The praise continues to roll in for Auburn’s freshman running back Jarquez Hunter. Running back coach Cadillac Williams was extremely high on him when asked about him in the spring, and since arriving on campus, the praise hasn’t stopped.

In June Hunter was named one of Auburn’s weekly Iron Men of the Week for his work ethic in summer workouts.

At SEC Media Days Owen Pappoe said the freshmen can squat 600 pounds.

And on Thursday, head coach Bryan Harsin continued to talk about him.

“Jarquez has had a really good summer,” Harsin said. “He's obviously experienced when it comes to being out there at practice. We know that he's a young guy but he's very strong, tough, works extremely hard. He's got all the qualities that you want in a player, alright? And certainly at that position.”

Auburn’s got its solidified No. 1 and No. 2 backs in Tank Bigsby and Shaun Shivers, respectively, but in the SEC depth is important at that position.

But so is leadership and work out of the top guys, both of whom were also strong over the summer.

“Tank and Shaun, both those guys, I thought they excelled this summer,” Harsin said. “I thought both those guys as leaders on the team really stepped up. This is important to them. It's good to see two good players really working with each other, as well -- they both know they're going to play, they both know that they're going to have impacts on this team.

“And then yeah, you've got to get somebody like Jordon [Ingram], Jarquez, some of the other guys in that running back room that are going to need to step up. You want to have all your guys there, but especially at that position, you want to have depth. You want to have guys that can get in there -- even if it's a specialty role, one or two plays and this is what they do, that still makes a huge difference in the offense.”

Fall practices, which officially start Friday, will be an opportunity for the young backs to live up to the praise and show what they’re capable of. But for Harsin, he’s already got a good idea of what they can do.

“We'll see with the new guys what they're capable of learning and retaining -- and what they can handle through camp. But from what I've seen physically, those guys had a really good summer,” Harsin said. “They're capable of doing it; now we've got to go out there and apply it to the field.”

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