3-22 Practice report

[DKW 86 7,440]

AUBURN FOOTBALL PRACTICE REPORT* March 22, 2005

AUBURN * Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville praised several players after the 14th practice of the spring Tuesday. Auburn worked in full pads in a two-hour practice which was spent on correcting mistakes from the A-Day game and preparing for the final scrimmage of the spring which will be held at Jordan-Hare Stadium Wednesday.

Tuberville, who spent a large portion of the practice watching the secondary, cited the play of safeties Tony Bell, Steve Gandy and Eric Brock and defensive back Lorenzo Ferguson after the workout.

"Tony Bell is looking good after his first couple of weeks off. He’s made some improvement in the last few days. We’re pleased with him," said Tuberville. "I watched the secondary most of the day. I’m really pleased with Steve Gandy and Eric Brock who have both come a long way. They’re making plays. The player that Coach (David) Gibbs is talking a lot about is Lorenzo Ferguson. We’re going to leave him at corner. I thought he might be a little tall for corner, but Coach Gibbs thinks he can play there. He’s made a lot of progress. He did a good job in the spring game."

Auburn will conclude spring practice Wednesday with a scrimmage at the stadium at 4 p.m.

"Tomorrow will be a day for the quarterbacks and a lot of the younger players on defense," said Tuberville. "We’ll hold a couple of players out. Offensively, we have to get better. Defensively, we’re not going to hold anything back tomorrow. We’re going to turn them loose. It might be as ugly as it was Saturday, but hopefully we can score some points."

The scrimmage is open to the public.

[cadillacattack 0]

We’re going to turn them loose.

Yeah, baby!

[Tigerdog 0]

AUBURN FOOTBALL PRACTICE REPORT* March 22, 2005

  The player that Coach (David) Gibbs is talking a lot about is Lorenzo Ferguson. We’re going to leave him at corner. I thought he might be a little tall for corner, but Coach Gibbs thinks he can play there. 

152259[/snapback]

wow!

this is great to hear!

So much for the 6'5-6'6 receiver having an advantage.

Hope he s got speed too!

[Wishbone 0]

Pitts is 6'3 and plays corner. It seems auburn has had a huge influx of talent into the secondary the past 1-2 years. Gandy, Bell, Brock, Ferguson, Irons can all play.

[quietfan 233]

Related article:

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/huntsvill...73223166380.xml

AUBURN - Jason Bosley...a 6-foot-4, 271-pound former Grissom High School standout, sustained a knee injury in Tuesday's practice. He will miss today's scrimmage, the spring practice finale, and his status for next season is uncertain.

...

Senior wide receiver Devin Aromashodu will also miss today's scrimmage after sustaining a broken collarbone in last Saturday's A-Day game.   He will not have surgery, Tuberville said, and is expected to be fully recovered in time for two-a-days in early August.

...

Linebackers coach Joe Whitt, his top three players sidelined with injuries, said he was pleasantly surprised by the defense in the A-Day game.

"It went better than I expected," Whitt said. "I came out of Saturday feeling good.

...

Sizing up the secondary: Tuberville said he believes that, despite the loss of Thorpe Award winner Carlos Rogers and All-America safety Junior Rosegreen, the Tigers can be better in the secondary next season than last. He pointed to the work of sophomore safeties Tony Bell and Steve Gandy and redshirt freshman cornerback Lorenzo Ferguson.

"Because of the depth, we have a chance to be improved in the secondary," Tuberville said. We have a lot more weapons."

Secondary better than last year!? We know we're solid at linebacker and McClover & Groves are going to be feasting on opposing quarerbacks. Sounds to me like the only question on defense for next season is how good our new DC Gibbs is--if he is close to Chizik in talent, we'll again have a "D" to be feared nationally!

...and that should also give our young QB & RB's time to grow up.

It ought to be a fun year, folks!

[mcgufcm 4,107]

yeah, i get the impression that tubbs is taking a personal interest in making sure the defense doesn't fall flat. the fact that he was personally watching and assisting with the secondary tells me that he's eager to prove that he's still a defensive guru, and that it wasn't just chizik. i could be wrong, but that's the impression i get.

as for ferguson, i have been really impressed with him. he's a really solid prospect. if he improves to the point where we can line up irons and pitts with him in the nickel, not only will we have 3 6'+ corners, but we won't have the usual nickel problems against the run. that's a really exciting idea to me b/c you don't have to worry as much about the back breaking the 15 yard draw; it should free up some different kind of zone blitz packages or safety blitz stuff with those three in man.

david irons is the key. he's so smooth that, if healthy, i guarantee he'll be a lock-down type of corner. he's almost as smooth out of his break as carlos was, and he's not even 100%. that guy could be scary good. couple him with an improved montae on the other side then ferguson and gilbert in nickel/dime and add four starter qualtiy safeties (bell, brock, gandy, and herring).... i have to agree with tubbs. that group could be better as a whole then we were last year.

[vatz22au 142]

What time is the scrimmage tomorrow and where? Will it be on the practice fields?