Auburn football coach Alex Golesh has a plan for his offensive line against Florida, but he's keeping it secret. After Wilson Zierer helped the Tigers rush for 343 yards against Southern Miss, could changes at left guard solve Auburn's offensive line concerns before SEC play?
The Auburn Tigers might be closer to figuring out its offensive line than we realize.
And based on Alex Golesh's latest comments, the Tigers already have a plan for what they want to do against Florida.
They're just not going to tell us what it is. We will just have to wait until the offense takes the field for the first time on Saturday.
After Auburn struggled to consistently protect Byrum Brown and establish the running game against Baylor, the offensive line became one of the biggest questions surrounding this team.
But Golesh's explanation of how Auburn handled its offensive line rotation against Baylor makes what happened against Southern Miss a little more interesting.
Golesh explained that Auburn wanted to rotate offensive linemen against Baylor but never established enough offensive rhythm to feel comfortable making those changes.
That's interesting considering Auburn eventually needed Jack Leyrer and Kail Ellis to come off the bench at guard during its game-winning touchdown drive.
And against Southern Miss, Auburn finally got an opportunity to try something different.
Wilson Zierer, who had primarily worked at right tackle throughout the offseason, got meaningful opportunities at left guard. Auburn responded with 343 rushing yards and a considerably better offensive performance.
Of course, that doesn't mean Zierer has officially won the starting job, but when he was out there, the offensive line certainly played differently.
Golesh said after the game that the plan was always to play Jacob Strand and then get Zierer some opportunities inside.
But now it appears that Zierer might not be the only player involved.
Golesh also mentioned that Leyrer has earned additional playing time, which doesn't give me full confidence in this group as they head into their most important game so far on the schedule.
So, what does that mean for Saturday?
Maybe Zierer gets the start at left guard. Maybe Strand remains the starter, and Zierer rotates in. Maybe Leyrer gets additional opportunities somewhere along the interior.
My guess is Zierer gets the first crack at it, but like many things heading into this contest...
We don't know.
But Golesh apparently does have a plan.
"We know what we're going to do. It would be silly for me to tell you here now publicly what we're going to do," Golesh said,
And honestly, I don't blame him.
Florida doesn't need to know Auburn's offensive line plans before Saturday.
The Tigers have already shown they're willing to make adjustments, and the Southern Miss game gave the coaching staff more information about its options.
Now comes the important part.
Auburn has to figure out whether those adjustments will actually work against an SEC defensive front.
And we'll find out Saturday whether Golesh's plan is the answer Auburn has been looking for.
