« on: March 28, 2012, 01:47:03 PM »
AUBURN, Alabama -- Tre Mason has some big shoes to fill as an Auburn running back. Scot Loeffler is sizing them up.
The Tigers' new offensive coordinator promises Auburn will be a run-first offense in 2012, and that could give Mason a shot at being the fourth consecutive running back to rush for 1,000 yards since Gene Chizik arrived.
He'd follow one year of Ben Tate and two years of Mike Dyer, and Mason said he's ready.
"I feel like I'm bigger, faster, stronger, which will help me toward this game. I'm understanding what college football is more about and becoming a student of the game," the sophomore-to-be said this week as the Tigers went through spring practice.
Mason went from a little-used running back to Dyer's replacement in the Chick-fil-A Bowl on New Year's Eve. He got nine carries, giving him only 28 on the year.
He'll be asked to do a lot more this season since Dyer has transferred.
He could become the primary back, but he won't be alone. Onterio McCalebb is back for his senior year, and the speedy outside threat sports more than 2,000 career yards. Mike Blakely and Corey Grant, who transferred in last year, are ready to go, too.
Loeffler's running approach will be based on the power game after three years of Gus Malzahn's spread.
"It's a lot different," Mason said. "The offense is easier to understand."
The 196-pound Mason said he's ready to mix it up in a power game, adding he relishes the thought of running between the tackles now that he's 10 pounds heavier than last season.
"He's quick as a cat, he's smart, he's tough," said running backs coach Curtis Luper. "I like what he's done, physically, to his body over the last several months. We're going to get the ball to him several different ways. He can catch the football."
Is that a big deal? Apparently, it is to Loeffler. Dyer caught two passes last year but Luper expects the tailbacks to do more this season.
"We're going to be involved in the passing game a lot more from a tailback perspective, so we're excited to use Tre. I think the success he had in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, it's carried over to his confidence, and I think he'll be ready to go," Luper said.
Luper is enjoying the fact he has four legitimate tailbacks to play with. At the most, he had only three, and some weeks only two, in each of his first three seasons.
"The possibility of having four tailbacks is pretty exciting," Luper said. "It's good for competition. Some guys, we know what they can do, and others, we want to see what they can do."
Mason is hardly a battle-proven veteran, but he has more experience than Blakely and Grant, who have never played in a game.
"Expectations are high, and they've never changed. They're working towards meeting those expectations," Luper said.
The Tigers also brought in fullback Jay Prosch from Illinois, primarily to provide running lanes.
"He'll be in the backfield, he'll be out wide, he'll be moving around everywhere. It just depends on what we're doing that day," Luper said.
"There aren't many guys who can power-clean 400 pounds and run like he can run and block like he can, as flexible as he is, the hands that he has. He's a prototype fullback."
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