Kerryon Johnson believes Auburn’s Boobee Whitlow ‘could be better than me.'

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Back on Christmas Eve, Kerryon Johnson had some spare time on his hands and took to Instagram to field questions from his followers.

One of those pertained to one of Johnson’s replacements at Auburn, running back Boobee Whitlow. Johnson’s response was revealing.

“Could be better than me,” he posted.

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Take a minute to let that sink in.

In 2017, when Johnson was at his peak for Auburn, he led the SEC in both rushing yards (1,391) and rushing yards per game (115.92) while leading the league in total touchdowns (20) and earning SEC Offensive Player of the Year honors. He went on to be the program’s highest-drafted running back (second round, 43rd overall) since Ronnie Brown (second overall) and Cadillac Williams (fifth overall) in the 2004 NFL Draft.

And he thinks Whitlow stands a chance to be even better.

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“I most definitely didn’t see that,” Whitlow said of Johnson’s Instagram response. “But he better hope I don’t see that, because I’ll screenshot it.”

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“He makes plays when plays need to be made,” Johnson said. “He’s never going to be the fastest, never going to be the biggest guy, but when plays need to be made he always seems to step up, so as long as he keeps doing that I think his future’s going to be really bright.”

Those words, of course, hold some weight with Whitlow, who looked up to Johnson during their one shared year together on the Plains in 2017 — when Johnson was a breakout star and Whitlow redshirted following an ankle injury in fall camp. Johnson took Whitlow under his wing, to an extent, to help the former three-star athlete adjust to the college game and hone his skills.

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It’s the same courtesy that upperclassmen afforded Johnson when he first stepped foot on campus two years prior. Johnson wanted to pay it forward, and Whitlow didn’t let the experience go to waste. Watching Johnson in practices and games and being able to pick his mind for a year, helped teach Whitlow a more patient running style — or, at least, laid the groundwork for it.

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“Watching him, how he’s like trusting the line, you feel me? Coming out of high school, I ain’t really too much have no line,” Whitlow said. “Not knocking my line; I love my line, but you know what I’m saying? I ain’t never too much — just like now I’m coming into a stage like this where I got three-, four-, five-star linemen that are my brothers that are here to protect me. Just watching him, how he trusts his line and has linemen on his side, that’s what I really kind of like learned. The way he took that leader role — I ain’t ever been the type that, like, likes to lead. That ain’t me. I ain’t ever been the type that likes to lead, but I got to take that step now. I got to step out that comfort zone, you feel me?”

That patience and inherent trust in his blockers was hard to come by for Whitlow, who was so accustomed to freelancing with the ball in his hands from his time at LaFayette. In high school, when things broke down, he could just outrun people to the edge and make something out of nothing. That wasn’t going to cut it in the SEC, and it’s something Gus Malzahn and then-offensive assistants Chip Lindsey and Tim Horton tried to communicate with him.

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