Why Jeremiah Cobb could be primed for a big Year 2 at Auburn
Cobb scored four touchdowns on 40 touches as a freshman. Now he says he's bigger, faster and more confident in this offense.
RB Jeremiah Cobb (Austin Perryman/Auburn Tigers)
Last November, Auburn was in cruise control over Vanderbilt. The stadium in Nashville had been taken over by Tigers fans, and the scoreboard matched the orange-and-blue advantage.
Midway through the third quarter, with a 31-7 lead, Auburn faced second-and-goal from the Vanderbilt 6-yard line. The Tigers substituted and went with a 22 personnel package — two running backs and two tight ends in the formation.
But the play wasn’t out of a typical two-back set. Luke Deal and Brandon Frazier were attached on the left side of the line, playing with their hands in the dirt. Jarquez Hunter stood next to Payton Thorne in the backfield, per usual. Out wide, Koy Moore was lined up to the far right.
While the Tigers had plenty of slot-type receivers to choose from in the middle of the field, that role was occupied by true freshman running back Jeremiah Cobb.
Thorne motioned Cobb from right to left. He took the snap just as Cobb was getting into the tackle box, then flipped the ball ahead to the jet-sweeping back.
Left tackle Dillon Wade, now the third blocker from left to right on the line of scrimmage thanks to the tight ends, pulled outside to take care of a run-fitting inside linebacker. Deal and Frazier handled the interior linemen. Hunter fanned out to the left, serving as a lead blocker for Cobb against an edge-setting defensive back.
Cobb attacked the open lane of space, then cut back toward the middle of the field to ensure an off-balance Vanderbilt defender had no chance of slowing him down. He spun away from a last-gasp lunge from another Commodore in the end zone.
For Cobb, it was the third touchdown of his debut season at Auburn. But, in a sign of where he stood in an experienced running back room, the score against Vanderbilt came on what was only his second offensive snap of the game. He didn’t play another.
And that came just one week after Cobb snagged a receiving touchdown to close the first half in a home win over Mississippi State.
That would be the only offensive snap he got all game.
“All he does is score, doesn’t he?” Hugh Freeze said after the win over Vanderbilt.
Cobb would score one more touchdown later in the season, finishing off an effective late drive orchestrated by quarterback and fellow freshman Hank Brown in an otherwise empty loss to Maryland in the Music City Bowl.
Cobb’s four touchdowns on the season put him only behind Hunter, tight end Rivaldo Fairweather and backup quarterback Robby Ashford in combined rushing and receiving scores. He tied experienced wide receiver Ja’Varrius Johnson in that category.
But what truly stood out about Cobb was how much he scored when compared to how much he actually played.
Cobb touched the ball on offense 40 times last season and scored four times. That means he found the end zone on exactly 10% of his touches.
Among Auburn running backs, you have to go all the way back to the 2018 season to find one who scored on a greater percentage of his touches. That was Malik Miller, who had two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown on 32 touches.
However, Miller played 147 offensive snaps that season, per Pro Football Focus. Cobb, on the other hand, only played 90. That means he scored on 4.4% of all snaps he had on offense — which is a remarkable number for a single running back.
Seeing those numbers might cause some Auburn fans to think, “Well, why didn’t Cobb play more often last season?”
And while it’s a fair question to ask, Cobb himself has a different view on the subject.