Eric Kiesau is making it no secret who will be the centerpiece of Auburn's offense this upcoming season. On Wednesday, he made it clear to the media and has been honest with all of the Tigers about who will get the ball to get the team moving: Tank Bigsby.

"I'm expecting a lot out of him, to be honest with you," the offensive coordinator said. "I've had conversations with him about that. I've actually had conversations with the whole offense about that -- like I said, we're going to start this thing with a downhill, physical run game."

After a strong freshman season, Bigsby avoided the sophomore slump by rushing for 1,099 yards and 10 touchdowns while catching 21 passes for 184 yards. He went for more than 100 yards in five different games despite sometimes not getting as many touches as a top running back usually receives. Now, with him and Jarquez Hunter headlining the backfield with a quarterback battle that will likely go into fall camp if not further, the running game is as vital as ever for the Tigers' offensive success.

"You need to have a foundation; you need to put your feet on something, and Tank is a big part of that," Kiesau said.

One thing the new offensive coordinator is looking to do is play to Bigsby's strengths. Kiesau said that he and the rest of the staff have watched film of what works for similar players in the NFL.

"Kind of put ourselves in the best situation for what's going to fit Tank's style of running and how we're going to do that," he said.

Now a junior and one of the leaders on the offense, those wanting more of Bigsby will seemingly be happy this fall.

"He's going to be a big part of what we're doing," Kiesau said.

Run Tank, indeed.