AUBURN | It was a quiet first season for Harold Joiner, playing in two games and rushing three times for nine yards and a touchdown against Alabama State.

But the redshirt freshman is ready to make some noise at Auburn in year two. And is sounds like Gus Malzahn is ready to give him the opportunity.

“You know, Harold's got a great attitude and a great approach,” said Malzahn, Auburn’s seventh-year head coach. “We're asking a lot of him. He's kind of playing two positions. You know, him and Sal are the only two that we're asking to play two positions.

“Harold's really shown some signs of some really good stuff. He can really run, he's a really good athlete, and he competes. As long as he'll keep working, there's no doubt in my mind he'll help our offense next year.”

Joiner is playing both running back and slot receiver. His versatility is exactly what Malzahn wants to add to the offense this year to cut down on substitutions and increase tempo.

“Harold Joiner is going to be special. Harold is going to be real big. He’s going to help us out a lot on offense,” senior running back Kam Martin said.

“It’s going to help us a lot because you’re going to have two running backs on the field at the same time. I feel like that’s going to help us out a lot too so we don’t have to keep rotating guys in and out.”

Joiner is even drawing comparisons to former Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson, who was the SEC Player of the Year in 2017 and accounted for 854 yards and four touchdowns rushing and receiving as a rookie for the Detroit Lions last season.

“He’s the type that can do a lot of different things — he runs the ball well, catches the ball well, so, he is a running back, but we’re going to utilize him in some different ways,” Malzahn explained. “Kerryon Johnson, when he was a true freshman, we utilized him some different ways, so that’s probably the best way to put that.”

The one limiting factor for Joiner might be his physicality. But Martin seemed more than confident in his young understudy when asked about Joiner’s blocking ability.

“He’s going to be good. Harold is going to be real good,” Martin said.

Auburn, which wrapped up its first week of spring drills Saturday in Jordan-Hare Stadium, will return to the practice field Monday afternoon. The A-Day game will be April 13 at 3 p.m. CT on SEC Network.