News of the day, 8/15

Hey everyone. Good day. The final two-a-day practice day is in the books. The team is taking Thursday off (first day of class) and will resume work with a closed scrimmage Friday night.

Of note: The media no longer will be permitted to watch practice. That means my pass-rush notations will end after today's installment. I also won't be hearing what the coaches say. I'll continue to provide daily updates, of course, so keep checking out the hottest Auburn blog in America.

Evening practice lasted around two hours. It was the final workout held at the intramural fields, which included a pair of full-speed team drills. Afterward, the team was treated to watermelon in what has become an Auburn tradition. Tommy Tuberville loves watermelon. He ate several pieces and had a grand ol' time telling all the players from points north of, say, Birmingham that they didn't know a thing about watermelon.

QB Neil Caudle attended the night practice in a sling. He separated his shoulder during the scrimmage last weekend and is out indefinitely. Caudle wasn't socializing with his teammates or anything.

Here are some things I heard at the night practice:

*Assistant coach James Willis to LB Courtney Harden after he pitched TE Gabe McKenzie aside during a drill: "You may have just saved the game right there, 56. Good job."

*Assistant coach Terry Price to DE Mike Goggans, who ducked inside (erroneously) during a sweep play: "You have one job and that's to stay outside. Get off the field! Get out of here!"

Here are results from tonight's pass-rush drills:
Brandon Haley (93) vs. Andrew McCain (75) -- 93, 75.
Mike Blanc (93) vs. Byron Isom (57) -- 93.
Jake Ricks (91) vs. Isom (57) -- 91.
Josh Thompson (97) vs. Michael Hatter (67) -- 97.
Pat Sims (95) vs. Mike Berry (66) -- 66.
Sen'Derrick Marks (94) vs. Lee Ziemba (73) -- 73, 73. Marks tried to get inside the first time and Ziemba wasn't having it. The freshman is catching on quickly. Ziemba knocked Marks' facemask off the second time. That's probably a penalty.

AJ Greene (90) vs. McCain (75) --75, 75.
Ricks (91) vs. Isom (57) -- 91.
Kyle Coulahan (58) vs. Isom (57) -- 58 because Isom so blatantly held him.
Zach Clayton (98) vs. Hatter (67) -- 67, 67. Nice work.
Bryant Miller (51) vs. Berry (66) -- 66, 51.
Mike Goggans (49) vs. Ziemba (73) -- 49 (inside), 49 (inside w/ big hit), 73. Ziemba refused to be beaten inside on three consecutive snaps.

Auburn's morning practice went 75 minutes. They worked on kickoffs/coverage, punts/coverage and stuff like that. It's clear that the regular position players are getting tired. This practice afforded them some breathing room before tonight's work. It'll be tough tonight.

Talked with ends coach Terry Price earlier about who will make his playing rotation. He wanted five guys, but seems OK with playing four. That's what he did last year. His top four right now are Quentin Groves, Sen'Derrick Marks, Mike Goggans and Antonio Coleman. Sounds like candidates for the fifth guy are freshman AJ Greene and Antoine Carter. I think Carter is more advanced right now. Will that translate into a job with the varsity? That question won't be answered for a while.

WR coach Greg Knox said he hasn't talked with WR Alex Rose lately. I reported two days ago that Rose had left the team temporarily. It's looking more like "indefinitely" now.

WR Chris Slaughter said his extra conditioning work with coach Kevin Yoxall last night was due to a communication error. During team sprints at the end of official practice, Knox told Slaughter to "finish" the sprints by running the full distance. Slaughter laughed. That got under Knox's skin, thus the late-night conditioning work.

As a reset, Slaughter practiced, ran sprints, spent an extra hour catching balls with the wideouts after practice, then worked solo with Yoxall for another 20 minutes. I'd say he'll be in game shape soon.

Knox said he has top five wideouts identified. He wouldn't name names. I'm sure that Rod Smith, Rob Dunn and Tim Hawthorne are in there. The second group, based on how they're used in skeleton drills, is James Swinton, Prechae Rodriguez, Montez Billings and Chris Slaughter. Which of those guys will make the rotation? Hard to say. Billings has missed a lot of time with his hamstring issue. Swinton has been a practice tease in past seasons. He struggles to carry his practice performance to the field. Slaughter has been here for 10 days total. Prechae hasn't been outstanding in camp by any means.

It's a tough call. Offensive coordinator Al Borges said it's a matter of finding the six best. He said they'll figure out positions after that.

It's also worth noting that Brad Lester still isn't getting the amount of work I'd expect from a No. 1 tailback. He's not hurt. He's said that over and over. Not sure what's going on.