abw0004

Strawberry?

Both of Dontavious Russel’s hands are wrapped up. His right arm is in a soft cast, but no club. His left arm has his wrist and thumb wrapped.

That was a tad odd to hear

Dontavious Russell was either in a sling or a soft cast for Tiger Walk FYI

“Home. Every time I come back, it’s a ‘War Eagle.’ It’s a ‘Go Tigers.’ It’s a glass of lemonade. Rolling through College and Magnolia NEVER gets old. Who I am is deeply rooted in this place I call home. It’s a spirit. It’s family. It’s my home. And once you have experienced it, you will never be the same.” War Eagle!

Cannot be stated enough. All bug recruiting classes revolve around a top QB in the class.

Oh I wholeheartedly agree. I think people on this forum react way too fast and end up with their foot in their mouths. People talk through their first reaction emotions too much. For this exact reason is why I make my “Thoughts from the Stadium” thread on a Monday instead of Saturday night or Sunday, win or lose. It’s because I want the intitial emotions to die down so I can speak rationally when I write to the forum.

If you notice DAG, I don’t go after people that go either way (for or against any subject). I let them speak their peace. I didn’t used to do that as you know, but it’s just not worth getting in the weeds. Now I will step in and say something if it goes too far of course because that isn’t right. I don’t appreciate when someone relentlessly goes after another player or poster. Randman made at least three posts going after the same person. So I stuck up for him, and I would do the same for you or even Randman. I understand people are frustrated. But it’s not an excuse to hide behind a computer and go after people personally for expressing their opinion to make themselves feel better. To your point I do not like when any player is trashed or demeaned on this forum. It’s not right and you are correct. They are just doing what is best for them, even if I don’t agree with their choice. So I in no way support the negative statements about players.

Yes. On a scripted play you can have the dictation of who is exactly getting the ball, just like you can be told to run the ball. On unscripted plays, there is more freedom. I don’t know why you grouped me in with those people. I do not talk down players. You are well aware I am a positive person on this forum so that wouldn’t fit my style of writing. I gave my critique like I did in the post you quoted. I do not support talking down to any player, or even coach for that matter. Like I said in a previous post, “You never know who is watching.” It is well known players and parents see what we say about their children.

You need to calm down and stop being so agressive. Some of what he is saying is right. If you read boomstick’s posts on other threads regarding this topic, NCM had his chances. Out of all of the receivers, he was on the field for the most snaps. His issue was not being able to separate from defenders. The only time he caught the ball was scripted plays. Stidham is not going to throw the ball to someone locked down.

Remember when Bryon Cowart transferred last year? This whole forum lost it. "Gus doesn't have control of his team." "This year is lost." Some people on this forum need to take a chill pill and not react so fast. That never works out. Just let things play out. It is not like we can control anything anyways. Maybe NCM does have issues getting open, maybe not. Stidham would not flat out ignore an open receiver. This could also be due to the rise of the freshmen. As we continue to become better at developing and recruiting players, we will see more transfers. No one thought twice with PJIII transferred last year other to wish him the best. Why? Because the d-line is so deep due to our continued ability to recruit and develop that we could make up for it. We are now seeing this with our receivers. Each year for the last few years we are bring in in consistently 4* WR's. With that, not every person can play every down. And not every WR can get the ball every play.

Will Hastings had just told his parents that he felt capable of running. They didn't believe him. "My dad was like, 'There's no way you can run,'" Hastings said. "I was like, 'Watch me, dude." Six weeks after his ACL surgery, Hastings handed his phone to his dad and took off jogging. His parents were furious. Scared that Will was going to hurt himself, Scott Hastings screamed for his son to stop. So did Will's mom, Kim. They yelled until Will stopped after 15 yards. He turned back toward his parents and laughed. "I'm back," he said. It wasn't that long ago that torn ACLs sidelined players for the better part of a full calendar year. If a player tore an ACL in March, the expectation would have been that he'd miss the entire season. Even by today's standards though, these two Auburn wide receivers -- Hastings and Eli Stove -- are back playing at a time when most others would likely still be out. That probably wouldn't be the case if not for the work of legendary orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews and a procedure that Hastings described as "new" and "amazing." Andrews, who has operated on numerous high-profile athletes during his career, is now using stem cells and blood plasma to accelerate the recovery process coming back from ACL injuries. It can speed up the recovery, according to Hastings, by "three or four or five months." After three months, the expectation is that guys will be at a point that takes most others twice as long to get to. "When Dr. Andrews told me that, I was like, 'Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, let me get that,'" said Hastings, who had 26 catches for 525 yards and four touchdowns as a junior last season. Doctors remake the ACL, wrap it in a "cocoon-like structure" and inject it with the stem cells and blood plasma, according to Hastings. "It's like putting fertilizer on weeds," Scott Hastings said. "It just really helps the growth." Hastings suffered his torn ACL March 24 and underwent surgery three days later. That night, inside of a hotel room with his parents and Jarrett Stidham, Hastings was already talking about how quickly he was going to get back from the injury. His dad was skeptical. So was Langston Stove when his son spoke early on of wanting to return at some point this season. One of Stove's brothers had torn an ACL as a high school junior in 2009. It wasn't until his sophomore year of college that he was back to running without a slight limp. When Stove tore his ACL in early March, his dad thought of it as a season-ending injury. Auburn coaches, though, were hopeful that both players would be able to return during the year. However, they weren't expecting to have both back this early. Normal ACL patients are usually dependent on crutches for a while after surgery. Yet, one week after surgery, Hastings sent his parents a video of him walking like normal. No limp. No bandage on his leg. Just walking around during a rehab session as if he hadn't just had a major knee surgery. At the four-and-a-half month mark post-surgery, at a time when most normal ACL patients are limited to slow jogging, both players were back to running full-speed routes. Stove's father was concerned his son was doing too much too soon until a meeting with Andrews during the summer. "I was like, 'Wait a minute. That's too fast. I need to hear Dr. Andrews to tell me it's OK,'" Langston Stove said. "But he came down, checked him out, MRI, checked everything, strength and was like, 'It's the same as the other leg.'" Before 2012, the expectation was that an ACL injury would take at least a year to get back to full strength from. Adrian Peterson changed that. The then-Minnesota Vikings running back tore his ACL and MCL in December 2011 but was back for game one of the 2012 season and wound up winning league MVP. He came up a mere nine yards short of breaking the NFL single-season rushing record. Andrews was his surgeon and talked about Peterson with Stove, Hastings and their families prior to their surgeries. Though he emphasized that Peterson's recovery is "the exception and not the rule," he told both players they'd be capable of getting back quickly if they worked hard and followed directions throughout the recovery process. They did, working together and motivating each other while working back during these past several months. The end result: Not only did they get back this season, but they were on the field for Auburn's second game of the year -- just six months after Stove's surgery and five-and-a-half months after Hastings'. While they've only logged a handful of snaps thus far, both have played in each of the Tigers' last two games and continue to progress. Hastings' workload was up from two snaps against Alabama State to six snaps vs. LSU last weekend. Stove, meanwhile, had a 5-yard catch during the first quarter against LSU and survived a hard shot to that right knee that Andrews had operated on during the spring. "I always reference Carson Wentz, and this dude still isn't cleared," Langston Stove said last week, referencing the Philadelphia Eagles' star quarterback who suffered a torn ACL and some other damage to his knee in December. "But, then again, you have different trainers. And I'm not trying to knock Philadelphia's staff, but, hey, maybe Auburn's staff is better than the Eagles' staff. Just saying... Maybe they are. Not to be throwing rocks at them. But Andrews... Auburn may be comparable." That led to a joke: Maybe Wentz should have come to Auburn for his surgery and rehab. Stove's dad laughed and then paused for a second. "Maybe he should've."

Ah you are indeed correct. I thought for a second Oklahoma and Ohio State played. My apologies. I still see one or more of those teams tripping. And we still have the strength of schedule on our side which could potentially put us over the hump. We are in a better spot than we were last year and last year we were on the verge of the playoffs. I still have faith we can make it to the playoffs. Not giving up just yet!

Calling the shot. Bo Nix starts next season.