2 Big Injuries

[quietfan 233]

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/huntsvill...0220.xml&coll=1

Fullback tears ACL; linebacker has sprained ankle

AUBURN - For two Auburn first-teamers, spring practice is over.

Sophomore Mike McLaughlin, the heir apparent to Jake Slaughter at fullback, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Saturday's scrimmage and will have surgery, coach Tommy Tuberville said.

Sophomore Merrill Johnson, locked in a fierce battle with redshirt freshman Tray Blackmon for the starting job at weakside linebacker, suffered a high ankle sprain and is not expected to return until preseason practice in August.

The loss of McLaughlin leaves junior Andrew Turman, redshirt freshman Stephen Gowland and junior Danny Perry, all walk-ons, competing at fullback.

"They've been with us and earned their spurs," Tuberville said after Sunday's practice in shorts and helmets. "They know what to do and how to do it."

Offensive coordinator Al Borges said he will probably use two tailbacks more often, as he did when Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown helped the Tigers go 13-0 in 2004.

"We have ways to facilitate not having a pure fullback, though those walk-on kids aren't bad players," Borges said. "We have ways to use the tight end as a move guy or moving a second tailback, which we've done a lot the last two years. But we want to give these kids a chance to prove what they can and can't do."

With the loss of Johnson, Blackmon is alone at weakside linebacker. But that might soon change. Defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said he is considering moving a safety to compete with Blackmon.

Will Herring, a three-year starter at safety, is running first team at strongside linebacker. Juniors Steve Gandy and Eric Brock are battling for the first-team job at strong safety, but one could get the call to move.

I'm just a little worried that our already small linebacker corp may get even lighter.

Running more two-tailback sets increases the opportunities for Ben Tate to get on the field with Irons, Lester, & Co., however.

[AWK 0]

Last night, on Fox 6 news here in Birmingham, they talked about how Blackmon has been making a name for himself at the spring drills. They showed a few plays from the drills on saturday, and he looked awesome. They also mentioned that Benjamin Tate had the best day on Saturday, he had more yards then the starters from last year, thats sounds pretty good to me.

[metafour 4,969]

This is an open invitation for Blackmon to come in and snatch that starting spot. I hope he utilizes this oportunity as I want his tenacity and playmaking ability on the field, but appearently hes still having problems wrapping up on his tackles.

The loss of McLaughlin is a bit sad, as we were already worried about our FB situation. We'll make it through somehow, but I certainly wish we could have landed Aram Olson right about now.

[c-zoner 0]

They can still get McLaughlin better before the season. He will probly have surgery sometime this week and then be rehabing it all spring and summer, if he has fast recovery he could be back for next year.

[metafour 4,969]

They can still get McLaughlin better before the season.  He will probly have surgery sometime this week and then be rehabing it all spring and summer,  if he has  fast recovery he could be back for next year.

223525[/snapback]

Thats highly unlikely, torn ACLs usually take ATLEAST 8 months to heal and then theres several months of rehab needed before he'll even be ready to get back out on the field.

[AuNuma1 1]

I hope I read this right in some other article....McLaughlin was our ONLY fullback on scholarship?? Uh...did we forget something during that whole recruiting process?

[metafour 4,969]

I hope I read this right in some other article....McLaughlin was our ONLY fullback on scholarship??  Uh...did we forget something during that whole recruiting process?

223589[/snapback]

Well, we were heavily after Aram Olson (one of the top FBs in the class, out of SC). Olson was considered by many to be an Auburn lean for a long time, then on his committ day he out of nowhere committed to Ohio State.

We have two other Fullbacks, they are just walkons though. So while they aren't on scholarship, we've still got them. While McLaughlin is a big loss, he wasn't even the guarenteed starter so we should give the other guys a try too. We'll prob. end up using more h-back action with possibly Stewart playing some FB, or Trott playing there a bit.

[WarDlowe 39]

Stewart at FB... that's not a bad idea.

[jumbo 0]

That is what I think also............Beasley or Richardson

Stewart at FB... that's not a bad idea.

223603[/snapback]

[ValleyTiger 2,894]

We have two other Fullbacks, they are just walkons though. So while they aren't on scholarship, we've still got them. While McLaughlin is a big loss, he wasn't even the guarenteed starter so we should give the other guys a try too. We'll prob. end up using more h-back action with possibly Stewart playing some FB, or Trott playing there a bit.

Stephen Gowland is no slouch.

[chinook 0]

is the fullback position really that important especially if we use 2 tailbacks?

keep our tightends as run blockers?

[WeagleDMS 0]

Stewart at FB... that's not a bad idea.

223603[/snapback]

I was hoping they would move him anyway. It seems like Stewart is about half a step too slow to play RB.

[Eagle's Claw 0]

Stewart does seem like a great FB in the making. We didn't use our FB at all for running the last few years. Stewart is a step slower than the other RB's. He would make a great addition to the backfield being an "F" Back. Hasen't there been several RB turned to FB? Wasn't Beasley a convert? Personally I don't see much playing time for Stewart at RB anyways with the other slasher's in the stable.

[mattd 3]

Gowland was 3.5 rated TE that turned down offers from 3 other SEC schools to come to AU...

[quietfan 233]

Update--Good News:

http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/mobilereg...ll=3&thispage=2

-- FULLBACK UPDATE: Tuberville said fullback Mike McLaughlin, who tore his ACL in the first spring scrimmage two weeks ago, has a chance of returning this season.

He underwent surgery last week in Birmingham.

"He's rehabbing well," Tuberville said. "Hopefully, he'll have a full recovery."