3.26.24 Football Articles

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Auburn University-owned plane crashes in Opelika, pilot injured

Published: Mar. 25, 2024, 8:59 p.m.

~2 minutes

A single-engine plane owned by Auburn University crashed Sunday in Opelika, injuring the pilot, according to authorities and flight records.Opelika Police Department

By

Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com

A single-engine plane owned by Auburn University crashed Sunday in Opelika, injuring the pilot, according to authorities and flight records.

The Textron Aviation 172S crashed at the dead end of Watson Street; the aircraft was flipped over and had substantial damage, according to records and a photo of the crash posted by Opelika police on social media.

The mostly white plane, which had blue and orange streaks with an Auburn logo at the tail of the aircraft, was registered to Auburn University, records showed.

The pilot, who was the only occupant, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The pilot was identified by WTVM as a female student pilot but Auburn could not immediately be reached by AL.com to confirm the report.

 

 

i was not sure where to put this but it is slow so here it is.

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Now at Auburn, Trill Carter is at his ‘dream school.’ What does he bring to the table?

Published: Mar. 26, 2024, 6:00 a.m.

5–6 minutes

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Growing up, Trill Carter watched as former Auburn defensive lineman Montravious Adams suited up in the orange and blue and punished opposing offenses.

“He was always an idol for me,” Carter said, adding that he and Adams are from around the same area in Georgia.

Carter met his idol not long ago as Adams made a return to The Plains, stopping by one of Auburn’s spring football practices. Adams’ trip back to Auburn happened to be on the same day the Pittsburgh Steelers announced they’d be signing him to a two-year contract.

Carter was able to hangout with Adams that same day.

And none of that would’ve been possible had Carter not made the decision to transfer to Auburn on Jan. 8.

Auburn, still led by Gus Malzahn at the time, never came knocking with an offer for Carter. Instead, the 3-star recruit out of Crisp County High School in Leesburg, Ga. hauled in offers from the likes of Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, South Carolina and others.

When all was said and done, it was Minnesota that Carter ended up signing to and where he spent his first three seasons of college football.

And while Carter says he had a good experience at Minnesota, playing so far from home did come with challenges, he recalls.

“I was a down south Georgia boy, don’t really know nobody,” Carter said. “I had a very southern accent when I first went to Minnesota, it was just hard to adapt.”

Few will be shocked to learn that part of Carter’s challenge was becoming acclimated to Minnesota’s cold winters.

“I don’t know how people stay up there,” joked Carter, who admits to still needing a hoodie on some of Auburn’s cooler days. “It’s good in the summer, though. But when it’s cold it’s cold, and it stays cold for a very long time.”

After his three years at Minnesota, which saw him 55 total tackles on 24 starts and 32 appearances, Carter traded the brutal midwestern winters for dry heat in Texas, transferring to the Longhorns ahead of his senior season in 2023.

Carter went on to appear in 13 games last fall — primarily as a reserve piece — and tallied nine tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss, a sack and a forced fumble.

Now, Carter is looking to cement himself in a much bigger role along Auburn’s defensive front — an area of need for the Tigers.

“I think the biggest question mark we have right now is the interior,” Freeze said of the defensive line on Feb. 29. “We lost some guys that played significant snaps for us, and two of our most productive ones.”

Heading into spring camp, the Tigers will be looking to replace the production of Marcus Harris and Justin Rogers, both who opted for the 2024 NFL Draft, as well as Lawrence Johnson, who ran out of eligibility at the conclusion of the 2023 season.

And that’s where Carter hopes to come in.

“Being an older guy and being one of the most experienced guys on the defensive line, I feel like I’ve been fitting in pretty well,” Carter said of his time at Auburn so far. “Teaching the young guys small things. Also having the young guys teach me stuff, because that’s what it’s all about. Just because you’re an older guy doesn’t mean you know everything.”

Of course, the fact that Auburn’s defensive line is being coached by a new face in Vontrell King-Williams and the Tigers’ defense also has a new leader in defensive coordinator DJ Durkin, there’s been a lot of learning on the run for new faces like Carter and Auburn’s young players, as well as the team’s returners.

Nonetheless, Carter seems to be picking up the new scheme quickly.

“I like how we can do four-down front and three-down front because that’s what we did at Texas. I really like it,” Carter said of playing along Auburn’s defensive front. “It allows the defensive line to make plays. It’s not really just on one person to make plays, everyone has chances to make the plays.”

And for Carter, who is elated to have landed at what he calls his “dream school,” he hopes to be among those making the plays when the lights come on in the fall — just like Montravious Adams once did for the Tigers.

“This was my dream school growing up and in high school. I always wanted to come to Auburn, I just didn’t have the offer back then,” Carter said. “But I’m here now so that’s what matters.”

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Auburn cornerback J.D. Rhym to enter transfer portal, per reports

Updated: Mar. 26, 2024, 9:59 a.m.|Published: Mar. 26, 2024, 9:53 a.m.

~3 minutes

Auburn cornerback J.D. Rhym (23) warms up during first day of practices, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023 in Auburn, Ala. (AL.com Photo/Stew Milne)Stew Milne

Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers are set to lose cornerback J.D. Rhym to the transfer portal, On3 Sports’ Justin Hokanson and 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz both reported Tuesday morning.

In his two seasons at Auburn, Rhym appeared in 10 games — seven as a freshman in 2022 and just three as a sophomore in 2023. He tallied 20 total tackles and an interception during his time with the Tigers.

Last November, Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was asked about Rhym’s lack of play time and Freeze chalked up the defensive back’s absence to “personal issues.”

“JD and I are working through some personal issues,” Freeze said Nov. 8 during the SEC coaches teleconference. “It’s week to week. I think he’s got potential to be a really good contributor to our team, (but) we’ve just got to make sure the standard that we want for all of our players is being upheld.”

As Freeze continued, he mentioned Auburn may elect to redshirt the sophomore.

“We’re kind of at a point now where you’re wondering if it’s better to redshirt him or not,” Freeze said.

And considering he only appeared in three games last fall, Rhym never burned his redshirt. However, with Tuesday morning’s reports, it doesn’t sound like Rhym will be using that redshirt option at Auburn as the former 4-star recruit out of Valdosta, Ga. looks for a new program to play for.

Should Rhym go onto transfer, it’ll be yet another change Auburn’s room of cornerbacks see heading into the fall as the Tigers were already losing their two staples at the position as DJ James and Nehemiah Pritchett head to the NFL.

Now, with the anticipated transfer of Rhym, Auburn’s 2024 cornerback room is set to return fifth-year senior Keionte Scott, who is making the move to cornerback after playing nickel last fall, junior Champ Anthony, sophomore Kayin Lee, redshirt freshman Colton Hood, redshirt freshman JC Hart and redshirt freshman Tyler Scott.

Meanwhile, the Tigers have added some depth to the position with Alabama transfer Antonio Kite as well as a pair of freshmen in Jalyn Crawford and A’mon Lane-Ganus — both 4-stars.

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Jarrett Stidham ‘definitely competing to be Broncos starter’

Updated: Mar. 26, 2024, 10:41 a.m.|Published: Mar. 26, 2024, 10:30 a.m.

7–8 minutes

In anticipation of their offseason contract decision on Russell Wilson, the Denver Broncos started Jarrett Stidham at quarterback in the final two games of the 2023 season.

The Broncos ended up releasing Wilson, and they haven’t signed a quarterback during the NFL’s free-agency period.

Does that mean Stidham will be Denver’s No. 1 QB in 2024?

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Not necessarily, Broncos coach Sean Payton said on Monday. But after five NFL seasons, the former Auburn quarterback will have the opportunity to compete for the starting-quarterback job for the first time in his career.

“He’s definitely competing to be the starter,” Payton said. “I don’t think we have a term ‘driver’s seat’ really, but he is going to compete for that position. I know he’s anxious and excited to do that, and I’m sure there’ll be other candidates that will be competing with him.”

Denver general manager George Paton said the Broncos would be developing their QB depth chart, which currently consists of Stidham and former XFL starter Ben DiNucci.

“We’re still in the quarterback market,” Paton said on Monday. “We like Stiddy, but we’re going to add. But we’re not panicked. We don’t play a game for a while, and we feel like we’ll add a vet and we’ll see about the draft.”

The Broncos obtained Wilson in a blockbuster trade with the Seattle Seahawks in 2022 and signed the nine-time Pro Bowler to a five-year, $245 million contract. Denver had a 13-21 record in Wilson’s two seasons, and the Broncos released the quarterback this offseason even though they still must pay him $39 million in 2024. But the release prevented Denver from also owing Wilson $37 million for 2025.

“I think all of the above relative to what we’re studying,” Payton said about the Broncos’ offseason quarterback search. “When the offseason hit and we began to map out our plans, those plans included the current professional ranks, which are players in that market, and also the rookie class. We’re kind of in the midst of draft preparation, if you will, and been traveling a lot on these pro days and these private workouts, so we’ll continue to monitor the pro market but also get ready for the April draft.”

Denver won Stidham’s first start for the team 16-9 over the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 31. In their season finale, the Broncos fell 27-14 to the Las Vegas Raiders, who sacked Stidham five times. In the two games, Stidham completed 40-of-66 passes for 496 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.

“We felt like this is a player who can compete,” Payton said. “We felt like he’s got upside. A young player that’s really played a limited amount of snaps relative to the years he’s been in the league.

“Did anything change in those last two games leading to this season? I can’t say, in fairness to him or the process, definitively that anything did, other than we still feel real positive about this player and we’re anxious to see him when he’s getting a lot more snaps and work with the ones.”

After Stidham closed his career at Auburn by throwing for 373 yards and five touchdowns in a 63-14 victory over Purdue in the Music City Bowl on Dec 28, 2018, he joined the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

In his first NFL preseason, Stidham completed 61-of-90 passes for 731 yards with four touchdowns and one interception as he led the AFC in passing yards and beat out veteran Brian Hoyer to serve as Tom Brady’s backup during the three-time NFL MVP’s final season with New England.

Stidham played in three NFL regular-season games in 2019 and five in 2020, when he backed up another former Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton.

In 2021, Stidham never got in a game after sustaining an offseason injury, and New England went with rookie Mac Jones as its starting quarterback and Hoyer as the backup. Stidham had surgery on July 28, 2021, because of a back injury and spent the first nine weeks of the season on the reserve/physically-unable-to-perform list.

Stidham joined the Raiders in May 2022, when Las Vegas sent a sixth-round choice in the 2023 NFL Draft to New England for the quarterback and a seventh-round pick. The trade reunited Stidham with Las Vegas coach Josh McDaniels, his offensive coordinator for three seasons with the Patriots.

In a similar situation as 2023, Stidham made his first two NFL starts in the Raiders’ final two games of 2022 as Las Vegas prepared to part ways in the offseason with No. 1 QB Derek Carr.

In 16 NFL games, with four starts, Stidham has completed 117-of-197 passes for 1,422 yards with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions and run for 97 yards on 32 carries.

At the NFL’s annual meeting on Monday in Orlando, Florida, Payton was asked when upside and potential become who the player is in Stidham’s case.

“I just don’t think we’re there,” Payton said, “and so generally speaking, I do think that’s something the fans, the media and the coaches probably arrive there within a week or two of each other.

“But in fairness to him, I’m anxious to see where that spot is that we say, ‘All right, that’s it.’ I don’t think we’ve seen it yet.”

While at the league meeting, Paton outlined what he was looking for from the Broncos’ starting quarterback in 2024.

“You can evaluate the talent, you can evaluate the arm strength, the feet, the athletic ability, the mobility, buy second chances, off-schedule, all that stuff you see on tape,” Paton said. “It’s the ability to process – process a lot of information in a short time to make the best decisions. That’s the thing we’re all searching for. I think we’re also searching for the ‘it’ factor. Who can raise the level of his teammates? And that’s really hard to find. Sometimes you don’t know it until you have it, so that’s what we’re all searching for.”

The Broncos hold the No. 12 pick in the first round of the NFL Draft on April 25 and eight selections in this year’s draft.

“I’ve talked to most of the team’s ahead of us,” Paton said. “I’ve talked to a lot of teams behind us. It is a little early, but I know who’s willing to move. You kind of know the teams that are typically willing to move. And so you always want to know how much it is to move up and how much you get if you move back, so we’ll have a good lay of the land by the time we get two weeks ahead of the draft.”

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.

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