An article on Running Back U

[WeagleDMS 0]

This is very good.

Running Back U

[weaglewagon 1]

very good indeed. thanks.

[mamaslove 0]

Great article. One thing is for sure, Kenny & David Irons have a career in comedy if the NFL does not work out...they are two of the most entertaining players I have seen in a while - hilarious! I love it that they are so good, and can be the "cut ups" of the team....probably keeps a lot of the younger guys loose on the field.

WDE

[Eagle Eye 7]

Nice Article.. Explains why Kenny was not running at A-Day.. I told my friends before the game that he would rush for 500+ yards.. He never played.. Now I see why..

[jumbo 0]

I think having 2 backs go in the first round helps to secure the best backs in the country case in point Ben Tate

[WarTiger 3,910]

awesome read. Future sure looks bright on the plains.

[SKCAUB 0]

This is very good.

Running Back U

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AUsome!!!

[War Eagle 96 10]

Could someone cut and paste? Can't see the link.

Thanks

[WarTiger 3,910]

Could someone cut and paste?  Can't see the link.

Thanks

226110[/snapback]

here you go......

AUBURN, Ala. – Eddie Gran should blush.

With just one glance at the running backs on Auburn's depth chart, Gran should turn bright red, fidget and maybe even stutter a bit.

What an embarrassment of riches.

Kenny Irons. Brad Lester. Tre Smith. Carl Stewart. Ben Tate.

History shows Auburn is to running backs what Penn State is to linebackers, and if this spring is any indication that's not going to change.

Auburn already knows what Kenny Irons can do.

Irons, the reigning Southeastern Conference rushing champion, honed his blocking skills all spring but sat out Saturday's spring football game. Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville already knows Irons can run. He would rather see how Lester, Stewart, Smith and Tate look.

So far this spring, he says they've all looked good.

Lester, who has struggled with injuries throughout his career, entered the spring game healthy and rushed 10 times for 62 yards behind the second-team offensive line.

Stewart is healthy, too. Smith has run well all spring, and Tate, a true freshman who enrolled early, has thoroughly impressed his elders. Some observers are already whispering he could be Auburn's next great running back.

They know one here when they see one.

The lineage of Auburn running backs reads like a guest list for an NFL reunion – William Andrews, Bo Jackson, Brent Fullwood, Lionel James, James Bostic, James Brooks, Joe Cribbs, Stephen Davis, Rudi Johnson, Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown.

Maybe the regents should just rename the place RBU and get it over with.

"I think you could make a case for us being Running Backs U. No question," Gran said. "It goes back to our staff when we were at Mississippi. We had Dou Innocent, Joe Gunn and Deuce McAllister. When you have that much success in the SEC it goes back to the philosophy of your head football coach."

Tuberville said his "run first" philosophy was born from necessity when he became head coach at Mississippi in 1994. It just continued when he moved to Auburn in 1999.

"We only had 55 scholarship players (at Ole Miss) and we felt to win that No. 1 we had to run the ball and No. 2 we had to keep the defense off the field," Tuberville said. "We just got after it."

Incredibly, there wasn't a talented running back out on the Plains of eastern Alabama in 1999, and Tuberville tried everything, including converting wide receivers, to find one.

Tuberville found one the next season by signing Johnson out of junior college. He promptly rushed for 1,567 yards. Williams and Brown then followed for four productive seasons, and in 2005 both were first-round NFL draft choices.

So what happens when you lose two first-round picks the same year? You plug in the shifty, swifty Irons who gained 1,293 yards last season.

How do the Tigers do it?

"We're all sold on what we're doing on our running plays," Tuberville said. "We're not fancy. We have five or six base plays that are our bread and butter, and we have guys come in their first year blocking that scheme and when they leave four years later they're still blocking that scheme."

Some observers feel that freshman Ben Tate could be the next great Auburn back.

Tuberville has also had the same offensive line coach, Hugh Nall, teaching those blocking schemes for 12 seasons.

When running backs continued to thrive in that scheme other running backs noticed and wanted to do the same.

That's where the embarrassment of riches comes in, but Auburn has dealt with that by spreading the wealth – in this case, carries.

Williams and Brown coexisted in the same backfield, so highly regarded recruits aren't necessarily exiled to the sideline a year or two before they can play.

"You've got to have more than one back," Tuberville said. "We had a luxury when we had Ronnie and Carnell back there. I was surprised they both came back (in 2004). They were very unselfish, and a lot of younger guys have learned from them. You can't have one guy carry 20 to 25 times a game in this league. If you do, you'll run out of gas."

Perhaps surprisingly, Irons agrees and sounds as if he's actually looking forward to a reduced number of carries next season.

"I love to share the load," Irons said. "Last year Brad Lester and (junior) Carl Stewart got hurt, so I had to step up.

"I could be even better next year. I can run 100 percent at the start of the game, come out and rest, and then run harder at the end of the game. They'll see that Irons kid keep going, then Brad Lester then Carl Stewart then Ben Tate – if he doesn't redshirt – and they'll say, 'How do we stop those guys?' "

Defensive coordinators may also wonder how Auburn keeps finding those guys.

Irons has a theory, with tongue firmly in cheek.

"Someone on the staff sees running back talent well," he said. "I think they must look for kids when they're 6 or 7 years old. They have spies watch them and say, 'When he gets older he'll be a great back.'

"When I was playing pee wee football I'd say, 'Daddy, who is the man watching me play? He'd say, 'Oh, that's an Auburn coach.' "