Auburn Tigers Can Attack Baylor's New Linebacker Corps

The Auburn Tigers head to Waco, Texas, on Friday night to take on the Baylor Bears, and they will face a team returning a lot of players on both sides of the ball that closed the regular season with six straight wins.

However, if you want to pinpoint an area full of new faces, look no further than linebacker, where the Bears could roll out as many as three new starters in the 3-4 scheme. As a result. Hugh Freeze and his offensive coordination group need to key on those three early.

Redshirt Junior Emar'rion Winston looks to take up one of the rush end spots. Winson transferred from Oregon, having played in 30 career games, but had just one start. That type of inexperience with the lion's share of snaps could make him overaggressive. In turn, you can almost count on him to overpursue and shirk his responsibility in order to make a big play. 

Travion Barnes is a transfer from Florida International. Before that, he went to Georgia Military College. GMC is not known for the gentle educational approach, so you automatically know that Barnes will display toughness. Last season, his only one in FBS, Barnes tallied 129 tackles, 70 of which were solo, leading Conference USA in that category. He thrives in the wash and does not mind bloodying his nose. 

Similarly, he shows a knack for the ball in the passing game as he picked two passes, taking one back for a touchdown. Jackson Arnold cannot afford to get lazy with the ball. Auburn cannot afford a repeat of that fateful third down against Oklahoma years ago, when a linebacker ended the game.

Crossing routes and making Barnes play laterally will force him to chase faster receivers and make him hesitate a step on what he does best: attack the line of scrimmage. 

Matthew Fobbs-White makes the step up from Group of Five school Tulane. Fobbs-White profiles more as a pass rusher than Winston. He had four sacks last year for the Green Wave. He bends the corner well and uses active hands to chop down on the ball.

This is where Auburn left tackle Xavier Chaplin demonstrates his worth. At 235 pounds, Fobbs-White is not the biggest rusher, so he uses speed to get around the end. The coaching staff can play this two ways. Screens and draws with the running back will slow down Fobbs-White’s rush, and Chaplin should dominate him in the running game. 

The Baylor Bears are going to try and jam the line of scrimmage with numbers. While Baylor is big on the interior (Adonis Friloux checks in at 346), Auburn has an advantage across the line of scrimmage in size and strength. Playing outside the hash marks in the run and pass game should pay dividends on Friday.