Auburn football scheduling analysis: Grading the Mercer Bears

Here's a breakdown of Auburn's season-opening opponent, the Mercer Bears.

This is the first article in a series grading Auburn’s opponents by position group.

Auburn opens the 2022 season at home against Mercer. The Bears went 7-3 last season and are currently No. 17 in Athlon Sports' preseason FCS Top 25.

Experience is the name of the game for Mercer. A large majority of their starters and rotational players were underclassmen last season, which speaks to the potential of this year's team if the coaching staff can continue to guide them in the right direction.

Here's a grade and breakdown of every unit for the Bears.

Quarterback: D-

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The Bears are led by former Costal Carolina quarterback Fred Payton, who spent three years with the Chanticleers before transferring to Mercer. Payton's 1,572 yards of total offense finished fifth in the So-Con last season. Over the course of 10 games, he accumulated 13 total touchdowns to 10 interceptions while completing 57.7% of his passes.

Despite Mercer leaning towards a power rushing attack, Payton was not effective as a runner in 2021, averaging 1.8 yards per attempt on 73 carries (second-most on the team).

Running Back: D+

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Sophomore Fred Davis is the star of Mercer's offense. Davis ran for 850 yards and 14 touchdowns on 163 carries last season, finishing second in the So-Con in rushing yards and third in total scoring. Brandon Marshall (69 carries, 313 yards, three touchdowns) will occasionally joins Davis in the backfield.

Wide Receiver: D+

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Mercer had an extremely young receiving core last season. All five of Mercer's top receiving targets were underclassmen. Former Georgia receiver Ty James is the home-run hitter, hauling in 26 receptions for 611 yards (23.5 yards per catch) and seven touchdowns. Behind him are 6'3" sophomore Ethan Dirrim (22 rec. 328 yards, three touchdowns) and speedy slot Devron Harper (24 rec. 393 yards, one touchdown).

The Bears finished fifth in the So-Con in passing yards per game (200.0).

Offensive Line: D+

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Mercer's offensive line was the foundation of their rushing attack in 2021. The Bears averaged 209.4 yards per game, which was surprisingly only good for fifth in the So-Con, but still solid overall. Mercer only allowed 11 sacks over 10 games.

The Bears bring back the majority of their line but lose Jason Poe and all-conference lineman John Harris.

Offensive outlook vs Auburn:

The Bears were a solid offensive team last season, scoring 31.7 points per game while averaging 407.9 total yards. What makes the Mercer offense interesting is the option-like scheme head coach Drew Cronic has implemented. Alabama head coach Nick Saban described Cronic's multi-back offense as "totally unique" when the Crimson Tide played Mercer last fall.

Given Auburn's struggles against Georgia State, a team that ran a similar style of offense against the Tigers last season, it's difficult to project how Jeff Schmedding's defense is going to handle this challenge. Communication and eye discipline will be important for Auburn's front seven. Mercer is going to throw a lot of motion and adjustments at the Tigers.

Still, on paper the Auburn front should be able to handle the Bears and force quarterback Fred Payton into some pressure situations.

Defensive Line: D+

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This unit wasn't particularly explosive last season when it came to havoc plays, but Mercer's d-line was one of the more sound units in the So-Con. The Bears finished third in rush defense (148.5 yards per game) in a very run-heavy conference.

The leader of this group is Solomon Zubariu, who finished the season with 5.0 sacks and 4.5 tackles for loss.

Linebackers: D+

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Mercer brings back seven of their top eight tacklers from last season, including freshmen linebackers Isaac Dowling (66 tackles) and Ken Stanley (59 tackles). Sophomore Lance Wise (52 tackles) also returns.

Overall, the front seven should be pretty stout giving the returning production.

Defensive Back: D+

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While only giving up 179.4 passing yards per game, the secondary was not necessarily challenged last season (two of the top three passing offenses in the league had more rush attempts than pass attempts vs the Bears). The So-Con doesn't feature a lot of pass-centric offenses (over half of the So-Con failed to average 200 yards passing per game).

Safety Lance Wise finished the season with three interceptions.

Special Teams: D-

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Mercer finished second to last in the So-Con in punt average (35.0), while only hitting 10 of their 17 attempted field goals. They were also seventh in kickoff coverage.

Defensive outlook vs Auburn:

Because Mercer doesn't apply a ton of pressure to its opponents, if the Tigers can get a consistent push up front, they should be able to grind the Bears down and eventually win the line of scrimmage.

Keeping Tank Bigsby at bay and dropping into coverage on third down should be Mercer's goal. Auburn might not have the personnel to burn opponents over the top, at least not as often as they would like.

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