“5 at 5” Football Edition Installment #15, Original Analysis: Auburn Preview

EDITOR’S NOTE: Counting down to the first week of Ole Miss football practice the week of August 15, HottyToddy.com’s own Collin Brister, former sports editor of the Daily Mississippian, will bring you exclusive “5 at 5” analyses of either A) the opponents Ole Miss will be facing this season or B) some background on Ole Miss’ players at each position. It’s being called “5 at 5” because each original piece will give you 5 key things to know, and we will post these stories at 5 p.m. every Monday-Friday.

NUMBER 1:

Recent History

Ole Miss beat Auburn last season 27-19 in their first victory in Auburn since Eli Manning was taking snaps. The Rebels played sloppily early, but some big plays put the game out of reach down the stretch and kept Ole Miss alive in the SEC West race. The Rebels lost their second game of the season during the 2014 season to Auburn when Laquon Treadwell suffered a horrific ankle injury in the waning moments of the contest. The Rebels are 2-2 under Hugh Freeze against the Tigers.

NUMBER 2:

Quarterback

The Tigers, like most every other time we’ve previewed, have a quarterback competition going into the season.

The Tigers started both Jeremy Johnson and Sean White during last year’s season and signed John Franklin III from East Mississippi Community College. Johnson was billed to be an adequate replacement for Nick Marshall who left after the 2014 season, but struggled mightily early in the season with turnover problems. White isn’t the prototypical quarterback for Gus Malzahn’s offense, while there are certainly questions regarding Franklin’s ability to throw the football.

NUMBER 3:

Friendship

Gus Malzahn and Hugh Freeze are admittedly good friends, something that is a rarity in college football. Malzahn and Freeze were both high school football coaches less than 15 years ago and have taken similar paths to becoming SEC head coaches. Malzahn replaced Freeze at Arkansas State when Freeze came to Oxford in 2011.

NUMBER 4:

Carl Lawson

The star defensive end could cause a problem for Ole Miss come October come October 29.

The defensive end has been hampered by injury much of his first three years in Auburn, but when healthy, and he supposedly is going into this year, he’s a force to be reckoned with. The Tigers, surely, will line the Georgia native up on one of the weaker Rebel offensive linemen, and Ole Miss could have their hands full with him.

NUMBER 5:

Analysis and Pick

You’re nothing in this league without a quarterback, unless you’re Alabama.

Auburn simply doesn’t have a solution at quarterback right now, and unless Nick Marshall comes walking through that door, I don’t see a solution. Jeremy Johnson is their best option, but the senior turns the ball over way too much to see consistent playing time. If Auburn has to go with Sean White, they’re not good enough on defense to bail him out.

The wildcard is Franklin III. If he can throw the football well enough, then he could compete immediately for the Tigers, but if not, it could be another long season, and maybe Malzahn’s last.

Ole Miss-34
Auburn-20

Read check out the last “5 by 5” on Friday, July 22, featuring Ole Miss Rebels’ corners here.

Collin Brister is a staff writer for HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at collin.brister@hottytoddy.com.

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