Auburn football’s offensive line returns four of its five starters from last season.

Headlined by center Connor Lew, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze broke down why this position group sticks out the most during his main press conference at SEC media days.

“We get three veterans back in the middle with Dillon Wade and Connor Lew and Jeremiah Wright. And we also get the return of Izavion Miller, who’s a two-year starter for us that can rotate for all of those, and now you have two veteran tackles that have played a lot of snaps that have the length and skill sets that really, I think, improve us from the past two years,” Hugh Freeze said.

“I’ve got to bring along a couple of young ones in DeAndre Carter and Tyler Johnson and some of those guys, but feel really, really good about our first seven guys.”

Along with the returners, Auburn also added experienced tackles Mason Murphy and Xavier Chaplin out of the transfer portal.

Lew talked about playing alongside Murphy and Chaplin during the spring football period and how fast the group meshed.

“Just how both of them come in with experience at other places. It was really cool to see them pick up the offense fast and made our jobs easier,” Lew said.

“We didn’t have to spend a lot of time on coaching up. We could get straight into the technique. But the calls and stuff they picked up and that made it easy on us.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Lew has a 79.8 pass-blocking grade. Last season he gave just up one sack and zero quarterback hits.

Auburn star defender Keldric Faulk spoke highly on Lew and the entire offensive line, stating that their size will play a factor against opposing teams.

“They’re a lot more versatile. So, we have a lot of guys, they can play everywhere across the O-line. And those guys are long and athletic,” Faulk said. “Like, our tackles are 6′8″, have seven-foot wing spans. They can move pretty well. I feel like this has been the best O line we’ve recruited so far.”

Lew agreed with Freeze’s comments about this year’s offensive line being his favorite, saying he’s excited to show fans how elite of a group they are.

“We got time and experience. Now it’s on us for us to execute on the field,” Lew said. “We’ll figure out our identity throughout the course of the season. But I’m excited to go through it with those guys.”

Even when examining the running backs, Lew wants to see them all get a shot during fall camp this month.

Despite the Tigers not having a set starter in the backfield, Lew want to continue creating the right running lanes to keep the ball moving up field.

“We take pride in that as an offensive line, and it really should not matter who is back there running the ball,” Lew said. “The running gaps should be there, and it does not change how we block based on who is in the backfield.”

Jerry Humphrey III covers Auburn sports forAL.com. You can follow him on X at @Jerryhump3or email him at [email protected].