Auburn has a first-team All-SEC running back at its disposal, yet he has only hit 20 carries once this season, and that came in a 45-19 win over New Mexico.

Jarquez Hunter is fifth in the SEC in rushing yards with 528 and is averaging 6.8 yards per carry. Against Power 4 teams, though, he’s only averaging 13.5 carries per game.

“There’s no question, 27 needs to touch it more,” Hugh Freeze said during his Monday press conference.

Against Georgia, Hunter averaged seven yards per rush and had a 38-yard touchdown, but only had 13 carries. Short-yardage situations are an area where Freeze wants to see his team execute better and getting Hunter the ball is part of that.

“That’s the frustrating thing with some of our short-yardage deals that have been called and not executed at a high enough level where he actually touches it,” Freeze said. “We’ve got to get that corrected.”

The most notable instance of that came on a fourth-and-one against Georgia, where Payton Thorne pulled a handoff from Hunter to run the ball himself. Freeze said after the game that the play wasn’t a zone read, and the call was a designed run for Hunter.

Hunter was noticeably frustrated after the game when asked about the play.

“I mean, fourth and one, we should have just ran the ball. I mean, I don’t know what the miscommunication was,” Hunter said.

Thorne said during the week that he “did not check any play” on the fourth down. Freeze was asked again Monday about the incident, sticking with what he said before.

“Payton thought he needed to change the alignment of the back to handle an edge guy. I think some of that may have been based on him asking an offensive lineman,” Freeze said. “Obviously, we did not coach it well enough for him to know that he didn’t have to do that.”

Freeze also said that based on the alignment Hunter would’ve run against a defensive back for “an easy first down.”

It won’t be easy to run the ball against Missouri — who ranks 38th nationally in rush defense — but Hunter found success earlier this season against Arkansas, who ranks even higher at No. 28. The Tigers had 146 rushing yards against Arkansas, 67 coming from Hunter on just 12 carries.

Freeze has talked throughout this season about being balanced and giving Hunter more carries could open things up more for Auburn’s growing downfield passing game.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m