Auburn Football: 2017 Game-by-game predictions
The most sacked man in the SEC was Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen. Frankly it’s a small miracle that he’s still standing after being brought to the ground nearly three dozen times in 2016, officially. Auburn’s defensive front is going to have a field day with a more experienced, yet still vulnerable Razorback offensive line.
Carl Lawson and Montravius Adams are not going to be easy pieces for the Tigers to replace. However, the guys they do run out on the defensive front won’t be that green. Auburn returns 11 of their 13 leading tackles from a season ago, which if you’re doing the math, is everyone except for Lawson and Adams.
The trenches will be manned in 2017 by tackles Dontavius Russel and Derrick Brown in the interior with Marlon Davidson and Jeff Holland handling the outside spots. Holland is the weak link, replacing Lawson, but he’ll be bolstered by the covey of physical playmakers around him on the Auburn front seven.
Gone are days when the Razorbacks would control the time of possession battle and occupy the clock with 13 play, 10 minute drives. The offense has skewed much more pass heavy in recent seasons. And it won’t help that last year’s leading rusher Rawleigh Williams III has made the decision to retire from football in lieu of injury concerns.
When it comes to evaluating the talent on each of these rosters it’s clearly a battle of the “haves” and the “have nots”. Don’t expect the Razorbacks to do anything spectacular, even though it’s on their own turf.