Horton moves to Linebacker

I’m beginning to like Will Muschamp. After personally moaning for years about the smallish size of Auburn’s linebacking corps, Muschamp has moved former defensive end Alonzo Horton (6-2, 247) to linebacker. This is revolutionary, a linebacker that weighs more than 220 lbs. I wonder how Muschamp came to this idea. Oh yeah, it might have been the fact that Wisconsin ran all over Auburn’s defense in early January. As a previous post mentioned, Auburn has been successful in stopping the run when you take a big picture look (i.e., season-long) at the numbers. I believe that this trend has more to do with the offense’s proficiency. Because the offense is averaging nearly 30 points a game, most opponents are passing to catch up. Given an opportunity to control the game on the ground, opponents usually do fairly well against Auburn’s defense. The Wisconsin and Georgia Tech games from 2005 and the SEC Championship Game against Tennessee in 2004 are just three quick examples that come to mind. Hopefully this move is a signal that Auburn will start to recruit real linebackers instead of the converted safeties that have been playing there for the past three years.