Youth

[AUesquire 1]

We all watched the game and the wailing and gnashing of teeth about who, what, when and where it all went wrong has been laid out there for all to see and discuss. But, there are no excuses for yesterday other than a lack of concentration on several player's parts. If Patrick Lee simply catches the pick-6, if Fannin simply holds on to the ball, if Trott and Bennett learn to look a ball in...Auburn more than likely winds up beating that team handily. I'm not going to dwell on it too much. They were in position to make plays all day long and just made mistakes involving basic fundamentals that wound up costing the game.

The thing that struck me last week and especailly yesterday was the incredible number of young guys playing key roles in every aspect of our team. I'm not talking about a freshman being inserted here and there. I'm talking about a team who's overall make-up (As far as players getting time on the field) has to be 65-70% freshmen and sophomores. As the thread topic indicates, this is not a "We're just a young team right now" excuse. See above where I state if they simply catch and hold on to the ball, we're talking about our chances against Florida in two weeks.

Look at the offense alone and it's make-up from the starters through our rotation. Lee Ziemba, Mike Berry are freshmen while Andrew McCain is a sophomore. McKenzie and Trott are also sophomores while the ends include Tim Hawthorne, Chris Slaughter, Montez Billings and a host of other young guys working for playing time. Obviously, Tate and Fannin are 1st and 2nd year guys, not to mention Kodi Burns having 4 years to play.

Defensively, I have never, ever seen so many guys in the rotation across our front line and linebackers. They're not just rotating in for specialty situations. We're putting freshmen and sophs in the game at every point. Marks and Coleman, Blanc, Ricks, Goggans and Clayton were all getting significant time in the trenches. Not sure why Antoine Carter didn't see the field yesterday. Our linebackers are very young with Stevens and Bo Harris and Tray (If he ever gets back). Zac Etheridge, Aairon Savage, Jerraud Powers, Walter McFadden and Michael McNeil are all Freshmen and Sophomores.

Our punters and field goal kicker, both of which have performed admirably this year, are freshmen as well. I hate to say say wait til' next year and again, none of this is to even hint at making excuses. But, reality is that we do have 2 losses and this season is shaping up to be far less than any of us imagined. And next week and the week after that and the week after that are all going to come and we have to play the games. My hope is that we keep it together as a team, a staff and an Auburn family. Because if they spend the rest of this year improving with the unbelievable amount of young guys playing key roles for this team, look out. Just look at this team and ask yourself what all these guys mentioned above will look like as juniors and seniors. AUSOME!!!

[rebdawg 5]

Amen.

[AuburnChopper1 0]

We all watched the game and the wailing and gnashing of teeth about who, what, when and where it all went wrong has been laid out there for all to see and discuss. But, there are no excuses for yesterday other than a lack of concentration on several player's parts. If Patrick Lee simply catches the pick-6, if Fannin simply holds on to the ball, if Trott and Bennett learn to look a ball in...Auburn more than likely winds up beating that team handily. I'm not going to dwell on it too much. They were in position to make plays all day long and just made mistakes involving basic fundamentals that wound up costing the game.

The thing that struck me last week and especailly yesterday was the incredible number of young guys playing key roles in every aspect of our team. I'm not talking about a freshman being inserted here and there. I'm talking about a team who's overall make-up (As far as players getting time on the field) has to be 65-70% freshmen and sophomores. As the thread topic indicates, this is not a "We're just a young team right now" excuse. See above where I state if they simply catch and hold on to the ball, we're talking about our chances against Florida in two weeks.

Look at the offense alone and it's make-up from the starters through our rotation. Lee Ziemba, Mike Berry are freshmen while Andrew McCain is a sophomore. McKenzie and Trott are also sophomores while the ends include Tim Hawthorne, Chris Slaughter, Montez Billings and a host of other young guys working for playing time. Obviously, Tate and Fannin are 1st and 2nd year guys, not to mention Kodi Burns having 4 years to play.

Defensively, I have never, ever seen so many guys in the rotation across our front line and linebackers. They're not just rotating in for specialty situations. We're putting freshmen and sophs in the game at every point. Marks and Coleman, Blanc, Ricks, Goggans and Clayton were all getting significant time in the trenches. Not sure why Antoine Carter didn't see the field yesterday. Our linebackers are very young with Stevens and Bo Harris and Tray (If he ever gets back). Zac Etheridge, Aairon Savage, Jerraud Powers, Walter McFadden and Michael McNeil are all Freshmen and Sophomores.

Our punters and field goal kicker, both of which have performed admirably this year, are freshmen as well. I hate to say say wait til' next year and again, none of this is to even hint at making excuses. But, reality is that we do have 2 losses and this season is shaping up to be far less than any of us imagined. And next week and the week after that and the week after that are all going to come and we have to play the games. My hope is that we keep it together as a team, a staff and an Auburn family. Because if they spend the rest of this year improving with the unbelievable amount of young guys playing key roles for this team, look out. Just look at this team and ask yourself what all these guys mentioned above will look like as juniors and seniors. AUSOME!!!

No wonder you and I get along so much. You just saved me a whole lot of typing!

Outstanding Post!

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Thanks, Steve - you have restored some of my faith in the AU Nation. Thought I was the only one who felt like this.

[TigerOne 1,159]

agreed, youth should not be an excuse, even though Auburn coaches are using it as one.

Teams all across the country are playing freshmen, sophs with great success. It can also keep the seniors/juniors on their toes.

[WarTiger 3,928]

steve, may I add something? You realize that with all these freshmen and sophomores getting all this playing time that our defense is still performing incredibly. It's not their fault they get put in situations with short fields as a result of turnovers. Look back at the KSU game and all the opportunities they had to score off of them and couldn't. We are playing GREAT defense and that defense will be scary good the next 2-3 years. If we can start completing the process and catch those ints., we'll be scary good as the season goes on. Eliminate the turnovers on offense and we should be just fine.

[302089 0]

I agree with us playing so many young guys. They may need to be reminded that their school is being paid for because they are supposed to actually catch the passes thrown to them. I watched part of the usc-neb game. Not a single dropped pass while I was watching usc.