Can’t believe I’m the first one.. let’s go Calzada!

 

Word has it that with the loss of Lew, we are going full-court press to flip Hughley.

Either the previous report of Hughley playing our staff and beat writers for a bigger bag from Georgia is wrong or our staff's ability to read/gauge recruits' interest is wrong...

The drama knows no end...

If the rumor about him using Dukes to drive him to Auburn is true then I’m not sure I want the kid anyways. Besides, there’s no guarantee he’ll be a stud in college anyways (ex. Cohen) 

 

Auburn football Friday practice observations

Zac Blackerby

3-4 minutes

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The Auburn Tigers took to the practice field for the first organized practice this fall camp. Several key storylines are brewing throughout the roster including a quarterback battle, what's the wide receiver rotation look like, who are the five starting offensive linemen, and what will the defensive backfield look like?

Keep in mind that these are just observations from 20 minutes of the first practice of fall camp. Read into what you want. 

Observations

- TJ Finley was with the starters first. Next to Tank Bigsby and John Samuel Shenker. He threw a great pass to Shenker, the to his left to Malcolm Johnson Jr., then had a great pass on an outbreaking route to Shedrick Jackson. 

- Zach Calzada went with the second unit. Threw to Ze'Vian Capers for a touchdown. 

- Then Calzada went with the first team offense in the same drill. 

- From left to right, the starting offensive line was Kilian Zerier, Kam Stutts, Nick Brahms, Keiondre Jones, Austin Troxell. 

- From left to right, the second offensive line was Zerier, Brandon Council, Tate Johnson, Alec Jackson, Austin Troxell. 

- Bryan Harsin then came over to the media and made a "No hat" joke referring to the one-year anniversary of Hat-Gate and then gave media members a t-shirt that said, "I went to Auburn Football practice and all I got was this War Dam Shirt."

- Capers looks huge. 

- Jackson looks like he has put in a ton of work this summer. 

- Auburn linebacker Cam Riley is very physically impressive. 

- Cornerback Jaylin Simpson took a vocal role with the DBs. 

- In the tight ends vs linebackers drill,  the order that the tight ends went was Shenker, Luke Deal, Tyler Fromm, and Brandon Frazier. In the same drill, linebacker Eugene Asante went first for the defense. 

- Zion Puckett moved well. Looks bigger. 

In 1 on 1s - WRs vs DBs

- Simpson beat out Jackson on a pass from Calzada. 

- Johnson Jr. had a great snag vs Nehemiah Pritchett from Calzada

- Ja'Varrius Johnson beat Marquis Gilbert on a pass from Calzada. 

- Capers got a ton of separation on a route vs DJ James on a pass from Finley. 

- Moore was wide open in a rep from Cayden Bridges on a pass from Finley. 

- JD Rhym got the best of Tommy Nesmith on a pass from Finley. 

- Donovan Kaufman won a rep vs Ta'varish Dawson. 

- Finley missed an easy slot completion to Ja'Varrius Johnson. 

- Calzada threw a great ball to Johnson Jr.

- The last rep we saw was Calzada throwing a strike on a seam route to Koy Moore. It was beautiful. 

We will have a similar post after Saturday's practice. 

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Love to hear Calzada is balling out 

 

Not razzing on our guys, but just pointing out ..... The actual WR group is not under-VALUED. It is under-SIZED. These guys have talent, they just don't have tallness. That's a limitation in today's game that appreciates receivers who can contest for 50/50 balls.

If they were Olympic speed to stretch the field ........ um .........

I'm not a Negative Nellie. I'm eager to see how Harsin uses the wide receivers ***in tandem with*** the really good TE/HB group, to create a really dynamic, explosive offense. The combination could be lethal.

 

Landen King is 6’5

Zevian Capers 6’4

Cam Brown is 6’3

do y’all do your research before you post? 

 

I’m feeling pretty optimistic about the WR room! Moore and King could seriously break out and Dawson is getting lots of praise from the coaches. 

Camden Brown has also looked really good apparently. I can’t remember the last time our WR core was getting so much praise in august 

 

Is that sick as in pucking kinda sick or sic as in a good thing, I think that's the slang... 

sick as in some people support Gus Malzahn more than Auburn 

Mikey is gonna be sick about this one 

We have to give Harsin time to build a program with a serviceable QB (sorry Finley). I’m in the “wait and see” phase. If we don’t win 8 games next season then I will start to be concerned. I just feel like we need to give him a fair chance first. 

Don’t forget there’s a gymnastics meet tonight. 

Some interesting news from fly war eagle 

9 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

Who is the lawyer Guy? Whats the connection

A guy on Reddit that claims to have inside sources. Posted a screenshot an hour ago that said he’s visiting UCLA and Auburn this week but has since deleted it 

16 minutes ago, NWALA Tiger said:

You hearing any new info on CW. Wonder why he hasn't announced for USC yet

Lawyer guy is still adamant that he’s visiting Auburn and UCLA this week 

If he doesn’t commit to USC today I’d say that’s very good news 

1 hour ago, gr82b4au said:

No idea if this is real. 

Guys take pictures in jerseys at every school they visit. Not saying he won’t go to USC but this picture doesn’t prove anything. 

fwiw he’s the biggest Auburn account on Reddit  and not some troll. So he has to be pretty confident to post this 

Reddit guy in the know gives AU an 8.5/10 chance. Says Auburn gave him a pretty hefty offer and we’re recruiting Mario also. Apparently something is happening on Wednesday  

3 minutes ago, roe4christ said:

For what it's worth, his WR is in LA today taking a visit.  Probably means nothing but worth noting.

I think CW himself is visiting USC next week. Which is why I’m not super confident yet 

6 minutes ago, ClaytonAU said:

Wasn’t the talk after ESD that he *had* told our staff he was coming? 

Not sure. I know Keith and Jlee never put out an official prediction on him cause they said it was too close to call 

40 minutes ago, JBiGGiE said:

 

He also predicted Khurtiss Perry to Auburn. But I hope he’s right 

Frankly I don’t care if Auburn gives him 10 million. Not like it’s coming out of my pocket. I don’t think he deserves that much but that’s the new world of college football. Either get behind it or get left behind 

Just now, NWALA Tiger said:

Anyone else hearing CW is on campus now?

I believe someone was bored and made that up 

1 minute ago, AuburnEagle79 said:

We certainly so, but I think it's past time to stop thinking we will just get guys over Ole Miss because we are Auburn. They don't have to outbid us. 

Ole Miss hasn’t beaten Auburn in 6 years and currently has the #25 ranked recruiting class. They’re not on our level despite one good season 

Auburn could be the favorite for Mason Brooks