Kam Stutts never thought he’d be picked as a media day representative for Auburn.

Often, schools tend to send quarterbacks or other skill position players that drive the most headlines. But Stutts is an offensive lineman. Offensive linemen are rarely the ones picked for the spotlight. Stutts said as much. There were 42 athletes at SEC Media Days in Nashville. Just six of them play on the offensive line.

Stutts didn’t spend time planning the gray suit he wore — a custom fitter took care of that for him — nor did he have any flashy chains others sported as they roamed the halls of the Grand Hyatt hotel. Maybe the entirety of Stutts’ preparation for his moment was putting on pair of white Nike Air Force 1s because, well, he just bought them.

Auburn chose Stutts to go to Nashville because he has something becoming more of a commodity on Auburn’s roster and in college football as a whole: he’s stayed at Auburn through three coaches. He hardly saw the field until becoming a starter for most of Auburn’s games last year, his fifth year on the Plains. And on Tuesday he was in Nashville leading his own media round table.

“You put those things out of your head until they actually happen,” Stutts said Tuesday. “Whenever you play offensive line, you get used to not getting recognition and getting to do things like this.”

During his first four years at Auburn, Stutts appeared in 25 games, but largely in a depth role or on special teams. Stutts redshirted as a freshman and was a reserve in his next three years. But in the spring of 2022, Stutts finally saw first-team reps for the first time when injuries above him on the depth chart opened up playing time.

That, coupled with coaches saying they’d seen extra effort from Stutts to study the playbook, led him to win the starting job at right guard heading into 2022. He bounced around on both sides of the offensive line during the season, starting eight total games.

And when he finally got his chance, Stutts said the game started to slow down for him.

“Whenever you play for six years, you start to start to slowly figure out the little things that come with each play and why they work,” Stutts said.

Based on Pro Football Focus stats, Stutts had a fairly average 2022 season. He graded at 60.8 overall for the year, which was outside the top 250 offensive linemen in Power 5 conferences.

But a lot has changed since last season. Auburn hired new head coach Hugh Freeze and four starters of last year’s offensive line group are gone. In their place, Auburn brought in five transfers and four true freshmen to the offensive line room.

“With the new guys just building chemistry has been really big, getting to know each other,” Stutts said. “It’s coming together really well. I think we all mesh well, we really all complement each other.”

With so much new, it’s not entirely clear if Stutts will be a starter again. Notable preseason college football magazines differ on projections for Stutts’ role this fall. Transfers Gunnar Britton, Avery Jones and Dillon Wade all have good chances to start. Redshirt junior offensive lineman Tate Johnson started at center before injuring his elbow against Missouri last season. He’s healthy heading into fall camp, Freeze said, and could move to guard because of Jones’ experience at center.

“I played this league before, I know what good offensive lines look like,” linebacker Elijah McAllister said at media days. “I’ve loved the improvement and the coaching this offensive line room has taken from coach [Jake] Thornton and the transfers we brought in continue to elevate our room and elevate our team.”

Though Stutts does have one role that is certain: a leader. It’s why Freeze picked him to come to SEC Media Days. Stutts knows Auburn better than most. Freeze gets that. With so much new at Auburn, Stutts gives Freeze a senior he can rely on.

“Those are three seniors that I really think understand the Auburn family, the Auburn culture, what an Auburn man is,” Freeze said of picking Stutts, McAllister and tight end Luke Deal. “I think they both will handle representing us very, very well.”

— Matt Cohen is an Auburn beat writer for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_.