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

[douggwilliams 61]

Anybody else catch Coates doing a mini sammyslam on the db yesterday?

[Wareagletd 0]

Anybody else catch Coates doing a mini sammyslam on the db yesterday?

Duke had one as well.

[aucanucktiger 1,794]

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.

[AUbritt 611]

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.

Nope. Did you miss the part about how many injuries we had on D this spring? Did you miss the D players sitting on the sideline? Did you miss the fact that the starters on D (the ones that played, anyway) gave up 3 points?

EDIT:

Just started reading the article 64 linked to, above. Here's a quote:

Facing Auburn’s remaining healthy starters, the white team managed just 85 total yards, and one field goal. This spring, the defense played a lot more of a single safety over the top, and the second safety being down near the line of scrimmage. New field safety Derrick Moncrief showed particular adeptness at cutting off running plays to the outside, and forcing the runner back into traffic in the middle. Auburn’s healthy top-level defensive linemen dominated the second team offensive line, and disrupted the offense in the backfield. - See more at: http://trackemtigers.com/?p=26541#more-26541

[chimesAU 89]

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.

[cole256 17,084]

The way tl that Williams guy ran over us you have to respect him. Their hb's should be the only threat against us though. Actually now that I think about it their qb actually played one of his best games against us.

[WarTiger 3,912]

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.

If you mean by most, you mean nobody, then I agree with you. Otherwise, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Arkansas RB's better than ours? Another There's just nothing factual to support that ridiculous notion. Last year Arkansas' top two RB's COMBINED for TWO 100 yard games over their last NINE games. Williams had 104 yards against us and Alex Collins had 116 against Texas A&M (the worst defense in the league last year). OUR QUARTERBACK had more yards rushing than Arkansas' leading rusher.

Alex Collins has potential to be a solid back, but comparing the complete RB position between the two schools and there's nothing to suggest Arkansas has the edge in any way shape or form. They also don't have anywhere close to the quality of offensive line that we have either.

[chimesAU 89]

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.

If you mean by most, you mean nobody, then I agree with you. Otherwise, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Arkansas RB's better than ours? Another There's just nothing factual to support that ridiculous notion. Last year Arkansas' top two RB's COMBINED for TWO 100 yard games over their last NINE games. Williams had 104 yards against us and Alex Collins had 116 against Texas A&M (the worst defense in the league last year). OUR QUARTERBACK had more yards rushing than Arkansas' leading rusher.

Alex Collins has potential to be a solid back, but comparing the complete RB position between the two schools and there's nothing to suggest Arkansas has the edge in any way shape or form. They also don't have anywhere close to the quality of offensive line that we have either.

Well we weren't talking about offensive lines now were we? Skill players were being discussed and RBs in particular. But now that you mention it, no their offensive line probably isn't anywhere near the quality of ours. They also don't have a great QB or a bunch of dynamic WRs. Seems to me that Collins and Williams didn't have a whole lot of help at all last year and were probably counted on to do most of their team's heavy lifting...behind an average oline.

We're probably deeper at the RB position but I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that they have more talent at the top.

[AU64 10,122]

AU spring game on ESPNU now

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,682]

I wonder how you judge the first team defense vs the second team offense and vice versa

The good thing about this style of game, you can't read anything into the defense

[bssford460 10]

I wanted to start a new topic about this, but i dont have enough posts. but here goes anyways, Has anybody else watched the post A-day press conference?? I watched it and the excitement and enthusiasm in CGM's voice and on his face is absolutley awesome. You can really really tell that he is "just tickled to death" as he kept saying when he got the job.

It seems so evident to me that he wouldnt be happier coaching anywhere else and that Auburn and CGM are a perfect match. I got excited just seeing how excited he was, and by the smile on his face as he talked about the whole A-day game and event.

[passthebiscuits 6,862]

I also wanted to give the proverbial "shout out" to the SEC network commercial that featured the kick six at the end. Awesome!

[AubTiger14 0]

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.

Go home your drunk. Marshall looked way more comfortable as a thrower. His incomplete passes were thrown to the correct receiver and were just a hair off, not 10 yards overthrown. He didn't put the ball in jeopardy and his eyes and footwork looked much more relaxed and fluid. Do people expect him to be Peyton Manning? He has summer workouts and fall practices to improve even more.

I love how everyone, especially fans of other teams, think that because the "Blue" team put up a bunch of points that we have no defense. Sure, the 2nd and 3rd strings and walk-ons struggled against the 1st team offense. But, the 1st team defense played very solid and that was with a lot of starters out.

It's a freaking Spring game. People are trying to nitpick like it was the SEC opener or something. The important things were...... that Nick Marshall looked improved, that LT looked solidified, that the RB's looked good, that newcomers like Duke and Moncrief looked ready to step-in, and that the defense looked solid and didn't give up any chunk plays. I think all missions were accomplished.

People want to say, well our backups struggled and depth is a concern. If our 2nd and 3rd teams were hanging with our first string then that would be a big concern for me. I think the fact that our 1st team was so dominant is a good thing. Guys, just accept the fact that we are going to be raw next year and enjoy the ride.

[Metalsinger418 88]

People will find anything to complain about :-\

Marshall's accuracy improved after he got comfortable. Our WRs look better than any group we have had in a decade. Our RBs are looking GREAT. O line? Dominant. The defensive starters that played? Smothered the other offense.

What do some of you people WANT?!

[WarEagle1983 2,185]

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

[C'viewTiger 242]

There is a lot of healthy (mostly) discussion here. However, please don't lose sight that this was the spring game intended to give the fans a show not reveal anything to us or the opponents. Those of you with connections, did this game differ from the scrimmages? If so, that should attest that CGM's goal was not to display AU's dominance. He said it his self, he wanted to put the ball in the air and make it fun for the fans.

As far as comparing this performance to that of a suspected performance against an adversary, we lost a couple of great players this off season, but we gained some also this off season?

The running game looked good and yes it was against the backups. However, the QB's were not a running threat (as someone else pointed out).

IMO (which is worth about a wooden nickel), turn the QBs loose and force the DBs to come up and make them pay with what we saw from the WRs.

After the run we had last year, this AU fanatic needed a break. The one thing this game did for me was got me ready for some football! Aug 29th can't get here soon enough. WAREAGLE!

[ALTiger 16]

SIAP, but after leaving A Day, my nephew and i saw Ricardo Louis and Montravious Adams walking to their dorms...well MA had a boot on his right foot. Anyone hear of anything happening to him during the game?

[ausburn 159]

He pulled himself in the late third I think. He had a light limp coming off the field.

[JFDTiger80 790]

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 do not agree with this. I think our passing game is greatly improved. The receivers were being aggressive to the ball and they did not do this last year. I think Duke's presence is helping our others receivers in this area.

It was impossible to rate our number 1 D Saturday. A ton on starters and people that will play were not suited up.

[JFDTiger80 790]

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.

[chimesAU 89]

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.

[VAtiger12 112]

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.

Disagree. I think Alex Collins is probably behind only maybe Gurley and USC's Williams as far as talent goes but I think Arkansas' top two guys are together on par with our top two guys. At least if you compare total skillset. Of course the numbers are not similar because Tre took over last year and all Arky had last year was their run game.

[AUIH1 1,515]

I think given the way our spring game was set up, we as fans should be satisfied at what we saw. NM is never going to be mistaken for Peyton Manning, but he did looked improved passing the ball against our 2-3 teamers. The 1st string O dominated the 2-3 teamers as they should have, but most impressive to me is that the execution was very good.

The injured 1st string D dominated a weak second string O. The only slight drawback to me was the performance of our new placekicker and punter.

All of this made for a fun A-Day game to watch, but it was probably the least important practice held all spring.

wde

[ALTiger 16]

One player that impressed me was that of K. Flowers! He really stood out in the Mike position.

[McLoofus 35,182]

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.