D'haquille Williams catch Kansas State.JPG
Auburn wide receiver D'haquille Williams catches a pass in front of Kansas State defensive back Nate Jackson in the fourth quarter at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan., Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)
AUBURN, Alabama -- Auburn's deep crop of receivers has been asked to produce big plays two weeks in a row, and for the most part, the Tigers' stable of pass-catchers has risen to the challenge.
D'haquille Williams has led the way, complemented by a big game from Quan Bray last week and a timely catch from Ricardo Louis against Kansas State.
Now, as Auburn's receiving corps gets ready to face its toughest test, an LSU defense ranked fourth in the country in pass efficiency defense, the Tigers feel good about the way the quarterbacks have spread the ball around, even though the 23 catches made by Williams are more than double the total of any other receiver.
"As the season goes on, usually what happens is the quarterback usually has a couple of guys he feels very comfortable with," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I really don't think that's a negative. There'll be games that we spread it around, and there'll be games that we don't."
Williams' production has justified the attention of Nick Marshall and Jeremy Johnson. In four games, Williams has been targeted a team-high 32 times, but he's also caught 23 of those passes -- 71.9 percent -- for 357 yards and three touchdowns.
AUBURN'S 2014 PASS DISTRIBUTION
| PLAYER | TARGET | REC. |
|---|---|---|
| D'haquille Williams | 32 | 23 |
| Sammie Coates | 18 | 5 |
| Ricardo Louis | 14 | 9 |
| Quan Bray | 10 | 6 |
| Melvin Ray | 7 | 4 |
| C.J. Uzomah | 5 | 2 |
| Cameron Artis-Payne | 5 | 5 |
| Marcus Davis | 3 | 2 |
| Corey Grant | 2 | 2 |
| Tony Stevens | 2 | 0 |
| Stanton Truitt | 1 | 1 |
| Roc Thomas | 1 | 1 |
All four of the Tigers' top four targets in the passing game -- Williams, Sammie Coates, Louis and Bray -- were targeted four times on Saturday, with the rest of the throws sprinkled around to the rest of the offense.Marshall is adjusting by finding the open receiver elsewhere as defenses start to focus in on Williams.
"A lot of that has to do with your opponent," Malzahn said. "A lot of it has to do with how they're taking away something, double-covering a guy or something like that."
For the most part, all of Auburn's receivers have been fairly productive so far, with the exception of Coates, who has just five catches despite being targeted 18 times, second-most on the team, in part due to a nagging knee injury suffered against Arkansas.
The Tigers are hoping the emergence of Williams will free up Coates to do what he does best.
A year ago, teams started to roll coverages toward Coates to take away the threat of the deep ball from the nation's No. 3 receiver in terms of yards per catch.
"It's also just huge in general, because it makes it hard for people to double and take certain guys away when we've got more than one guy," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Duke's proven that he can win versus zone, win versus man."
LSU will test the Auburn's remade receiving corps.
The secondary, led by senior safety Ronald Martin and sophomore cornerback Tre'Davious White, is allowing opponents to complete just 46 percent of their throws and average a paltry 4.7 yards per attempt.
Being able to find the open man will be key, no matter who LSU decides to center its coverages on stopping.
"It's going to be a great luxury for us no matter who we're playing, but a week like this week, they've got really long, athletic guys that can cover," Lashlee said. "Hopefully our big wideouts will match up well and play well against them, and we can make some plays."