re: 2019 Offensive line: could it be 2010 level?

I am very optimistic about the offense this year, and a large part of that revolves around the entire offensive line returning and hopefully, improving greatly from last year. But the piece that makes a Gus Malzahn offense really click, is the running game.

I believe the consensus is that the oline improved during the course of last year, and was much better at the end of the year last year. But the rushing numbers were awful down the stretch for us last year. If you throw out the Liberty game and just look at the month of November and the bowl game, Auburn rushed 136 times for 460 yards (3.38 yard per attempt) in the last 4 games last year. Only rushed for 200 yards against Purdue, and most of those were from Willis/Gatewood in garbage time.

I know Whitlow was banged up at the end of last year, and these stats are against some of the best rush defenses in the country last year, but I'm not sure our offensive line was opening up a lot of holes in the running game at the end of the year. I like our running back talent/options this year, but I think it is still tbd how good this line is in the running game, and that will have a huge impact on our offense this year.