What's it going to take for Auburn to build an elite offensive line?

Even in the portal era, success in the trenches takes time to develop. Good thing the Tigers are off to a strong start in recruiting there.

(Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)

AUBURN — It’s no great secret that Auburn football’s worst slide in the modern era — five straight losing seasons — has featured a noticeable drop-off on the offensive line.

In the very virtual pages of this newsletter, I once wrote that the Tigers’ new head coach had inherited a sizable deficit when it came to the amount of offensive line talent on the roster, especially when compared to Auburn’s biggest rivals.

That was five years and two head coaches ago.

Auburn’s offensive line issues played a large part in the Gus Malzahn Era plateauing. They only got worse under Bryan Harsin, and they were at least partially to blame for Hugh Freeze never being able to bring meaningful results over the last three years.

It’s now a problem that will be tackled by Alex Golesh, himself a former lineman. Over the course of his coaching career, Golesh became known for his work with quick rebuilds via successful offenses, ones that could provide plenty of punch at the point of attack to go along with high-octane results both horizontally and vertically.

As was the case for the majority of the roster, Auburn’s offensive line had to be rebuilt almost entirely through new faces this offseason. A dozen offensive linemen from the 2025 season left in some form or fashion. Fourteen were brought into the fold. Only three returned for another season on the Plains.

This isn’t a piece about the outlook for Auburn’s 2026 offensive line. There will be plenty of time to diagnose that over the next several months. It’s also right to give fair warning: Because of all that attrition, fans shouldn’t expect miracles from this unit — especially when you look at what makes a great offensive line in this day and age.

Auburn had to go heavy on transfers, some of which will be one-and-done rentals, just to have enough experienced bodies to get through a season. It’s hard to get new lines to operate at elite levels in a short amount of time. The Tigers did build up some depth, though, with younger pickups through the portal and the high school ranks.

That’s where there should be more hope for the future than usual.