Left tackle 'still a battle,' coaches feel they have 'six starters'

DEMOPOLIS -- For the second straight year Auburn will return four starters on the offensive line, and for the second straight year, that position battle will go well go into fall camp.

The competition between Shon Coleman and Patrick Miller for who would earn the right to replace Greg Robinson at left tackle finished spring as it began, a neck-and-neck contest.

"I think it's still a battle," Auburn offensive line coach J.B. Grimes said before the Marengo County Auburn Club's annual meeting. "I think it's one of those that going into camp we've got a great situation there. A lot of people across the country would love to have that situation, where's there's good competition, and I feel good about that."

With Alex Kozan, Reese Dismukes, Chad Slade and Avery Young all back and the experience of Miller and potential of Coleman, the Auburn coaching staff is confident in its options.

Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee feels like the Tigers have "six starters" on the line.

"The hardest thing is to figure out who the best five are," Grimes said. "That's a very difficult thing because obviously we have four returning starters with a guy like Pat Miller who started multiple games, I think he started (14) ball games at Auburn. He has really good experience and is a quality player. Then you've got an exceptional athlete like Shon Coleman who I think has great potential. He hasn't done it yet, but he has great potential to be one of those guys."

Asked what the 15 spring practices did to clear the picture at one of just three position battles on offense, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said "nothing's changed" in how he views Miller and Coleman.

"We feel like they could start for a whole lot of teams," he said, "and we look at them both as starter-type people."

The loss of Robinson, who is expected to be among the top six players selected in Thursday's NFL Draft, would be a potentially devastating loss to most teams but not Auburn.

Having the 6-foot-7 289 pound Miller and the 6-foot-6 310 pound Coleman waiting in the wings is a luxury few teams have.

"I feel like Pat and Shon really competed well," Lashlee said. "I feel like that there's going to be a lot said about Greg leaving but we don't think there's going to be a huge drop there. I got a lot of confidence in both those guys and I hope the other four get better."

The trick is trying not to "disrupt" a group that helped pave the way for the nation's leading rushing offense and allowed just 18 sacks last season.

As part of the experimental nature of spring practice, Auburn moved Young to right guard with Miller back at right tackle and Slade saw time at left guard.

"What we were trying to do is mix and match so if in the season a guy goes down, or this happens, maybe see where people fit best," Lashlee said. "We've got six guys, four returners, Shon and Pat, that we like are without a doubt SEC starter material.

"Now it's about us finding a right mesh and how we want to manage that and honestly, even on our end, that remains to be seen."