the conversation was actually a discussion of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn’s new “spread” offense, and the hosts took the view that the apparent emphasis on high-caliber RB talent is evidence of the coach’s commitment to the run.

It’s a logical enough conclusion, but the fact that it needed to be said struck me as a little odd. Since the earliest days of his hiring, Malzahn has emphasized the importance that the running game plays in his offense, and Chizik himself has echoed the sentiment as well.

“You can categorize it however you want,” Chizik told ESPN recently. “But one of the first things out of Gus’s mouth each day is the need for physicality. People can categorize the spread however they want, but at the end of the day, it’s going to be ‘Tailback U’ with a great vertical passing game.”

The results remain to be seen on the field of course, but rest assured, this Auburn offense is going to utilize its running backs.

Class of 2010

In terms of RB recruiting, the staff has managed to attract what appears to be genuine interest from a number of the nation’s most highly-rated recruits. Since the beginning of the year, Auburn has hosted the top three in the nation, in Lache Seastrunk of Temple, Texas, Marcus Lattimore of Duncan, South Carolina, and Michael Dyer of Little Rock, Arkansas. Local prospect, and No. 11-rated running back, Corey Grant (Opelika High School) has also drawn considerable interest from the staff.

Each of the backs offers something unique, and many fans are hopeful they’ll be able to land more than one of the elite backs: Grant, for example, recently won the state of Alabama’s 100-meter dash championship with a time of 10.51. He also placed second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.60. (AHSAA Track Championships 2009)

Dyer will finish his high-school career as one of the state of Arkansas’s all-time greats — as a sophomore, he rushed for over 2,700 yards, earning EA Sports National Sophomore of the Year award and last year was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year. (To see him in action, check out the video on his recruiting website.)

Seastrunk, the No. 1-rated running back in the nation according to Rivals.com, has already endeared himself to Auburn fans with his outgoing personality and infectious energy. (Fans may recall a certain “impromptu” gathering at Toomer’s Corner recently.)

A Good Start

In any case, as an Auburn fan, I’m pleased to simply see the interest being attracted by the nation’s top backs. It’s been my belief for awhile now that for some reason in recent years we weren’t able to fully leverage the school’s long and storied history of producing NFL-caliber running backs.

What appears to be the exception this year — i.e., having the nation’s top backs interested in the program — should, in my view, be the norm. Of course the top running backs in the country should be interested in playing at Auburn. And apparently this is a staff that shares that view.

Of course, there are no guarantees when it comes to recruiting, but the fact is that you’ve got to get the kids interested before they’ll make a long-term commitment to attend your school — and that’s exactly what this staff is trying to do.

Time will tell who decides to call Auburn home for the next few years, but with several of the top guys expected to make summer decisions, it should make for a very interesting next-few-months.

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The Summer Senior camp was a great idea for Auburn recruiting.  We’ve added 5 high grade commits over the last week and they’re coming form inside AND outside the state of Alabama.

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