Auburn heads into 2026 with a backfield that gives Alex Golesh and Joel Gordon something every coach wants: options. Lots of them.
One week before the Tigers open against Baylor in Atlanta, the big question isn’t whether Auburn can run the ball. It’s how they’ll sort out the carries with so many capable runners in the mix.
Byrum Brown sits at the center of it all. The dual-threat quarterback rushed for over 1,000 yards at South Florida last season before transferring to Auburn, and it wouldn’t be a shock if he leads the team in both carries and rushing yards in 2026, especially early in the year. His comfort in Golesh’s fast-paced system only adds to that possibility.
Still, Brown is stepping into a much deeper backfield than the one he left behind in the American Conference.
Jeremiah Cobb is the name at the top of the running back room and should start the season as the player most likely to get the most handoffs among the true backs. Last season, Cobb came close to 1,000 rushing yards even though he didn’t fully take over as the starter until the second half of the year. That’s why plenty around the program see him as one of the SEC’s better backs.
The rotation doesn’t drop off much after Brown and Cobb, either.
Bryson Washington, a former Baylor running back, has worked his way into the conversation for meaningful snaps in Week 1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. His start at Auburn was slow after transferring from the Big 12, but Golesh said after the second scrimmage of fall camp that Washington is beginning to look like the running back they hoped to have heading into the year.
That makes for an interesting opening to the season, even if it’s still unclear how many touches he’ll get against his old team.
Then there’s Omar Mabson, who has been one of the biggest offseason surprises for Auburn. Early in fall camp, both Golesh and Gordon singled him out for how much he had impressed them, and others around the program kept praising him even when they weren’t asked about him. There’s also a belief that he has beaten out Washington for the RB2 role entering the season.
Put it all together, and Auburn has at least four legitimate ball carriers in the mix, not counting what the Tigers can do with wide receivers or tight ends. Compared with where they were a year ago, that’s a major upgrade. If the offense takes even a modest step forward, Auburn has a chance to be in the fight every week.
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