No Boobee, no problem for Auburn in a massive SEC road victory.
Without starting tailback Boobee Whitlow, who is out at least the next month with a knee injury suffered against Florida, No. 11 Auburn amassed 298 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in a 51-10 victory over Arkansas in Fayetteville.
Prior to some late kneel-downs from backup quarterback Joey Gatewood in the victory formation, the Tigers had 300 yards rushing for the first time in an SEC game since dropping 345 in a win against the Razorbacks in 2017.
“We played them all today, and that was by design,” Gus Malzahn said of his running backs. “… It’s good to have depth at that position, and we’ll probably do something similar next week.”
It began with senior Kam Martin, who received the starting nod from Gus Malzahn. Martin’s first touch of the afternoon went for 52 yards up the right sideline — all the way to Arkansas’ 11-yard line.
"Pulling up to the team hotel, I told the guys, 'Let's go,'" Martin said. "Let's get back to playing Auburn football."
Martin led the Tigers in rushing with 84 yards on 10 carries, providing a “steady” presence for the offense.
“Kam Martin, we know exactly what we’re getting with him,” Malzahn said. “... He got us off to a great start.”
Sophomore Shaun Shivers capped the three-play, 63-yard drive that put Auburn up 14-0 with a 6-yard burst around left end for his first touchdown of the year. Shivers had five carries for 28 yards.
Highly anticipated true freshman D.J. Williams ended up touting the rock the most out of all the backs with 11 carries for 48 yards.
“He’s a pretty good load,” Malzahn said of Williams. “He can fall forward, he can break tackles. It’s good to give him some quality carries on the road and in this league.”
But the top yards-per-carry average belonged to 6-foot-3 redshirt freshman Harold Joiner (14.3). He received all of his touches in the second half, with the game already well in hand for the Tigers.
The Birmingham product Joiner galloped untouched for a 32-yard touchdown — the second score of his career — to hang 50 on the board for Auburn with 2:27 remaining. Joiner finished with 59 yards on four handoffs.
"We trust in all the running backs," Martin said. "We made plays today."
Malzahn said the rotation was “pretty close” to what he envisioned of the by-committee approach without Whitlow.
“Having guys like D.J. and Malik to come and spell (Kam Martin), then a guy like Harold Joiner to come in and play, and a guy like Worm to come in and be a change of pace — all those guys have to be impactful for us to continue to have success,” offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham said postgame on Auburn radio. “I thought they did their own roles really well."
-------
NOT A MEMBER?
JOIN AUBURNSPORTS.COM TODAY to enjoy around-the-clock content including stories, analysis, videos, podcasts, call-in shows and The Greatest Message Board In The History of The Internet.