Boobee Whitlow is well on his way to restoring Auburn's 1,000-yard rusher streak.
At 341 yards Whitlow is the second-leading rusher in the SEC — good for an average of 113.7 yards per game, which would get Whitlow over the 1K mark by season's end if he keeps up the same pace.
But as Auburn nears its SEC opener at Texas A&M on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, CBS), Gus Malzahn has reservations about Whitlow's running style, which is seemingly less patient and more head-first than Auburn's successful zone-read rushers of recent years.
"I tell him to slow it down a little bit," Malzahn said.
Whitlow's ball security has been suspect, as well. He put the ball on the ground three times in a Week 2 win over Tulane, losing two of them.
"It’s kinda common sense — to play, you have to hold on to the football," Malzahn said.
As Malzahn was quick to point out, 2019 marks Whitlow's second season playing running back and first as the clear-cut starter. As a quarterback in high school, he accounted for nearly 4,500 yards and 59 total touchdowns in his senior season alone.
He signed with the Tigers' 2017 class as an overall athlete before practicing at receiver during his redshirt freshman season. During bowl practices that year, he began to make the transition to running back.
"He’s still learning, too," Malzahn said. "He has improved this year from last year as far as understanding and pressing the line and slowing down, but yes, there are some areas to improve on. We address it and we’ll continue to improve in that area.”
Auburn is the No. 11 rushing offense in the nation this season, inflated by its 467-yard day on the ground against Kent State. In its first two games, the Tigers averaged 4.3 yards per rush.
And now they face a Texas A&M front that stymied this same Auburn offensive line in their matchup last season, holding Auburn to 19 yards rushing on 21 attempts — the team's worst game on the ground since 2000 (18 yards vs. Miss State).
While the Aggies did a lose a handful of top contributors along the defensive line from last season, they're still one of the top run defenses in the nation, allowing 87.7 yards per game and two rushing touchdowns this season.
"Man, their front seven is really good," said Auburn offensive guard Marquel Harrell. "You go back and watch the game last year. They were really good last year and just seem to keep getting better and better. Really solid against the run and give you some different things on passing downs. I’m excited for our offensive line and offense as a whole because it’s just a test to see where we really are in the season."
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