Auburn and the running game go hand in hand, always have. Even with a quarterback the caliber of a Jarrett Stidham, it’s the strong run game that head coach Gus Malzahn prefers. Last season proved that you can do both. Stidham threw for more than 3,000 yards, while Kerryon Johnson rushed for more than 1,000 yards.

In fact, in 71 games under Malzahn, Auburn has produced 49 100-yard rushing games. A total of 12 different running backs have figured into that equation. And as can be expected, the Tigers have done very well when a running back breaks 100 yards. The Tigers are 38-11 under those conditions during Malzahn’s tenure and 12-0 when two players rush for at least 100 yards.

That’s a lot of rushing yards piled up over the course of the Malzahn era. The Tigers are one of only two schools with at least one 1,000-yard rusher every season from 2009-17. Boise State is the other.

Is redshirt freshman JaTarvious Whitlow the next Auburn running back in line for a 1,000-yard season? If so, he will join a list of household names beginning with Ben Tate in 2009 and continuing each and every year following, including quarterback Cam Newton (2010). The others: Michael Dyer (2010 and 2011), Tre Mason (2012 and 2013), Nick Marshall (2013), Cameron Artis-Payne (2014), Peyton Barber (2015), Kamryn Pettway (2016) and Johnson (2017).

Whitlow has emerged as the frontrunner to be the next big thing in the Auburn backfield. Since his clutch game-winning touchdown in the season opener against No. 6 Washington, Whitlow has been the man for the Tigers.

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He followed that key performance with back-to-back 100-yard games against Alabama State and LSU, becoming the first Auburn freshman to do so since Dyer in 2010. His role was diminished in the Arkansas game, which dialed back his stats along with the rest of the Tigers despite the lopsided victory.

“We just had a slow start,” Whitlow said in a postgame press conference. “Once we picked it back up, you know what we can do. We just had a slow moment, just a little slow on the rushing part. But we’re going to pick it back up, we’re going to watch film and get better.”

But Whitlow is far from a one-man show. The Tigers have many weapons to employ in the backfield. He shared the load with junior Kam Martin in the Arkansas game, and that suits him just fine.

“I take it as a team thing, we need everybody to win,” he said. “Once they put me in, I just have to go and give them what they give me. Once Kam gets in, he has to give them what they give him, so we go on and we play together. We are behind each other and we work as a team.”

Whitlow rushed for only 49 yards in the game, but he scored his third and fourth rushing touchdowns of the season.

Against Alabama State, he ran for 122 yards while Shaun Shivers tallied 117. The two became the first-ever pair of Auburn freshmen to rush for 100 yards each in a game.

So will Whitlow get enough touches to have a legitimate shot at 1,000 yards? He’s averaging 5.3 yards a carry this season. But with only 57 attempts, Whitlow has totaled 303 yards on the ground in four games. Averaged over 13 games (12 regular-season and one bowl game), that adds up to 985 yards.

That gives him a real chance, if he remains healthy, to put his name next to those outstanding rushers before him who have cracked the 1,000-yard mark.

The next opportunity comes Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where Auburn hosts Southern Miss for Homecoming.