***2014 Auburn A-Day Thread***

[alabamabrown14 9]

The only slight drawback to me was the performance of our new placekicker and punter.

Yeah, hoped for a little more there. Hutchinson seemed to get a little more air under his kicks as the game went on, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Granted, we were awfully spoiled by the last pair.

I don't know...that 50 yarder was pretty impressive

[lionheartkc 6,150]

The only slight drawback to me was the performance of our new placekicker and punter.

Yeah, hoped for a little more there. Hutchinson seemed to get a little more air under his kicks as the game went on, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Granted, we were awfully spoiled by the last pair.

Kicking is all about repetition, once you get the technique down. These guys have 4 months to get A LOT of repetition, now that they've had a Spring of 1st team coaching.

[caleb1633 1,418]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

[chimesAU 89]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

[ALTiger 16]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

[AUtigerfan1027 14]

Replay now up on YouTube

[N2AUtigers 5]

After waching the game twice, reading those articles and reading this thread I'm not on the same page as many folks. Malzahn's pragmatic if nothing else and what I saw out there will have him going back to what works (the running game) by halftime of K State unless the passing game gets way WAY better. Don't get me wrong, Nick Marshall's argaubly one of the 3 best option read QBs ever...his judgement is extraordinary on when to handoff & when to keep. His passing is still Troy caliber but now his WRs are stunning for the most part. Wallace played better than Johnson. But that's okay, our offense should dismantal every D unless we dismantle ourselves with mistakes.

The story line is how stunningly unimproved our D is IMO. Ole Ellis landed into a sweet gig where he doesn't have to have a D anywhere near SEC caliber because the O will bail him out. His assistants are top shelf and I wish we'd put one of them at DC and put ole Ellis and his "star" system out to pasture.

Gus Malzahn is the best offesnive college coaching mind in America and our O shows it. Ellis Johnson is just...old.

I really think you and everyone will be surprised with this defense this and the coming years. The 4-2-5 is a proven system and I think we could be in the top 30 defenses in the nation this year.

[war eagle6 0]

I'm curious why everyone, including the media, was so impressed with Marshall today.

(1) He was playing against a defense that was really depleted. With all the injuries, the best of the second string were on the blue defense, so most of the white defense were down the depth chart.

(2) And, his passes were often off target, with some great catches by the WRs (especially Duke). And even with those catches and the depleted defense, he still only completed 59% of his passes (13 of 22) -- the same percentage he averaged last season. Big yardage, because of the downfield throws, but not the kind of accuracy I was expecting from all the chatter.

I'm not dissing on NM. He is a winner and I expect Auburn to have great success with him leading the way. But he's still got a long way to go as a passer. Completing 59% of his passes will not lead the SEC, much less get him in the Heisman conversation. I hope he really works hard on his accuracy this summer.

I'm sorry but I could not disagree more. You could see vast improvement in all areas of his game: footwork, going through his progressions, pocket presence, and yes even accuracy. Last year it was not uncommon for him to miss receivers by 10+ yards. Most of his incomplete passes today were just a hair off, and when receivers were running open he was hitting them. The fade route to Duke was a perfect throw, the seam route to CJ was a perfect throw, and another crossing route to Duke looked behind him but that was because he had to avoid the underneath coverage. I didn't expect Marshall to come out and look like Cam Newton or Peyton Manning in a glorified practice, but I just wanted to see improvement and I was very satisfied. He wasn't even a threat as a runner today. I fully expect him to be in NY for the Heisman ceremony and be a top 5-10 NFL QB prospect if he keeps the upward trend.

100% agree

200% Agree!

[caleb1633 1,418]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

I wasn't directing any hostility toward any particular poster but rather making a statement. It's always funny dealing with telephone tough guys though. Would be interested to see if you'd talk with the same attitude in person.

[Guest jojo1515]

The only slight drawback to me was the performance of our new placekicker and punter.

Yeah, hoped for a little more there. Hutchinson seemed to get a little more air under his kicks as the game went on, but there's plenty of room for improvement. Granted, we were awfully spoiled by the last pair.

Kicking is all about repetition, once you get the technique down. These guys have 4 months to get A LOT of repetition, now that they've had a Spring of 1st team coaching.

It also may be just a slight factor that there was a 20 mph wind gusting randomly throughout the stadium....may have had something to do with a freshman only averaging 40 ypk and onky making 1 of 2 50 yarders....

[3rdgeneration 6,469]

BTW, did Gus give a press conference after the A-Day game? Did any of the players speak like they do after practice sometimes? If they did, does anyone have a link? Where IS RuninRed? I have come to depend heavily on that guy! LOL

[Plaric 4]

After waching the game twice, reading those articles and reading this thread I'm not on the same page as many folks. Malzahn's pragmatic if nothing else and what I saw out there will have him going back to what works (the running game) by halftime of K State unless the passing game gets way WAY better. Don't get me wrong, Nick Marshall's argaubly one of the 3 best option read QBs ever...his judgement is extraordinary on when to handoff & when to keep. His passing is still Troy caliber but now his WRs are stunning for the most part. Wallace played better than Johnson. But that's okay, our offense should dismantal every D unless we dismantle ourselves with mistakes.

The story line is how stunningly unimproved our D is IMO. Ole Ellis landed into a sweet gig where he doesn't have to have a D anywhere near SEC caliber because the O will bail him out. His assistants are top shelf and I wish we'd put one of them at DC and put ole Ellis and his "star" system out to pasture.

Gus Malzahn is the best offesnive college coaching mind in America and our O shows it. Ellis Johnson is just...old.

I really think you and everyone will be surprised with this defense this and the coming years. The 4-2-5 is a proven system and I think we could be in the top 30 defenses in the nation this year.

We get a top 30 defense and we will be blowing our competition out of the water all year with our offense

[AU80cruiser 1,102]

Replay now up on YouTube

Watched it early Monday morning at 1am. It had 0 views when I found it.

[chimesAU 89]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

I wasn't directing any hostility toward any particular poster but rather making a statement. It's always funny dealing with telephone tough guys though. Would be interested to see if you'd talk with the same attitude in person.

I played rugby in a grown men's league while still in high school, was a bouncer for years while in school at AU, and still lift 5 days a week. "Telephone tough guy" does not apply here.

[TexasTiger 12,835]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

I wasn't directing any hostility toward any particular poster but rather making a statement. It's always funny dealing with telephone tough guys though. Would be interested to see if you'd talk with the same attitude in person.

I played rugby in a grown men's league while still in high school, was a bouncer for years while in school at AU, and still lift 5 days a week. "Telephone tough guy" does not apply here.

I'm an active duty Marine Corps Infantry Officer.

I'm a middle-aged man with an aching back-- take it outside, ladies.

[chimesAU 89]

I don't give a rats @$$ if their running backs are better than ours or not! What matters is if our running attack is better than theirs or not and the pigs are bringing a knife to a tank fight in that department. If their running backs are the best in the country but they don't utilize them properly, then who cares how good they are?

Read the post that I was initially responding to. Maybe you'll halfway understand what's going on....maybe.

I wasn't directing any hostility toward any particular poster but rather making a statement. It's always funny dealing with telephone tough guys though. Would be interested to see if you'd talk with the same attitude in person.

I played rugby in a grown men's league while still in high school, was a bouncer for years while in school at AU, and still lift 5 days a week. "Telephone tough guy" does not apply here.

I'm an active duty Marine. Infantry Officer.

Cool. I don't remember questioning your toughness or accusing you of hiding behind a computer screen. To answer your question though: I've never made a post on this board or any other that I wouldn't say directly to someone's face. Including yours. Sorry if my post earlier upset you but to basically call someone a coward because you're frustrated says a lot about you. If you still feel the need to bow up , feel free to PM me.

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

It has been funny hearing about Bret Bielema and Arkansas spending the last two weeks of their spring practice concentrating on trying to stop Auburn's running game. This spring game sent a message, and I don't think Bielema and other coaches around the league were happy to see it.

I agree. I do not think they have talented enough people on their squads to replicate what they will see when they play us. Who are they going to have play the skill player parts. Arky has no Marshall, no CAP, no Duke, no Grant, no Coats, no CJ, no Bray, no JJ, and on and on.

Arkansas has a solid group of RB's. Most would say better than ours and it'd be hard to argue it.

This is not hard to argue. Arky has 2 good RB's running an old fashioned traditional offense with a QB that is probably not SEC starter quality. Our RB's combined with the offfense that they are in, puts them in a much better position to succeed. Our QB alone is better than any runner Arky has. CAP, Grant, Barber, Roc, and Marshall IMHO are at a completely different level than ARKY.

The only group of people that I think would come close to agreeing with you when you say, "most would say better than ours" would be delusional ARKY fans. Take a look at SEC boards like SECRANT. Post your thoughts there and I bet most would agree with me instead of you.

Well that's the thing...I do look at other boards (SECrant in particular) and most of the guys I see posting about Ark's RB situation think pretty highly of it. These aren't just Ark fans but fans of SEC football in general. People in this thread keep bringing up outside factors like the "Nick Marshall threat" and our overpowering oline to go with a great scheme but that's not what I was comparing. I'm just talking about skill at the RB position. And no, I don't think Nick is the runner that Alex Collins is. Sure, he's fast and has the zone read working to his advantage but to compare the two is apples to oranges. I think we've got solid overall depth and if Barber and Thomas play to their ability this year then I'll gladly change my tune (I think those two could easily be better than Ark's guys...I just want to see it first). But if we're just comparing Collins and Williams to CAP and Grant , at this point, I'd have to say the Ark guys hold the advantage. Sorry to ruffle any homer feathers.

Collins is a better overall back than Williams, CAP, or perhaps Grant.

But Grant and CAP are better than Williams.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Well that's the thing...I do look at other boards (SECrant in particular) and most of the guys I see posting about Ark's RB situation think pretty highly of it. These aren't just Ark fans but fans of SEC football in general. People in this thread keep bringing up outside factors like the "Nick Marshall threat" and our overpowering oline to go with a great scheme but that's not what I was comparing. I'm just talking about skill at the RB position. And no, I don't think Nick is the runner that Alex Collins is. Sure, he's fast and has the zone read working to his advantage but to compare the two is apples to oranges. I think we've got solid overall depth and if Barber and Thomas play to their ability this year then I'll gladly change my tune (I think those two could easily be better than Ark's guys...I just want to see it first). But if we're just comparing Collins and Williams to CAP and Grant , at this point, I'd have to say the Ark guys hold the advantage. Sorry to ruffle any homer feathers.

Collins is a better overall back than Williams, CAP, or perhaps Grant.

But Grant and CAP are better than Williams.

Collins is a great back, but a great back can only do so much with mediocre coaching and a lack of high-level teammates. Mason would have never shown out like he did, last year, without the stellar O-Line, the threat from Marshall keeping defenses honest, and superior game management from Gus/Rhett. I would bet that, by the end of the season, CAP will have better numbers than Collins, unless one of our other backs takes away his reps.

[chimesAU 89]

Well that's the thing...I do look at other boards (SECrant in particular) and most of the guys I see posting about Ark's RB situation think pretty highly of it. These aren't just Ark fans but fans of SEC football in general. People in this thread keep bringing up outside factors like the "Nick Marshall threat" and our overpowering oline to go with a great scheme but that's not what I was comparing. I'm just talking about skill at the RB position. And no, I don't think Nick is the runner that Alex Collins is. Sure, he's fast and has the zone read working to his advantage but to compare the two is apples to oranges. I think we've got solid overall depth and if Barber and Thomas play to their ability this year then I'll gladly change my tune (I think those two could easily be better than Ark's guys...I just want to see it first). But if we're just comparing Collins and Williams to CAP and Grant , at this point, I'd have to say the Ark guys hold the advantage. Sorry to ruffle any homer feathers.

Collins is a better overall back than Williams, CAP, or perhaps Grant.

But Grant and CAP are better than Williams.

Collins is a great back, but a great back can only do so much with mediocre coaching and a lack of high-level teammates. Mason would have never shown out like he did, last year, without the stellar O-Line, the threat from Marshall keeping defenses honest, and superior game management from Gus/Rhett. I would bet that, by the end of the season, CAP will have better numbers than Collins, unless one of our other backs takes away his reps.

I'd put my $ on our lead back racking up more yardage than Collins. We have a better line and more advantageous scheme. But put Collins (or any other top level back) in our offense and do you still think CAP would have more yards?

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Well that's the thing...I do look at other boards (SECrant in particular) and most of the guys I see posting about Ark's RB situation think pretty highly of it. These aren't just Ark fans but fans of SEC football in general. People in this thread keep bringing up outside factors like the "Nick Marshall threat" and our overpowering oline to go with a great scheme but that's not what I was comparing. I'm just talking about skill at the RB position. And no, I don't think Nick is the runner that Alex Collins is. Sure, he's fast and has the zone read working to his advantage but to compare the two is apples to oranges. I think we've got solid overall depth and if Barber and Thomas play to their ability this year then I'll gladly change my tune (I think those two could easily be better than Ark's guys...I just want to see it first). But if we're just comparing Collins and Williams to CAP and Grant , at this point, I'd have to say the Ark guys hold the advantage. Sorry to ruffle any homer feathers.

Collins is a better overall back than Williams, CAP, or perhaps Grant.

But Grant and CAP are better than Williams.

Collins is a great back, but a great back can only do so much with mediocre coaching and a lack of high-level teammates. Mason would have never shown out like he did, last year, without the stellar O-Line, the threat from Marshall keeping defenses honest, and superior game management from Gus/Rhett. I would bet that, by the end of the season, CAP will have better numbers than Collins, unless one of our other backs takes away his reps.

I'd put my $ on our lead back racking up more yardage than Collins. We have a better line and more advantageous scheme. But put Collins (or any other top level back) in our offense and do you still think CAP would have more yards?

Absolutely not... Collins would excel at Auburn. Too bad for him that he is at Arkansas.

Honestly, I don't know that CAP is going to be able to hold off Roc for a full year. Roc looks like he is going to be pretty special.

[chimesAU 89]

Well that's the thing...I do look at other boards (SECrant in particular) and most of the guys I see posting about Ark's RB situation think pretty highly of it. These aren't just Ark fans but fans of SEC football in general. People in this thread keep bringing up outside factors like the "Nick Marshall threat" and our overpowering oline to go with a great scheme but that's not what I was comparing. I'm just talking about skill at the RB position. And no, I don't think Nick is the runner that Alex Collins is. Sure, he's fast and has the zone read working to his advantage but to compare the two is apples to oranges. I think we've got solid overall depth and if Barber and Thomas play to their ability this year then I'll gladly change my tune (I think those two could easily be better than Ark's guys...I just want to see it first). But if we're just comparing Collins and Williams to CAP and Grant , at this point, I'd have to say the Ark guys hold the advantage. Sorry to ruffle any homer feathers.

Collins is a better overall back than Williams, CAP, or perhaps Grant.

But Grant and CAP are better than Williams.

Collins is a great back, but a great back can only do so much with mediocre coaching and a lack of high-level teammates. Mason would have never shown out like he did, last year, without the stellar O-Line, the threat from Marshall keeping defenses honest, and superior game management from Gus/Rhett. I would bet that, by the end of the season, CAP will have better numbers than Collins, unless one of our other backs takes away his reps.

I'd put my $ on our lead back racking up more yardage than Collins. We have a better line and more advantageous scheme. But put Collins (or any other top level back) in our offense and do you still think CAP would have more yards?

Absolutely not... Collins would excel at Auburn. Too bad for him that he is at Arkansas.

Honestly, I don't know that CAP is going to be able to hold off Roc for a full year. Roc looks like he is going to be pretty special.

Agreed.

[war eagle6 0]

Yes he will be

[Tiger 8,822]

If CAP and Roc are equal, might as well give Roc the majority of the carries and let him develop on the job.

If CAP is better, which I expect him to be seeing as he is more of a man than an 18 year old Roc is, then bring Roc along slowly. It is hard for 3 RBs to get adequate carries to put up good numbers and get in a groove, especially with a running QB. I fully expect CAP and Barber to split RB duties with Grant continuing his role.