News of the day, 8/14

Hey everyone. Practice has ended. Look below for the goodness.

Auburn's wideouts spent an hour after practice running routes. Position coach Greg Knox was all over them for dropping passes during 11-on-11s. It was pretty bad. They dropped a quarter of the balls thrown.

The deal was this: The group concentrated on one route at a time. Each player, and there were probably 12 of them, had to run the route and catch the ball five times to "clear" the route. One drop reset the counter for that route.

Five routes took an hour. Several drops from Rob Dunn. At least one apiece from Prechae Rodriguez, Tim Hawthorne and Terrell Zachery. It went on and on.

I stayed and watched the whole thing. It's interesting to me. Here's the most gruesome part of it all -- Chris Slaughter then had to go do up-downs with Kevin Yoxall after the extra hour of work. Oh man.

Here are some of the things Knox was telling the boys:
*"I'm glad we're tired now. We took practice off. Now we can work."
*After the quarterbacks left about 10 minutes into the drill, student assistants and others began throwing passes: "We've got other arms. Get them ready. Let (the quarterbacks) go. I've got a feeling somebody won't finish and we'll be here a while."
*After Knox heard some quiet grumbling: "You're the reason we're here. You don't concentrate in practice and now you're out here. If you want to complain, talk to yourself."

Line coach Hugh Nall had another banner quote day:
*To nobody in particular: "Move your feet. You're all dead."
*To Antwoin Daniels after he was beaten by Quentin Groves on a speed rush: "He's running a 4.3 and you're (rear) hasn't moved. Move!"

Linebackers coach James Willis, trying to teach the position to freshman Brent Slusher, was discouraged when Slusher was mauled by tight end Tommy Trott: "Keep beating his (rear), Tommy Trott. Take him to the trees. Teach him."

WR Montez Billings (hamstring) was running some, but not in drills. Same for FB Carl Stewart. OL Leon Hart again was on the exercise bike. LB Bo Harris still has his left arm in a sling. DT Kyle Coulahan is playing with a broken finger on his left hand. It's heavily bandaged.

Here are the results from today's pass-rush drill.

Brandon Haley (93) vs. Andrew McCain (75) -- 75, 93.
Pat Sims (95) vs. Ty Green (71) -- 71, 95. Sims knocked Green backward the second time.
Josh Thompson (97) vs. Michael Hatter (67) -- 97, 97. Easy.
Jake Ricks (91) vs. Mike Berry (66) -- 91, 66.
Sen'Derrick Marks (94) vs. Antwoin Daniels (70) -- 94, 94. Swim moves like a pro.

AJ Greene (90) vs. McCain (75) -- 75, 90.
Kyle Coulahan (58) vs. Byron Isom (57) -- 58, even.
Zach Clayton (98) vs. Hatter (67) -- 67, 98.
Bryant Miller (51) vs. Berry (66) -- even (Berry penalty), 66.
Mike Goggans (49) vs. Daniels (70) -- 49, 49. He loves the inside move. Good at it, too.

Antoine Carter (45) vs. Oscar Gonzalez (78) -- 45, even.
Ricks (91) vs. Jared Cooper (79) -- 91.
Clayton (98) vs. Cooper (79) -- 79, 98.
Miller (51) vs. Jackson Timmerman (64) -- 64.
Darrell Roseman (41) vs. Chaz Ramsey (76) -- even, 41. Swim move getting better.
Greene (90) vs. Lee Ziemba (73) -- 90, 90. Greene was too fast for him on the edge.


One thing I wanted to point out from last night's practice ... I am impressed by how quickly some of these lower-tier defensive linemen are improving. Mike Goggans has made more strides than anyone. He's a bull rusher, a pretty good one, right now. When he gets some of those moves down, he'll be hell for opponents. I like his motor. I also like Antonio Coleman, though speed looks like his main thing right now. He'll need to improve against the run to emerge as a productive every-day player.

Also, I'm not sure what to think about Antoine Carter. He's quite small, particularly in his upper body. The kid has enough brawn to at least break even right now. That impresses me. He burns offensive linemen pretty regularly. I wonder what'll happen to him this fall.


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MONTGOMERY-TO-AUBURN GAS UPDATE
Raceway @ East Blvd., exit 6: $2.66/gal.
Liberty @ Mitylene, exit 11: $2.66/gal.
BP @ Waugh/Cecil, exit 16: $2.69/gal.
Exxon @ Shorter, exit 22: $2.95/gal. **Things that make you go hmmmmm**
Shell @ Tallassee, exit 26: $2.79/gal.
Amoco @ Wire Rd, exit 42: $2.89/gal.
Spectrum @ Wire & Shug Jordan: $2.55/gal.