Auburn Football: 5 storylines to follow during 2018 spring ball

3. Finding a starting running back

Kerryon Johnson has departed for the NFL and taken his 1,300-plus yards and 18 touchdowns with him. Johnson carried the load for the Tigers in 2017 and averaged 4.9 yards per carry and 8.1 yards per reception on the season. Johnson’s backup Kamryn Pettway has also departed.

Pettway scored six touchdowns on the ground in 2017 while averaging 4.0 yards per carry. The starter will come from one of Kam Martin and Devan Barrett.

Martin, a former four-star back from Texas, is a junior. In 2017, he rushed for 453 yards on 6.1 yards per carry adding two touchdowns. He’ll be pressed by former Tampa Catholic High School four-star running back Devan Barrett. He ran for 5.6 yards per carry in limited duty for the Tigers in 2017. Barrett is a former high school teammate of Auburn wide receiver Nate Craig-Myers.

Whoever gets the job will focus strongly on their ball security and ability to carry the football twenty times a game over a grueling schedule.

As much as Auburn relies on its quarterback to make the offense click, they need a feature back to control the clock for Gus Malzahn’s spread to run approach. Barrett has speed and size at 6-foot-0 and 190 pounds. Martin and Barrett are joined by 2018 four-star commit Asa Martin, out of Decatur, Ala.