After standing in the shadows and watching Tank Bigsby, who is now turning heads in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Auburn junior Jarquez Hunter was more than ready to be the Tigers’ guy at running back for the 2023 season.

Throughout the offseason, which was riddled with controversy after allegedly being featured in a leaked sex tape, Hunter continued to keep his head down and work.

Hunter teamed up with former Auburn running back Brad Lester, who has trained the likes of Alabama and current Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back Najee Harris and former Tennessee and current New Orleans Saints’ running back Alvin Kamara, in addition to Bigsby.

“You can tell he’s hungry for this season,” Lester said in an interview with AL.com. “Last year he just had to play the role behind Tank, but now that Tank is gone, he gets his opportunity.”

After working with Hunter and watching him improve parts of his craft, Lester went as far to say he wouldn’t be shocked if Hunter clocked a season that featured anywhere between 1,500 to 1,600 rushing yards.

“That’s something that’s more than attainable, especially with Coach (Hugh) Freeze,” Lester said. “When people talk about Coach Freeze, they talk about throwing the football. But from what I’ve seen in the past years, when he has solid running backs, he really likes to establish the run game.”

And Freeze has solid running backs – a lot of them.

Auburn running backs coach and associate head coach Cadillac Williams recently said he thought the Tigers’ current running back room is the deepest the room has been since he returned to The Plains in 2019.

Hunter, sophomore Damari Alston, former walk-on Sean Jackson, USF transfer Brian Battie and true freshman Jeremiah Cobb are all set to headline Auburn’s running back room this fall.

And while Hunter is likely bear the distinction of being Auburn’s starting running back, the likelihood of him bearing the load that Bigsby did and notching that season of more than 1,500 rushing yards Lester predicted is sounding less and less likely.

That’s not a knock on Hunter, who is set to follow up a 2022 campaign that saw him rush for 675 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.

But Alston said it best.

“You can’t keep all of us off the field,” said Alston, who has been praised throughout fall camp for his increased leadership.

Yet that shouldn’t come as a shock.

Earlier in the fall, before Hunter returned to practice after being MIA at the start of camp, first-year offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said the Tigers would approach the run game “a little bit more by committee”.

And can you blame the guy? It worked for him at Tulsa, where he was the Golden Hurricanes’ head coach from 2015-22.

In 2016, which was Tulsa’s best year under Montgomery, running backs D’Angelo Brewer and James Flanders rushed for more than 1,400 yards apiece as the Golden Hurricanes finished 10-3.

In 2020, Montgomery saw three running backs finish the season averaging double-digit carries per game.

And such an approach is likely to be the case at Auburn this season.

Freeze walked away from the Tigers’ second scrimmage of fall camp with mixed feelings.

“The positive? We’ve been able to run the football. If you’re able to do that, you’ve got a fighting chance,” Freeze said following the scrimmage on Aug. 19.

“I’ve said this before: It’s hard for me to ever leave happy. I don’t know if it means we’re pretty good at running it or not very good at stopping it. We’ll see soon. We’ve taken care of the ball offensively, and we’ve been able to run it — which, teams I’ve coached that have been able to do that, I think you’ve got a fighting chance.”

Obviously, having success running the football in a scrimmage setting does bid some concern in terms of the defense’s ability to stop the run game – which isn’t something Auburn fans want to hear after the Tigers allowed more than 170 rushing yards per game in 2022.

But Freeze is right – it’s a double-edged sword.

On the flipside of that argument is the prospect of Auburn having a respectable run game. And for this Tigers’ team, it sounds like that success starts with having so many options in the backfield, which might come at the expense of Hunter’s “breakout season”.

Fortunately, Williams commends the unselfishness of his group of running backs.

“I just love the camaraderie in that room. I’ve got a bunch of hard worker guys that’s selfless, guys that’s pouring into each other,” Williams said.

“Man, it’s going to be fun in that RB room. And those guys are, again, mindset is right. Again, everybody is selfless. It is only one ball so we all out there pushing each other, trying to be the best version of ourselves each and every day. So they have bought into that mentality.”