AUBURN | Mike Horton believes in telling it like it is, and that’s especially true when he talks about his own performance last season.

Auburn’s fifth-year senior isn’t handing out any A’s, that’s for sure.

“Last season, I didn’t really feel like I did that well,” said Horton, who started all 13 games at right guard last fall. “And I’m most of the time my toughest critic, so whatever anybody has to say about me, I’ve probably already done thought about it before. So I didn’t feel like I did that well last year, but it’s going to be a new season this year. That’s all I can say.”

Horton said the biggest area he needed to improve on from 2018 was his pass protection and not giving up so many pressures. J.B. Grimes, AU’s second-year offensive line coach, has already seen Horton make big strides at the end of last season and this past spring.

“It’s some fundamental things there that we have to get fixed but one thing about Mike Horton is he’s a cerebral guy. He’s a thinker. You can show him something and he’ll fix it. He’s smart enough to fix it,” Grimes said earlier this summer.

“I felt like he really, really made great strides in protection and he really, really took a giant step forward in setting double teams between this time last year and now. I mean, he’s gotten a ton better. He and Jack Driscoll together on some of our combination blocks in the run game really looked good.”

Horton is one of five fifth-year seniors returning as starter on Auburn’s offensive line. It’s got him and his teammates confident the group can lead a resurgent offense.

“It’s all about chemistry, man,” Horton said. “We’ve been playing with each other for so long, it’s like we know what each other is going to do before we do it. That’s the biggest thing. The longer you play with somebody, the more you get used to them, and the better you get.

“I just feel like we have the ability to make those explosive plays that we necessarily didn’t make last year, so I think that’s good and that’ll put us over the top.”