Inside Slant on Auburn Football

[auburn4ever 1,266]

I saw this the recruiting eagle.com and I thought it made for good reading.

In some ways, leaving Jordan-Hare Stadium at the end of the A-Day game on April 18, marking the end of spring practice, was a lot like leaving Jordan-Hare Stadium on any Saturday afternoon last fall: you had a lot of Auburn fans milling around with very little idea of what they'd seen.

The difference is that last fall, Auburn fans left wondering what had happened to a team that had been one of the best in the SEC over the past five years, and how a team that had been so good could suddenly play so bad.

This time Auburn fans could walk away not talking about the end of the Tommy Tuberville era, but the beginning of one under new head coach Gene Chizik. They could talk about the potential of an offense that never huddled, that ran everything out of the shotgun formation, that demonstrated the ability to score with long drives as well as score quickly on big plays. As for the defense -- well, when has defense ever been a problem at Auburn?

"I want the fans to walk away excited about where this thing is going," says Auburn senior offensive tackle Andrew McCain. "It's hard to tell what kind of year we're headed for. We just want to go as far as we can go and get Auburn where Auburn fans remember it being and where it should be."

Clearly, Auburn is rebuilding. And offense, in particular, is a huge question mark whereas there do not appear to be any definitive answers about quarterback, running back, wide receiver or offensive line.

New offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn admitted the group is a long way from really being able to vary tempo and pace the way this offense is designed to do when it's hitting on all cylinders, the way Malzahn had it running at Tulsa the past two years.

"Tulsa ran it so well," says junior quarterback candidate Neil Caudle. "But we're on track. We will get to that place. We're going to be able to run it perfectly by the first game."

Auburn fans can only hope so. It's been a long time since the Tigers came into an SEC season being overlooked. But then, that's usually been a position in which Auburn thrives.

NOTES, QUOTES

** P Clinton Durst appeared to have left the football team in January, upset that he wasn't going to receive the full scholarship that believed the former staff had promised him if he earned it. Durst earned it, beating out returning All-SEC punter Ryan Shoemaker and picking up All-SEC honors. But the new staff said it didn't have a scholarship to give, and Durst said he'd go elsewhere. However, Durst stayed and competed again for the punter position, even without a scholarship offer. He'll be hard to turn down now -- not only because of his talent, but the way he "took one for the team" and came back to do what the coaches asked.

** Chizik brought only one position coach (Jay Boulware) from his old staff at Iowa State, but coaches insist the transition is going smoothly. Much of the unhappiness among Auburn fans over the hiring of Chizik because of his 5-19 record as a head coach was tempered by the hiring of Malzahn, whose offenses at Tulsa led the nation the past two years, and defensive coordinator Ted Roof, who was unsuccessful as a head coach at Duke but was highly thought of as a coordinator at Minnesota and who has done similar jobs at Georgia Tech.

** Chizik made it clear he doesn't like to talk about injuries, and wouldn't go into any great detail about the status of players such as tight end Tommy Trott, defensive back Aairon Savage or offensive tackle Lee Ziemba, all of whom had knee surgery at some point last fall. However, Ziemba appears to have regained his old form at offensive tackle by the end of spring.

SPRING MOVERS

** DE Michael Goggans: Proved he should be able to replace Sen'Derrick Marks. He will force opposing offense to think twice about running away from Antonio Coleman at the other end.

** WR Darvin Adams had four catches for 103 yards and one touchdown in the spring game. For a team desperate to find help at wide receiver, Adams made a statement that he has to be given a look.

** QB Neil Caudle was nearly forgotten by the former staff. But one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks out of Birmingham's Spain Park High School, Caudle returned to form and seemed to thrive in the new system, completing 11-of-18 passes in the spring game and hitting deep balls that his competition, Kodi Burns, has had trouble connecting on.

** LB Craig Stevens was the defensive player who stood out most to Roof. He has a chance to step in along side established playmakers such as LB Josh Bynes, DBs Mike McNeil, Neiko Thorpe, Walt McFadden and Coleman.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We have a better idea of our strengths and weaknesses. Now we know the areas that we need to improve on, so we can, as a staff, go in with a little bit more specific plan than what we had this spring." -- Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

2009 OUTLOOK: Auburn's attempt to move to a spread offense wound up costing Tuberville his job and provided Chizik, the Tigers' former defensive coordinator, a chance to escape Iowa State for what should be one of the top jobs in the SEC at Auburn.

However, he's got to rebuild a program that went 13-0 in Chizik's last season on The Plains. The talent level is not close to what it was in that undefeated, 2004 season. And Chizik has to contend with cross-state rival Alabama and its head coach, Nick Saban.

SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: How quickly will Auburn be able to implement the full package of Malzahn's hurry-up offense? That probably depends on how quickly Malzahn settles on a quarterback. The coaches said there was not much separation between returning starter Burns and Caudle, but Caudle clearly was the better passer in the spring game. With question marks at wide receiver, the offense may center on returning tailback senior Ben Tate and multi-purpose junior threat Mario Fannin, who can line up at receiver, back or even quarterback. Malzahn's system can be very difficult to prepare for. The question will be how effective this team will be in preparing to run it.

SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: Defense has never been a problem at Auburn. Chizik molded one of the top defensive units in the nation when he was at Auburn as defensive coordinator (and later at Texas), and he's turned the defense over to the well-respected Ted Roof. Linebacker is strong with Bynes. The defensive line will be anchored by Coleman. And the secondary is deep and very talented. That's good, because the "hurry-up" offense may keep the defense on the field a lot, at least early in the season.

SCOUTING THE SPECIAL TEAMS: Junior placekicker Wes Byrum fended off challengers Morgan Hull and Chalder Brooks, while 2008 starting punter Clinton Durst appears to have beaten out 2007 starter Ryan Shoemaker. Hull still could emerge as a kickoff specialist, and any of the battles could reopen at any point before or during the 2009 season. New special teams coordinator Jay Boulware has said his unit will be a priority under Chizik. "We spend as much time as most NFL teams do in practice on special teams," Boulware said.

ROSTER REPORT:

** Spring was not good for the Auburn running backs. Sophomore Eric Smith missed much of the spring because of an injury and Fannin didn't get much work there because of a sore ankle. Expect freshmen Dontae Aycock, Brandon Jacobs and Demond Washington to get a long, hard look, because there will be plenty of opportunity for multiple tailbacks in Malzahn's offense.

** Spring provided no conclusive answer to the wide receiver problem, either. Rod Smith, last year's leader, graduated. Senior Montez Billings, the second-best receiver a year ago, missed spring practice for undisclosed academic reasons. The two most serious new candidates, DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake, don't enroll until summer. Receivers coach Trooper Taylor said sophomore Darvin Adams had a strong spring, and he really pushed junior Tim Hawthorne to step up and become a play-maker.

** Chizik said the academic status of Parade All-America quarterback Tyrik Rollison was looking "really good" but he stopped short of saying the signee was fully qualified. "We'll just see what the (NCAA) Clearinghouse does," he said. Meanwhile, there had been some questions about the academic status of Benton, but he was approved by the Clearinghouse and reported to campus on May 19.

USA Today contributed to this report.

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EAGLE FOOTNOTES: It's interesting to note that Parade All-America WR DeAngelo Benton, who was part of Auburn's 2009 signing class, didn't arrive on the Auburn University campus in a Cadillac Escalade, a new sports car or any other vehicle. Benton took a 19-hour bus ride from Louisiana to Auburn. Do any Alabama signees do that? Just wondering . . .

[BA4AU 0]

Thanks for posting. That rocked!

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Your welcome. I'm always looking for other great reads.

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

Yeah.  Good stuff!