There’s no such thing as an Auburn football season, where every game does not feel like it’s a must-win. That’s the nature of this program, in this state, in this conference. But few who have followed this program their whole lives would argue that, after a 7-5 finish in 2018, there isn’t more pressure to win in 2019.

No one truly knows if Gus Malzahn is on the hot seat. His buyout after last season was $32.1 million, and it won’t go down much after this year. But what everyone knows is that the pressure, the noise and the distractions will become immense if Malzhan does not deliver on what he’s promised many times over the last seven months.

Malzahn, senior DLs Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, along with senior OL Prince-Tega Wanogho, will address the media today to close out SEC Media Days in Hoover. Here are some of the big storylines that we expect will be asked about.

Timeline of the QB battle

Malzahn and his offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, who also serves as the QB coach, subsided many of the questions when they announced at the start of May that freshman Bo Nix and redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood would compete for the starting QB.

The summer provided a good opportunity to see who would take more of a leadership role with the team during summer workouts. It would, of course, be unfair to expect a starting quarterback from Malzhan on Thursday. But it will be interesting to see what his goals are for establishing a timeline to name a starter.

Malzahn has said he expects to have just one primary quarterback to start the year. He also stuck to his word about establishing an internal order of QBs in the week following A-Day in mid-April. So it’s fair to expect that he probably has a target week of training camp for when he wants to announce a depth chart at that position.

Best defensive line in the SEC?

It’s no accident that Auburn is brining both Brown and Davidson — two players who could have easily declared for the NFL Draft. Because of that choice, the Tigers PR have smartly manufactured a storyline that they hope will play out all season.

Brown, a DT, had 48 tackles and four sacks last season and Davidson, a DE, had 46 tackles and three sacks. They’ll anchor a defensive line that also has Nick Coe, who can be a versatile piece at different positions. That said, it’s fair to expect Tyrone Truesdale to fill in the spot left by Dontavius Russell. Big Kat Bryant and T.D. Moultry, both of whom have good experience from last year, will be in the mix as well.

There were, of course, games where that DL looked exposed. Namely the 23-9 loss to Mississippi State, and a couple big losses to Georgia and Alabama. But as a whole, it was a strong defensive unit that will get stronger.

Mid-season transfer issues

Malzahn said in early May that he hope to “solve” the mid-season transfer issue that plagued Auburn last season, when six players elected to transfer in the middle of the year. It’s a result of the redshirt rule, which allows players to not lose a year of eligibility if they play four or fewer games.

And while Malzahn has noted that the transfer portal has provided an avenue for compromising the depth of his team, he hasn’t quite offered up solutions for it, or contingency plans for future instances. Coaches have been getting asked about the transfer portal because of a wide-range of opinions, as well as some controversial answers that have been offered. Malzahn will definitely be asked about it again — it will just be interesting to see if he’s pressed on how to better handle transfers this year.

Administrative news

In the last few weeks there have been a number of administrative changes made to Auburn and its athletics program. It’s been reported that athletics programs are being asked to cut 10 percent from their budget. That might not be coincidental timing with the announcement of AU’s new football-only facility, set to be announced in September.

And all of that might be related to the abrupt change at university president, with Steven Leath being ousted after just two years on the job — a tenure that saw him offer that aforementioned bloated contract to Malzahn. All of these things will likely impact the football program, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, Malzahn says about them when he’s asked.

Other storylines

• Expectations for position battles at DT, weakside LB, TE and punt returner.

• Health updates on other injured players such as Chandler Wooten, Daquan Newkirk, Will Hasting and Luke Deal, among others.

• His thoughts on Youngstown State transfer Zach Farrar, who has been at four colleges already.

• Changes in how Malzahn will run the offense now that he’s in charge. Will he utilize his TEs differently? Will he take more deep shots? Will he make fewer substitutions?