AUBURN | It’s a lesson Bryan Harsin learned early in his coaching career.

As the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator for Boise State in 2008, Harsin had to overcome a number of injuries to the offensive line that forced them to use 11 different starting combinations in 12 games.

Still, Harsin helped the Broncos finish the regular season 12-0 with the only defeat coming to TCU 17-16 in the Poinsettia Bowl.

“That's something that's always stuck with me that you've got to be prepared for that,” said Harsin, who will begin his first season as Auburn’s head coach against Akron Sept. 4. “It's not ideal. You'd love to have the same five every game, but, you know, those guys do need to be ready.”

Harsin and offensive line coach Will Friend’s first goal during camp is finding the best five offensive linemen and getting them in the best positions.

Then it’s about identifying the sixth, seventh, eight lineman and so on in the pecking order. By shuffling linemen between different positions, it increases the odds of being able to get the sixth-best linemen on the field in case one of the starters is injured.

For example, let’s say Brandon Council wins the starting position at right guard and Keiondre Jones, who started seven games at right guard after Council was injured last season, ends up AU’s sixth option.

If the starting right tackle is injured, Council could move out to that position and allow Jones to step into his more natural spot.

“I think it’s good for the offensive line,” said Council. You saw last year when I went down a lot of positions had to change. I think it’s going to be good moving forward because you never know when an injury is going to happen. You always have guys work at different positions so they’re going to know what to do when you plug them in and play.”

There’s another advantage to cross-training offensive linemen and that’s learning what the other players on the offensive line are doing and their responsibilities on a particular play.

“Just learning what the guy next to me has to do helps me understand my game better,” said Brodarious Hamm, who started eight games at right tackle last season. “In the long run, I might have to play guard, tackle. Just knowing both roles will help me and the team a lot.”

The cross-training could occur during a practice team period or during a couple of periods of position drills. It can include giving a player a look at a different position or giving a current backup an opportunity to show what he can do on the first team.

“So this guy got three reps on it at guard; now he's going to get three reps on it at tackle,” explained Harsin. “I think it helps them get a better understanding of the communication, the work that those two have to do together. And then also for us as well, it allows us a little bit of freedom to be able to move guys around and say, 'Alright, here's the best five.' And they understand it.

“At this point for the o-line and d-line, who are the best guys? Who are the toughest guys? Who are the guys that can go out there and be the most consistent up front. That's one of the things right now we're trying to figure it out.”

Auburn will hold its first scrimmage Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.