Auburn’s bye week has opened the door to a running back debate, and Omar Mabson is making it hard to ignore.
After the Tigers’ devastating loss to Tennessee on Saturday, there’s plenty for Auburn to sort through before it heads to Georgia next weekend. One issue sits a little below the top of the list, but it’s becoming impossible to brush aside: who should be RB1 the rest of the way?
Jeremiah Cobb has held the starting job through the opening stretch under Alex Golesh, and he also started in the second half of last season. But Mabson keeps turning heads every time he touches the ball. The sophomore has been more effective in the rushing attack, especially when it comes to getting outside the tackles and producing steady runs.
That doesn’t mean Cobb should disappear from the plan. It does mean that if Auburn is going to keep splitting work between backs, Mabson ought to be the one getting the heavier share of the carries.
The bigger issue is volume. Auburn’s backs aren’t being used enough, period. Mabson and Cobb combined for just 13 carries last week, and that kind of workload is not going to get it done.
Golesh said earlier this offseason that he wants to "run the piss out of the football." Through five games, that hasn’t happened.
It’s still too soon to start talking about Auburn’s long-term future under Golesh, but Mabson is only a sophomore, and he has plenty of eligibility ahead of him. If the staff and locker room view the two backs similarly, the safer bet for the program’s future is the younger player.
There are seven games left, and Mabson still has room to grow before anyone starts putting him among the SEC’s best. Even so, he has already shown enough to suggest he’s moved ahead of Cobb on Auburn’s roster and fits this offense at a higher level.
The next test comes in Athens next Saturday, when Auburn returns from the bye to face Georgia. The carry count there will say plenty about where this backfield stands.
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