Practice Notes 03/07/2017

[aufan57 922]

Quote

It appears John Franklin III move to receiver is now full time.

The former quarterback did not dress with an orange jersey reserved for quarterbacks and worked only with receivers during the early portion of drills open to the media Tuesday afternoon.

A few more notes, which AuburnUndercover will update with more information today:

-- Auburn conducted pace drills with only two quarterbacks instead of three like last week. The quarterbacks were Jarrett Stidham and Woody Barrett, respectively. Franklin III did not participate at quarterback in the pace drills.

-- Franklin III went through a simple footwork drill with the receivers at the beginning of practice. Receivers coach Kodi Burns' initial response: "Oh, boy, we've got some work to do."

-- First team offensive line, from left to right: Darius James, Marquel Harrell, Austin Golson, Mike Horton and Braden Smith.

-- First team receivers: Jason Smith, Will Hastings and Nate Craig-Myers.

-- First team running back: Kerryon Johnson

-- Jarrett Stidham was the first-team quarterback for the second straight week.

-- Second team offensive line, from left to right: Prince Tega Wanogho, Tucker Brown, Kaleb Kim, Deshaun Davis, Bailey Sharp.

-- Second team receivers: Griffin King, James Owens Moss, Marquis McClain and Ryan Davis.

-- Second team running back: Malik Miller

-- Stidham was 2 of 3 passing in the pace drill, with all three passes targeted for Will Hastings.

-- Woody Barrett threw to James Owens Moss, but there was a drop.

-- Woody Barrett was the second-team quarterback for the second-straight week.

-- Auburn did not run a third-team offense or defense during pace drills.

-- In the brief hurry-up drill against the offense, the Auburn defense lined up in a 4-2-5 scheme.

-- Marlon Davidson and Derrick Brown alternated at defensive end and defensive tackle. Brown played both positions last season, but that’s the first extended action we’ve seen of Davidson at defensive tackle.

-- The first-team defense was as follows: Derrick Brown, defensive end; Marlon Davidson, defensive tackle; Andrew Williams, defensive tackle; Jeff Holland, Buck; Deshaun Davis, linebacker; Montavious Atkinson, linebacker; Carlton Davis, boundary cornerback; Jeremiah Dinson, Nickel; Stephen Roberts, free safety; Tray Matthews, strong safety; Javaris Davis, field cornerback

-- The second-team defense was as follows: Gary Walker, defensive end; Antwuan Jackson Jr., defensive tackle; Dontavius Russell, defensive tackle; Tre Threat, Buck; Tre’ Williams, linebacker; Darrell Williams, linebacker; John Broussard, boundary cornerback; Daniel Thomas, Nickel; Nick Ruffin, strong safety; Michael Sherwood, free safety; Marlon Character Jr., field cornerback

-- Ian Shannon and Tyler Stovall worked at punter.

-- The punt returners were Stephen Roberts, Eli Stove and Griffin King. Ryan Davis caught kickoffs from walk-on Sage Ledbetter.

-- Nick Coe, the redshirt freshman defensive end who missed practice last week with a hamstring injury, was back out today with heavy wraps on both knees.

-- Cornerback Jamel Dean, who missed all of last season, was on the sidelines dressed out in full pads with a brace on his injured left knee. Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn announced last week Dean will be out for the spring as he continues to rehabilitate the injury suffered last year in fall camp.

-- Punt return: Griffin King, Ryan Davis, Stephen Roberts, Kam Martin and Eli Stove.

-- Ian Shannon and Sage Ledbetter worked at punter.

-- Freshman linebacker Kenney Britt was utilizing only once crutch instead of two to support his injured right leg. He used two crutches last week.

-- Former Auburn quarterbacks Pat Sullivan and Jeremy Johnson were in attendance.

-- Former receiver Tony Stevens was in attendance.

-- Former right tackle Robert Leff was in attendance.

http://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Spring-Practice-Observations-John-Franklin-III-no-longer-with-Au-51654592

[DAG 33,958]

Thanks for posting this

[tbone1430 1,346]

Thank the good Lord JF3 is with receivers. Kid has blazing speed but definitely not the QB we need. Hope Stidham, Barrett or White step up for next season. 

[Metalsinger418 88]

Why is deshaun davis on the 2nd string offensive line? Typo?

[mcgufcm 4,096]

I'm assuming that was actually 67 Tyler Carr, not 57 Deshaun Davis.

Weird that Stove practiced but wasn't listed in the first- or second-team WR groupings.

[boisnumber1 2,818]

JF3 should give the track team a try. Im not saying that to be facetious. I really think that best fits his skillset.

[caleb1633 1,418]

Why does Will Hastings get so much playing time?

[aufan57 922]

More notes & tidbits

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AUBURN, ALA. 

Auburn’s quarterback competition is down to five competitors.

John Franklin III is the odd man out with the former quarterback transitioning to a full-time role with the wide receivers.

While Franklin spent Auburn’s first three spring practices “primarily” with the quarterbacks, he didn’t throw a single pass during the Tuesday’s open viewing period. Franklin participated in wide receivers drills and wasn’t wearing the standard orange non-contact jerseys given to quarterbacks.

The early position change for Franklin is consistent with the timeline coach Gus Malzahn laid out at the start of spring practice. Malzahn said offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey would narrow the reps down to a handful of quarterbacks before the team gets a more than a week off for spring break after Thursday’s practice.

Wide receiver coach Kodi Burns kept a close eye on Franklin during a footwork drill, which the former quarterback struggled with.

“Boy, do we still got some work to do,” Burns said with a laugh.

Franklin didn’t get any reps when Auburn ran a 11-on-11 pace drill giving a series of plays to the first and second team.

Quick hits

* Auburn was in pads Tuesday with coaches quick to blow the whistle at contact during the 11-on-11 period. It saved running back Malik Miller from getting bowled over by hard-hitting linebacker Andrew Williams. Miller, taking a hand-off from Woody Barrett, couldn’t get out of the backfield on the play with Williams plugging up the gap alongside defensive tackle Dontavius Russell.

* Williams and Russell spent the drill with the second team defense. Auburn mixed last year’s defensive starters in with the backups giving Russell reps next to redshirt freshman Antwuan Jackson. Andrew Williams, Tre’ Williams and early enrollee Chandler Wooten were the second team linebackers.

* Jarrett Stidham completed two of three passes as the first team quarterback during the 11-on-11 period. Stidham targeted Will Hastings twice with one of the throws missing the mark wide right. The first team receivers were Hastings, Jason Smith, Nate Craig-Myers and Eli Stove.

* Sean White did some light throwing with the other quarterbacks Tuesday. The quarterbacks ran individual drills for one five-minute period during the open viewing window with White attempting a handful of passes.

* Former Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson was at Auburn’s athletic facility Tuesday while last year’s starting right tackle Robert Leff attended practice. Leff watched the offensive lineman work with his former position coach Herb Hand during the open viewing period.

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/sports/college/sec/auburn-university/war-eagle-extra/article137038893.html#storylink=cpy

 

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/sports/college/sec/auburn-university/war-eagle-extra/article137038893.html

[lionheartkc 6,150]

4 minutes ago, caleb1633 said:

Why does Will Hastings get so much playing time?

Because he's quick and has good hands.... and because it's Spring and the new OC is seeing what he has to work with.

[lionheartkc 6,150]

Griffin King (Gray's little brother, also a walk-on) is getting a lot of work.  Gary Walker is another who hasn't gotten much talk, so far, even though his dad held the sack record for years. James Owens Moss is another legacy name that it's fun to see getting some work.

Looks like Chip is good to his word that every position is wide open.

[Shift 350]

30 minutes ago, Metalsinger418 said:

Why is deshaun davis on the 2nd string offensive line? Typo?

Beat me to it.  That was the first thing I noticed too.  Surely he hasn't switched to O-line.

[augolf1716 21,101]

13 minutes ago, Shift said:

Beat me to it.  That was the first thing I noticed too.  Surely he hasn't switched to O-line.

plays both ways

[aufan57 922]

4 minutes ago, augolf1716 said:

plays both ways

Would that make him bi-positional?

[aufan57 922]

 

[aufan57 922]

 

[augolf1716 21,101]

4 minutes ago, aufan57 said:

Would that make him bi-positional?

Yes very good catch 57

[aufan57 922]

 

[DAG 33,958]

That live comment will surely get some debating going on around here.

[AURex 1,990]

I've been tied up and missed a lot over the past couple of weeks. Soi maybe I missed it.

Why is Pettway not even mentioned in these Spring Practice notes?

 

[JDUBB4AU 5,110]

Cody Burns:"oh boy we got work to do "

yea weren't you a receiver for maybe twenty minutes in college??? 

[boisnumber1 2,818]

10 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Cody Burns:"oh boy we got work to do "

yea weren't you a receiver for maybe twenty minutes in college??? 

That's 20 minutes more than dameyune craig. Besides its totally irrelevant.

[Maverick.AU 13,279]

21 minutes ago, AURex said:

I've been tied up and missed a lot over the past couple of weeks. Soi maybe I missed it.

Why is Pettway not even mentioned in these Spring Practice notes?

 

Probably taking it easy on him in spring would be my guess. They know how important he is.

[oracle79 3,569]

Wow.  Based on several of those "reported" personnel groupings, I think we might be better off not having spring practice.  Wow.

[AUinGA44 265]

28 minutes ago, JDUBB4AU said:

Cody Burns:"oh boy we got work to do "

yea weren't you a receiver for maybe twenty minutes in college??? 

In those 20 minutes he caught his only career touchdown in the National Championship game vs Oregon. 

We saw bigger improvements from that position last year than we'd seen since Kodi was a player, let the man do his job.

[thaitopher 807]

I am salivating over the possibilities of a four wide receiver split of Slayton, Stove, NCM, and Davis with KJ being another pass option out of the backfield with JS also being able to run with our revamped OL blocking the hell out of everyone. Throw in a little Cannella for good measure and BOOM, we have ourselves an offense. Let's just get past spring so all those guys will be healthy and ready to go.

 

Edit: that would put 12 men on the field after further review. Maybe the refs won't notice.