SCOTTSBORO | Last season Kaleb Kim lost, and then regained his staring job.

Barring an injury, Kim is much more secure with his starting center position this fall after a strong finish last year and a step forward this spring.

“We’re settled in. We have anointed Kaleb Kim. He is the guy. And we’ve told him that,” Auburn offensive line coach J.B. Grimes said. “You know what, that probably helped his confidence, it helped his leadership, being vocal and directing us. I was really proud of him in the spring.”

Kim missed a portion of last spring with an injury and wasn’t 100 percent going into last season’s opener against Washington. He started the first three games of the season before Nick Brahms took over for five games, and then Kim finished out the season with the final five starts.

“When we played Washington, I really didn’t know what we were going to get,” Grimes said. “Kaleb still wasn’t 100 percent going into the opening ballgame and it really showed against LSU and then we made the change. And then Brahms wasn’t 100 percent. Both those kids had pretty serious injuries in the spring and neither one of them were 100 percent going into fall camp.

“When I finally set Kaleb Kim down, he sat for five games, and then it was time to put him in there. It was at that time that we started making that little jump from a cohesiveness and the physical part of the game. I set him down for five weeks and when that happened, I think he got better, I think he got healed up.”

And Grimes saw Kim progress throughout 15 spring practices, especially with his run blocking.

“Always in the run game we’ve gotta get some better push,” Grimes said. “And to be honest with you there may not be a harder block in football than to get a 320-pound nose who is lined up offsides and he’s in a bad mood. He’s mad. And to move a guy like that, that’s one of the hardest blocks in football and last spring we were getting knocked back. We were literally getting knocked back.

“We were getting ties and even at times a little push this spring, so I was pleased with that. If you can get any push at all, even Reese (Dismukes) had problems with that, now. That’s a hard block.”

Overall, Grimes was pleased with his offensive line this spring, which is led by five senior starters. The group has combined for 97 starts.

“It actually took a little longer for me to get those guys playing as a cohesive unit, but around Game seven we started playing pretty well and we had great carryover in the spring,” Grimes said. “I thought those guys competed well and obviously every day we’re going against a very, very good defensive line — one of the best, if not the best, in the country. I’ll be honest with you: I felt like we held our own. We’ve gotten better.”