Have you heard?

Auburn will have a completely retooled wide receiver room when the Tigers take the field in August after Hugh Freeze and Co. signed an elite class of receivers from the high school ranks, paired with quality additions from the transfer portal.

Not to mention, incumbent starting quarterback Payton Thorne is feeling the best and as comfortable he has since posting career-high numbers at Michigan State in 2021.

The potential of Auburn’s passing game has been the talk of the town all offseason.

Meanwhile, what Freeze believes could be Auburn’s strength in 2024 has largely flown under the radar.

When asked what he expected to be the Tigers’ strength this coming season, Freeze took a brief pause before saying he “would hope it’s our run game.”

“You would hope it’s that because when you can do that you have a little control over the clock and the game and then kind of how things are going so it may be me wishing that and hoping that, but I like our like our running back room and I like our O-line and our tight ends,” Freeze said during his time at the podium at SEC Media Days in Dallas on Thursday.

Auburn returns its leading rusher this season in senior running back Jarquez Hunter, who announced his plans to stay on The Plains for his senior year in January.

Having rushed for 909 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023, Hunter approaches the 2024 season as the SEC’s leading returning rusher, which is something that’s hardly been discussed between all the talk of Auburn’s new-look receiver corps.

“I’m kinda shocked no one is talking about him and I’m okay with that and I’m sure he doesn’t seek anything like that anyways,” Freeze said of Hunter. “I think he’s had one heck of an offseason — looks great and I love that whole room.”

In the running back room, Hunter is joined by fellow returners junior Damari Alston and sophomore Jeremiah Cobb.

Together, they form a trio that’s “so locked in,” Auburn linebacker Eugene Asante said Thursday.

“Those guys are so locked in in terms of what they have to do and what they have to put out on the field for this season,” Asante said. “I think they’re so prepared in terms of getting their body right, knowing the plays with the new offense, just going out there every single day and putting their best foot forward.”

Asante continued to call Hunter “one of the best runners in the SEC” and believes Hunter’s success often leads to Alston being overshadowed.

“He’s such a unique running back in terms of his style, his contact balance, his ability to break tackles and his uniqueness in the route game. He’s certainly somebody that can run routes extremely well out of the backfield and catch extremely well,” Asante said of Alston.

Alston rushed for 320 yards, a pair of touchdowns and missed a handful of games with a separated shoulder last fall.

This fall, he’ll likely return as the No. 2 running back for the Tigers.

“I’m excited to see that combination — how that 1-2 punch goes because I think we have one of the better 1-2 punches in the SEC.”

Completing Auburn’s three-man running back rotation is Cobb, who showed flashes of potential during his freshman campaign in 2023.

Cobb, a Montgomery native, carried the ball 33 times for 172 yards and a pair of scores last season and is a guy former Auburn running backs coach Cadillac Williams raved about.

“I honestly think the kid is going to be a star,” Williams said shortly after Cobb’s signing in 2023.

Between Hunter, Alston and Cobb, Auburn returns just more than 1,400 rushing yards in 2024 and has three viable options at running back for any given play.

And by the sounds of it, Freeze intends to utilize all three of those options.

“Dividing those reps up it’ll probably be equal between those three guys,” Freeze said. “It’ll be equal reps between those three. I like all three of them, but you want to keep them healthy.”

Freeze added that Sean Jackson, who contributed six carries, 95 yards and a touchdown last year would be fourth in line at the running back spot.