Greg McElroy defends his ranking of Auburn on Top 10 offensive lines list

Auburn hit the transfer portal and recruiting trail hard this offseason, coming through with top 10 classes in both respects. One are where the Tigers are expected to improve — along the offensive line.

ESPN’s Greg McElroy recently ranked the top 10 offensive lines heading into the 2025 season. Auburn finished No. 6 on his list.

“I thought last year’s group, collectively, was playing really good football,” McElroy said on his show, Always College Football. “I think Dillon Wade and Connor Lew, once those guys kind of settled into the spots that they ended up setting it at. That was a huge difference maker. They finally figured out left tackles a huge problem spot. Throughout the first six, seven, eight games last year, and everything seems to calm down.

“You bring in a couple of quality transfers from Virginia Tech (Xavier Chaplin) and USC (Mason Murphy) and now, all of a sudden, I think Auburn went from at best a middle-tier group in the SEC last year to a group that could very easily make an argument to be in the top five, maybe even the top three (offensive lines) by season’s end.”

Lew figures to be one of the more athletic starting centers in the SEC this season. Meanwhile, ESPN’s Cole Cubelic, a former Auburn offensive lineman, joined McElroy’s show to discuss his alma mater’s O-line. He was high on Wade, but believes his services are more suited playing next to Lew the guard position.

Gaining both Chaplin and Murphy from the transfer portal are both upgrades in the eyes of the two analysts. Their additions to the roster give Auburn legitimate depth along the offensive line. Add in both Izavion Miller and Tyler Johnson to the lineup, and Auburn has the potential to play a rotating cast along its offensive line in 2025.

Elsewhere on the offensive front, Cubelic called Jeremiah Wright, a 6-foot-5, 337-pound senior, a “literal bulldozer.” Wright started every game at right guard for the Tigers last season. “He wants to hurt you,” Cubelic said. Cubelic pointed toward an instance last season where Wright was flagged for a personal foul for essentially being too aggressive.

“So this is a group that think is going to be significantly improved in Week 1 from where they were a year ago,” McElroy said. “… Their ceiling might be way higher, and they could be one of the better groups in the country.”

Auburn kicks off its 2025 college football season on the road against Baylor on Aug. 30. The Tigers begin SEC play on the road against Oklahoma less than a month later on Sept. 20.