Last Scrimmage of Spring...WOW!!

[TigerEyes1914 1]

I got the impression from the news articles about this scrimmage that it would be closed to the public. Had I not had class tonight, I'm sure I would not have tried to go. But as fate would have it, I got of class early and took a chance on getting in and it WAS open to the public. There were quite a few HS players there (I saw Bullock County HS) and a nice crowd of regular fans as well. These are my 'unprofessional' impressions. It will be interesting to see how the sports writers saw this practice.

Todd and Burns ran with the 1st team obviously. I wont go as far as saying that Burns should definately be the starter based on the this scrimmage and A-Day, but he looked like he is putting distance between himself and Todd. His passes really looked good and he had at least two TD passes. He had good touch and showed the arm strength. His running was great as well. He is such a dynamic player with the ball that defenses will really have to be on their game to stop him. Todd had a QB run and he got some yardage because it was open but he is not as fast as I thought. He was ok throwing but Burns looked so much better to me overall that I started to wonder if this whole 2 QB controversy was a hoax to throw rival teams off.

The highlight of the night for me was the rebirth of the running game! Todd led two TD drives but they were both running plays. Tristan Davis had like a 60+ yard TD run!!!! It was simply beautiful! He took a hand off out of the shotgun, went up the middle, avoided a tackle then outran the DBs to the sideline and that was all she wrote! I had forgotten just how fast he was since it seems like it's been 2 years since he has really played. Tate also had about a 7 yard TD run where he outran the defense to the endzone. Lester had at least one big run and the walk-on Jemison (#24) was pretty good as well. On a few of his nice runs, I had some flashbacks of Caddy. He is no where near that good but it was nice to see #24 hitting the holes again.

Caudle was well Caudle. The defense dropped an INT that they should have took from him but later they made up for it. Still I bet his stats will look ok when they tally them. Furr came in and played without the orange no contact shirt again. He played some WR (hmmm) but mostly QB. He ran mostly but he threw a very nice long TD pass to a wide open WR (Zachery I think).

Our Defense is going to be nasty! Bynes is a monster. He was all over the field. The blitz packages looked good and I cant wait until they can rush a QB for real (besides Furr). Overall the offense looked explosive and unpredictable. The defense looked agressive and hard nosed. This team should be very very fun to watch.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

Nice. Any recaps on any sites yet? I haven't been able to find anything.

How many more months do we have to wait again?

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Burns looks sharp as Auburn wraps up spring drills

by Charles Goldberg, Birmingham News

Wednesday April 02, 2008, 9:24 PM

Auburn wrapped up spring practice with a spirited scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Wednesday night. One of the clear winners was quarterback Kodi Burns.

Burns looked to be at his best with sharp passes. He won praise from coach Tommy Tuberville and offensive coordinator Tony Franklin when the night was done.

``He's very much improved,'' Tuberville said.

Franklin said Burns' best two practices were his last two, and that he was back throwing like he did in high school, which means he's throwing better than last year. That keeps the quarterback race open to the fall.

Another winner looked to be oft-injured tailback Tristan Davis. He ripped off a 69-yard touchdown run.

Some other quick observations (with more to come):

**Burns threw a pair of touchdown passes early, a 12-yarder to James Swinton and a 35-yarder to Quindarious Carr. He later threw a nice score to Terrell Zachery and one to Chris Slaughter.

**Chris Todd also threw some TD passes. One long one to Rod Smith didn't go for a score, but Smith broke a tackle on the play early and raced 63 yards. Neil Caudle threw a 52-yard score to Zachery.

**Wes Byrum kicked a 57-yard field goal.

**What's this? Offensive lineman Mike Berry lined up in the backfield on a goal-line situation, but, no, he didn't get the ball.

**Tuberville said he thought ``the first-team defense won most of the time. I was impressed with everybody on the defense.''

**Tuberville said defensive end Michael Goggans had shown the most improvement this spring.

**Auburn ran more than 100 plays.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

http://blog.al.com/goldmine/2008/04/burns_..._auburn_wr.html

There's the link. I think I giggled like a little girl on her birthday several times reading that. I'm so excited to see what this offense can do.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

I cant believe that I forgot about that 57 yard field goal! He was so close to mid field that I thought it was a punt at first!

[TigerEyes1914 1]

I was extremely impressed! It has totally calmed my fears about the lack of a strong running game from the RBs as well as Kodi throwing. I hate to play the homer card but I dont see how we wont average 35+ points per game. These WRs are really good in space and they ran hard and broke tackles tonight to gain those extra yards. There are just too many WRs that should be really good this year.

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

lil bit more -

http://blog.al.com/trackingtigers/2008/04/...e_snapshot.html

Scrimmage snapshot

Posted by Phillip Marshall, The Huntsville Times April 02, 2008 9:39 PM

Categories: Football

Auburn's spring practice is over. It ended Wednesday night with what I thought was a pretty impressive scrimmage all the way around.

I have to write my story for the newspaper, but here's a snapshot from the scrimmage.

Quarterback Kodi Burns was nothing short of terrific, completing his first 10 passes and finishing 12-for-15 for 213 yards and two touchdowns. He did not throw an interception. He also had some nice runs that would have been longer if defenders had actually had to tackle him.

Chris Todd wasn't bad either, going 11-18 for 144 yards.

Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin praised both quarterbacks, but he said he was particularly delighted with how Burns threw the ball in the last two scrimmages. He said the race to be the starter would go into preseason practice.

Tristan Davis flashed his old speed, breaking a tackle and running 69 yards for a touchdown. He was limping on the sideline later, but head coach Tommy Tuberville said he was just sore.

Tray Blackmon had nine tackles to lead the defense.

I'll be back in an hour or so with lots more, including reaction from coaches and playears.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Tray almost decapitated one of the walk-on RBs! Funny thing is I think he actually eased up and didnt really try to run through him.

[The Prowler 1]

Remember two years ago when one of the writers asked Coach Gran about Tristian Davis and how he would describe him to the people that are reading the column and haven't had the chance to make it to the practices to see TD run? Coach Gran said, "I have one name that will describe how TD runs....Bo Jackson." When I saw that I was like....Holy Sh*t, Start Him....Start HIM. Hopefully he'll get some PT at Tailback or in the Slot. I'm thinking he will.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Man he's got to get some PT at tailback and slot. He out ran this pretty fast defense (angles and all) on a bad wheel!!! If he is healthy come Fall...whoa!

[Ryan Sanders 123]

Man. I am so looking forward to fall. I would much rather skip the hot muggy summer and get straight to September.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

http://blog.al.com/goldmine/2008/04/spring...urn_quarte.html

STAT LEADERS

Rushing

Tristan Davis 2-75 yards

Anthony Jemison 10-59 yards

Kodi Burns 7-39 yards

Ben Tate 6-22 yards

Brad Lester 8-19 yards

Passing

Kodi Burns 12-15-0 213 yards, 2 TDs

Chris Todd 11-18-0, 144 yards

Neil Caudle 8-13-1, 117 yards

DeRon Furr 2-3, 59 yards, 1 TD

Receiving

Chris Slaughter 6-87 yards

James Swinton 4-35 yards

Terrell Zachery 3-91 yards

Rod Smith 3-91 yards

Tackles

Tray Blackmon 9

Mike Slade 6

Josh Bynes 5

Merrill Johnson 5

Mike McNeil 5

[GoAU 1,696]

Man. I am so looking forward to fall. I would much rather skip the hot muggy summer and get straight to September.

My thoughts exactly!

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

The blitz packages looked good and I cant wait until they can rush a QB for real (besides Furr).

Don't you know that gives you the warm fuzzies all over when you show up your first day of practice as a QB and the equipment manager is giving all the other QB's their orange jersey's and they come to you and coach says, "Just give him one of the blue jerseys." I bet Furr was thinking, "Gee coach, why don't we just go ahead and paint a bullseye on the chest, and instead of Auburn on the front we can just write 'Dead Meat'." Especially when you are the 4th string QB and practicing with the 3rd and 4th string O-line.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Especially after he crushed a defender during the A-day game on that crack back block while he had the no-contact jersey on! I'm sure the defense was thinking "payback is a biotch!"

[rtftiger 40]

The blitz packages looked good and I cant wait until they can rush a QB for real (besides Furr).

Don't you know that gives you the warm fuzzies all over when you show up your first day of practice as a QB and the equipment manager is giving all the other QB's their orange jersey's and they come to you and coach says, "Just give him one of the blue jerseys." I bet Furr was thinking, "Gee coach, why don't we just go ahead and paint a bullseye on the chest, and instead of Auburn on the front we can just write 'Dead Meat'." Especially when you are the 4th string QB and practicing with the 3rd and 4th string O-line.

I think that it was probably an advantage for Furr who (like KB18) adds a dimension when the defense has to actually tackle him.

I also liked his comment when asked about whether he would rather be redshirted as a qb or possibly play as a wr. "Right now, I'm going to try to go through the rest of the summer. I'll be able to answer your question after that." Pretty mature answer for a youngster. Let's see how this develops.

Lots of positives.

[OldNewby 27]

Phillip Marshall's more detailed article:

Tuberville challenges Auburn players as spring practice ends with scrimmage under lights

Posted by Phillip Marshall, The Huntsville Times April 02, 2008 11:24 PM

Categories: Football

When Wednesday night's scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium was over, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville challenged his players to live up to what he sees as championship potential.

"This group has a great opportunity," Tuberville said. "It depends on the next few months, how hard they want to work to get to Atlanta and win in Atlanta. A lot of teams out there have a lot of talent. This could be a good group if they come together and continue to get better and come back and have a positive two-a-days."

Auburn's offense scored seven touchdowns and got two Wesley Byrum field goals, including a 53-yarder, but the No. 1 defense more than held its own.

Here's how head coach Tommy Tuberville saw it:

On quarterbacks Kodi Burns and Chris Todd

"I was really proud of Kodi Burns. He is very much improved. I like the way he ran the offense. That's what you look for in a spring game like this in terms of a scrimmage at the end, to see what kind of control the quarterbacks have, especially in a new offense. Chris did, too. Both of them looked very comfortable. I thought Kodi got the ball down the field a lot better. He was moving in the pocket well, looking a lot more comfortable. Chris' arm still isn't as strong as it will be. He has a chance now to get it rested and healthy. He knows what he's doing. I'm anxious to see him get 100 percent healthy."

On the defense

"I thought the first-team defense basically won most of the time. We moved them around and played a little more aggressive. Offensively, we ran the ball a little bit. It slowed the defense down some. Defensively, we run well and we have a lot of speed. Tray Blackmon looks like the Tray Blackmon we recruited out of high school, running hard, running through people and very physical. It's the first time he's been healthy this amount of practices.

"Sen'Derrick Marks is a special player. He really looked good. He's a leader, too. The guy that has made more improvement than most on defense is probably Michael Goggans. He's really stepping up. I thought it went well on both sides."

On the offense

"One guy we need to play well for us is James Swinton. James is getting much better catching the ball, getting a lot more comfortable. Rod Smith showed up a couple of times tonight. The thing about this offense is you have to make runs after the catch. We started the last couple of scrimmages making a few more of those. The offensive line protected better than the first scrimmage or two."

Rhoads says defense played 'really hard'

First-year defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said he was delighted with the effort in the scrimmage. He wasn't always delighted with the results.

"We really played hard, but we didn't tackle as well as we have the last couple of times we've scrimmaged and we did some things that weren't smart," Rhoads said. "I think they were so conscious of playing hard and working not to get fatigued and play every snap, they did some things that to me are uncharacteristic of our football team from an intelligence standpoint."

Furr shows versatility

Freshman DeRon Furr lined up at both quarterback and wide receiver Wednesday night. He did not wear an orange no-contact jersey like the other quarterbacks.

"(Offensive coordinator Tony Franklin) told me just to go out there and make some plays," Furr said. "That's what I tried to do."

At quarterback, Furr completed 2-of-3 passes for 59 yards. He threw a 42-yard touchdown pas to Charles Olatunji.

Furr said he wasn't sure what he would do if faced with the choice of redshirting at quarterback or trying his hand at wide receiver for at least one season to get early playing time.

"Right now, I'm going to try to go through the rest of the summer. I'll be able to answer your question after that."

Goggans happy on defense

Sophomore Michael Goggans arrived at Auburn from Benjamin Russell High School planning to play tight end. But he moved to defense last season, and he's gald he did. His coaches view him as a rising star.

"I love playing defense," Goggans said. I love playing for Coach Rhoads and Coach (Terry) Price. I still take short steps like a tight end sometimes, but I'm getting better at that and just coming up and playing physical."

Goggans said playing behind Sen'Derrick Marks last season was a learning experience.

"He taught me a lot," Goggans said. "I just followed some of his footsteps. I'm just going out there and being physical."

Tristan goes the distance

Tristan Davis got just two carries Wednesday, but those were enough to show a flash of game-breaking ability. Davis took a handoff and broke a couple of tackles. Once he was in the open field, it was over. He showed teh speed that made him the nation's leading kickoff returner in 2006.

Last August, Davis suffered a broken toe. He broke a bone in his foot against Florida. The toe was stepped on again early in sprig practice.

"It was good he got hit several times, had to run on it, had to cut on it, knowing he could play with it," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. Hopefully, next year will be his year. It's his turn to have a little luck go his way.

link: http://blog.al.com/trackingtigers/2008/04/...sit_4.html#more

WAR EAGLE

[AUTiger1 0]

Man. I am so looking forward to fall. I would much rather skip the hot muggy summer and get straight to September.

My thoughts exactly!

I was trying to convince myself the other day that it is not that much longer until the season starts, but it didn't work. I can't wait!

[Ravad 78]

**What's this? Offensive lineman Mike Berry lined up in the backfield on a goal-line situation, but, no, he didn't get the ball.

It makes me smile to see things like this.

[TigerEyes1914 1]

Ravad they ran a redzone play in warm-ups where Lester was in the slot, Todd was in at QB with an empty backfield, then they switched positions and it was a direct snap to Lester... This offense is almost limitless!

[Points 2]

Where is Fannin

[Ravad 78]

Ravad they ran a redzone play in warm-ups where Lester was in the slot, Todd was in at QB with an empty backfield, then they switched positions and it was a direct snap to Lester... This offense is almost limitless!

Hurry Fall...hurry!

[MDM4AU 338]

Where is Fannin

Shoulder surgery...

[rolltoomer 0]

Somebody call the Nip!!

[Hoopie 6]

Can't wait till fall.