Auburn's Knox has plenty of work to do

[AWK 0]

There has been a lot of discussion about Auburn's wide receivers this offseason. After all, with Courtney Taylor leaving for the NFL, the Tigers lost the only wideout on the roster who was truly productive in 2006. That said, Rod Smith has looked good in spring ball, and the Tigers do have some returning talent and newcomers who could really do something significant if they step up.

And the person who leads all of these guys is Auburn's wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, Greg Knox.

From 1982-86, Knox played quarterback for Northeastern State. Soon after that he jumped into the coaching ranks as a special teams, running backs and quarterbacks coach for his former school from 1988-89. From there, he moved on to Texas Christian (secondary, special teams from 1990-91) and then Stephen F. Austin (receivers, special teams from 1992-94).

That's when Knox came to the SEC. Specifically, from 1995-98 he took up with Mississippi as its receivers coach (he was also the school's recruiting coordinator from '96-98). By the way, it's certainly no coincidence that he worked under current Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville while with the Rebels.

And then, of course, he followed Tuberville to Auburn, with which he has served as receivers coach and recruiting coordinator ever since.

Knox has received some criticism for a perception that Auburn's WRs have somewhat underachieved as of recently. That said, he has coached some pretty productive receivers during his tenure with the Tigers -- including Devin Aromashodu, Ben Obomanu, Tim Carter and Courtney Taylor. Further, he is a solid recruiting coordinator.

Regardless, Knox clearly has his work cut out for him in 2008. Will he able to bring around Tim Hawthorne, Chris Slaughter (someone he recruited into the program), or one or more of the other talented but unproven receivers on the roster?

That's the question, and Greg Knox has to be part of the answer.

Ohhhh, he said it!

Billings looked great during spring ball. However, drills and gamedays are two totally different arenas.