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Lindsey "Prepare Everybody"


aubiefifty

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The most important lesson Auburn's Chip Lindsey learned at Arizona State

Chip Lindsey is quick to shoot down the assumption that last season at Arizona State was the most difficult of his coaching career. However, he admits, it was a season that -- more than anything else -- taught him one extremely important lesson.

"Better have everybody prepared, all the way down the depth chart, and especially at the quarterback spot," Lindsey told AL.com before speaking to the Atlanta Auburn Club in Johns Creek, Ga., earlier this month.

During Lindsey's brief tenure as Arizona State's offensive coordinator, the Sun Devils went through a rash of injuries that decimated their depth at quarterback. In all, the team started three different quarterbacks throughout the year, had a fourth sustain a season-ending injury during fall camp and a fifth waiting in the wings in case of an emergency.

"I've never been through a year like that, where you end up playing every guy you had on the roster at quarterback and then a couple wide receivers that were former quarterbacks," Lindsey said. "I think it just makes you think ahead and be creative."

 

Lindsey's teaching background powered his rise through coaching ranks

Before Chip Lindsey was a fast-rising offensive coordinator in the college ranks, he was a high school history teacher with a keen attention to detail. That played a role in getting Lindsey to where he is today as Auburn's offensive coordinator.

Arizona State lost Bryce Perkins to a neck injury during fall camp, when the then-redshirt freshman was competing for the starting job. Manny Wilkins then earned the starting job prior to the season opener and started the first five games before sustaining an ankle injury against Southern California in late September.

The team then turned to Brady White the following week before he sustained a season-ending foot injury against UCLA. That caused Lindsey and head coach Todd Graham to use freshman Dillon Sterling-Cole in six games. Sterling-Cole finished the year as Arizona State's second-leading passer.

Lindsey also prepared freshman Jack Smith at quarterback, despite Smith originally signing with the Sun Devils as a wide receiver. Smith previously played quarterback in high school, and he served as Arizona State's emergency option at quarterback, completing the only pass he attempted last year for a 40-yard gain.

"It wasn't a lot of fun when you're 5-1 and you're going to bed at night -- I remember going to bed after UCLA and beating them, and we're like, 'man, it's going to be a good year,'" Lindsey said May 2 before speaking to the West Georgia Auburn Club in LaGrange, Ga. "Then I find out later on that the guy's gone for the year; we've already lost our first guy and our third guy, and now we're playing this freshman who was running the scout team the week before and sometimes wasn't as focused as he needs to be, but to his credit, he got in there and battled. Then we had to get creative with some Wildcat and different things to try to score."

The end result was a 5-7 record for the Sun Devils, who finished 40th in the nation in scoring, 39th in passing offense and 81st in total offense.

"At the end of the day, you have to find ways to move the ball and score points," Lindsey said. "I thought we did a decent job with that, even with the things we went through. We didn't score enough in some games, but I think the staff there -- not just myself, but the staff did an unbelievable job putting our heads together each week and trying to give us a game plan to give us the best chance to win."

 

A breakdown of Auburn's quarterback after spring practice

Lindsey likened Arizona State's situation last year to the situation at Baylor in 2015, when current Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham was a freshman for the Bears. That season, Baylor lost quarterback Seth Russell to a season-ending neck injury, forcing Stidham into the starting lineup.

Stidham started the next three games before breaking a bone in his ankle and missing the remainder of the season. Chris Johnson started the final three games for Baylor that season, while wide receiver Lynx Hawthorne was the emergency backup and completed 11-of-23 passes that season.

With Stidham at Auburn now alongside Lindsey, the Tigers' first-year coordinator hopes to impart the lesson he learned at Arizona State down on the Plains. Auburn has an ongoing quarterback battle between Stidham and incumbent starter Sean White heading into fall camp, and while Stidham is the favorite to earn the job, White's experience as a starter over the last two seasons is invaluable.

Lindsey knows he will need to have all three of his scholarship quarterbacks, including freshman Malik Willis, prepared in fall camp, as well as an emergency plan -- likely quarterback-turned-receiver John Franklin III -- in his back pocket, especially after the transfers of Woody Barrett and Tyler Queen.

"You better have two ready to go," Lindsey said in LaGrange. "I've learned that the hard way, and we did (at Arizona State) -- we just didn't have four of them ready."

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Thank you @aubiefifty for posting. This scenario is what puzzles me about a guy like Woody Barrett. He saw first hand last year what the lack of quality depth at the quarterback position can lead to. Then CCL comes in and has this experience to share with the group. He can see that Sean White is prone to injury and if he worked hard he could have been in a position to get playing time if Stidham were injured this season. Seems to me he did not want to work for something at Auburn if he has a chance to have it handed to him at smaller school. Glad CCL is taking the approach of having them all as ready as he can have them. Hoping that all three see meaningful action against Ga Southern. 

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Hope this trend of QB injuries stops this year.

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3 hours ago, Tigerbelle said:

SEC defenses can be brutal. I hope the OL is ready.

Yes I am worried, especially for the Clempson game. Hate them moving Braden to another position for a grad transfer who could end up like tj neal from last year. Whoever is guarding Stid's blindside needs to be on it.

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On 5/29/2017 at 5:53 PM, WFE12 said:

Yes I am worried, especially for the Clempson game. Hate them moving Braden to another position for a grad transfer who could end up like tj neal from last year. Whoever is guarding Stid's blindside needs to be on it.

I'm a little concerned about Stid's blind side too considering his style of quarterbacking. But hopefully it will all be addressed by the coaches.

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On 5/29/2017 at 9:31 AM, gr82be said:

Thank you @aubiefifty for posting. This scenario is what puzzles me about a guy like Woody Barrett. He saw first hand last year what the lack of quality depth at the quarterback position can lead to. Then CCL comes in and has this experience to share with the group. He can see that Sean White is prone to injury and if he worked hard he could have been in a position to get playing time if Stidham were injured this season. Seems to me he did not want to work for something at Auburn if he has a chance to have it handed to him at smaller school. Glad CCL is taking the approach of having them all as ready as he can have them. Hoping that all three see meaningful action against Ga Southern. 

I was as upset as anyone that Woody left. However I can't help but wonder why we saw more of the walk-on QB than Woody at the A Day game. It made me question a few things. Especially with what Lindsey went through last season at ASU. Seems to me that he would of wanted to get Woody as many snaps as possible...yet he played two series... the things that make you go hmmmm.

On 5/29/2017 at 5:53 PM, WFE12 said:

Yes I am worried, especially for the Clempson game. Hate them moving Braden to another position for a grad transfer who could end up like tj neal from last year. Whoever is guarding Stid's blindside needs to be on it.

I've always thought Drago should be a tackle. We just used him at guard when we had at least decent tackles. Personally I think Drago should be the LT and be the one responsible for protecting the blind side of Stidham....er....which ever QB wins the job....

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1 hour ago, Tigerbelle said:

I'm a little concerned about Stid's blind side too considering his style of quarterbacking. But hopefully it will all be addressed by the coaches.

By his quarterbacking, do you mean like the fact that he holds on to the ball for too long as said by other commentators? I see that he watches a lot of film and I bet he's on top of all this other stuff.

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3 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

I was as upset as anyone that Woody left. However I can't help but wonder why we saw more of the walk-on QB than Woody at the A Day game. It made me question a few things. Especially with what Lindsey went through last season at ASU. Seems to me that he would of wanted to get Woody as many snaps as possible...yet he played two series... the things that make you go hmmmm.

I've always thought Drago should be a tackle. We just used him at guard when we had at least decent tackles. Personally I think Drago should be the LT and be the one responsible for protecting the blind side of Stidham....er....which ever QB wins the job....

I hope he's that expendable..I wasn't really paying attention to him when he was playing Tackle at times last season. If he gets it and calvin...Wait idk. Starting freshman on the o-line is iffy. Anyway, all should be in its place hopefully not too far into fall camp.

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On 5/30/2017 at 10:06 PM, WFE12 said:

By his quarterbacking, do you mean like the fact that he holds on to the ball for too long as said by other commentators? I see that he watches a lot of film and I bet he's on top of all this other stuff.

I think that even though he is considered a dual threat QB he will be more of a passer than Cam or Nick. And we have some good receivers that need to be utilized. Protection will be crucial. If the OL performs well it could be so exciting....talent at QB, RB and receivers....options. Just imagine if it all works together. I don't know if he has that clock in his head that tells him when he is running out of time, but I sure hope he does. 

 

 

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4 hours ago, Tigerbelle said:

I think that even though he is considered a dual threat QB he will be more of a passer than Cam or Nick. And we have some good receivers that need to be utilized. Protection will be crucial. If the OL performs well it could be so exciting....talent at QB, RB and receivers....options. Just imagine if it all works together. I don't know if he has that clock in his head that tells him when he is running out of time, but I sure hope he does. 

 

 

Me too..his running ain't all that.

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