Horton enters the center competition

AUBURN | Barring an injury setback, Mike Horton is going to be part of No. 10 Auburn’s starting offensive line against No. 6 Washington on Sept. 1.

But will the junior line up at right guard or center? That’s still to be determined. He played mainly guard in Friday’s opening preseason practice, but that changed Saturday. And changed again Sunday.

“So practice two, Mike Horton did primarily center the whole time. Today he went back to guard and I think J.B.’s plan is to put him back to center tomorrow,” said Auburn coach Gus Malzahn following Sunday's third preseason practice.

Horton, who started seven games at left guard last season, is competing with junior Kaleb Kim at center. Redshirt freshman Nick Brahms is scheduled to join the competition later this fall when he returns from a broken leg.

“I thought (Horton) did a solid job for the first time,” Malzahn said. “Like I’ve said before, he has snapped the last couple of years. We always train our guards. But for the first day in there the snaps were solid and I thought he did a good job. Now keep in mind, that was helmets only, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

"Kaleb’s fighting for the starting position,” he added. “Kaleb’s been here for a while and he knows the offense; he understands everything. He’s competing for the starting spot and I think he’s done some good things.”

Also fighting for a starting position is Calvin Ashley. The redshirt freshman worked with the first-team at right guard Saturday when Horton moved to center.

“As of right now we’re working him at guard and trying to get him comfortable,” Malzahn said. “That’s his first three days really to do it and I think he’s done some good things. But like I said earlier, he does have ability to play tackle, but right now we’re pretty committed to him playing guard.”

There’s also right tackle where UMass graduate transfer Jack Driscoll is competing with redshirt freshman Austin Troxell for the starting position. Malzahn and offensive line coach J.B. Grimes hope to have everything sorted out by the end of next week.

Thursday morning’s first full-scale scrimmage will go a long ways in determining the two-deep.

“There’s a lot of competition right now and that’s the good thing,” Malzahn said. “But when you’re 27 days away you want to put the pieces of the puzzle together sooner rather than later. It’s kind of one of those things, it’s good the competition, but the quicker that we can get them in place the better.”