News of the day, 12/15

Hey everyone. I don't have time right now to gussy up the site. I'll just get straight to business.

We'd totally flash the peace sign into an ESPN camera. We're the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Auburn has a new player about to begin practice work. LB DeShaun Barnes arrived on Saturday and is awaiting medical clearance. He could be at practice as soon as Sunday. The latest would be Monday. Coaches like Barnes' ability to defend the pass. He played some safety in high school. There were concerns about Barnes' wiry frame, though he has bulked up since last fall. Barnes signed with Tennessee in February, but didn't pass the FCAT.

I saw DE commitment Raven Gray at the complex today. He's on crutches. The knee injury he suffered in October ended up requiring surgery. Assuming he signs with Auburn as expected, Gray will miss spring drills. He should be ready for summer conditioning workouts.

Here's one to watch closely: Kansas junior-college QB Chris Todd is making an official visit this weekend. This guy was Tony Franklin's ace recruit at Troy and now is making the transition to Auburn. Todd was a candidate for the top job at Texas Tech in 2005 and 06 before losing out to Graham Harrell. Todd spent the 2007 season at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. This guy could be your opening-day quarterback in 2008. Why not? He threw for 10,800 yards and 120 touchdowns in high school.

He's eligible and can enroll as early as January.

QB Kodi Burns today worked to dispel the idea that he's dying to run the ball. ``I've always thought of myself as a pass-first guy," Burns said. ``I think with this coach I'll have the opportunity to be able to pass first and rush second. It's exciting to have a type of guy who just loves to throw the ball and he's a real guru on offense."

OL King Dunlap suffered a minor knee injury during practice today. Coach Tommy Tuberville said Dunlap should return shortly. C Jason Bosley missed practice to attend his brother's wedding. QB Brandon Cox missed Friday's practice but returned to work on Saturday. He was attending a friend's funeral.

News of the day, 12/14

Hey everyone. Auburn held its first official bowl practice this afternoon. Tuberville held a press conference afterward, spending almost 20 minutes discussing new offensive coordinator Tony Franklin and how his arrival will affect the Tigers' offense.

I'll get a summary up in a little while.

Thanks for visiting the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Franklin and the offensive players won't be available until 5:30 or so. They've having a Come To Jesus meeting right now. Those are the people I want to see. Can't wait to hear what guys like Kodi Burns and Rod Smith think about this.

FYI: QB Brandon Cox is out today attending a funeral. He's expected back tomorrow.

Here are the official HABOTN Things You Need to Know about what coach Tommy Tuberville said today:

*Tony Franklin, as expected, didn't start implementing stuff today. After "practice," many offensive players stuck around for a walk-through that ended around dusk. It was as laid-back as a practice can be. Franklin was just showing how the pace of practice soon will pick up and how the basic sets look.

*Tuberville said Franklin won't be the main play-caller at the bowl game. "The running game would probably be Hugh. He's been in charge of the running game the last several years. I'm not saying that 100 percent but in the game situations up to this point, he was the guy scripting runs, putting our run gameplan together, and that would probably be the logical choice."

*Franklin's system won't represent a total overhaul. "We're not abandoning everything that we're doing. We're trying to add something that will give us an opportunity on the game field and in recruiting to be able to take another step up. We've got good football players on the team but everybody that's watched us in the last couple of years we've had a tough time of making big plays. Whether that's got to do with personnel or the plays we've been running is yet to be seen."

*Auburn may have The Quarterback already on scholarship. "They ran the spread offense in high school. Neil Caudle ran this. Blake Field ran it. Kodi Burns ran it. The thing you get into in this offense is most of the players that we recruited or anybody recruits is going to be in some form of this offense now. That's one of things that's the beauty of this. You can go out and evaluate players better for fitting this offense than you can the West Coast offense. There's not many high schools out there that run what we've been running. There's not much changeover for the players other than some might have been here and gone through our system for a year or two. Now they're going to have to learn something a little bit different for spring practice."

*Tuberville doesn't like answering questions about new Arkansas coach Bob Petrino. "He's at Arkansas," was all Tuberville offered.

News of the day, 12/12

Hey everyone. Let's get to business.

We have assured Arthur Blank that we'll continue to cover college athletics on this blog. You can trust us. This is the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Tony Franklin of Troy will be Auburn's next offensive coordinator. He got final clearance around 3:45 p.m. and began clearing out his office at Troy around 4 o'clock. I anticipate Auburn formally introducing Franklin via teleconference during the early-evening hours. I'll be there. I'll provide you all a detailed synopsis.

UPDATE: (5:24 p.m.) The teleconference is scheduled for 6 o'clock.

I'll be very interested to see how Franklin's presence will affect the Tigers' recruiting effort. I can't say, with 100% certainty, that Kodi Burns is going to be the perfect fit for what Franklin intends to do here. Burns is NOT a "running quarterback." He is a pocket quarterback who has some legit speed and elusiveness. His skill set (as best I can tell so far) is not similar to Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook or West Virginia's Pat White. I wonder if Auburn will begin targeting a quarterback who more closely mimics Haugabook.

I talked with a couple of Auburn fans this morning at the gym who were concerned that Franklin's offense won't emphasize the running game sufficiently. I don't think that will be an issue. Franklin savors balance. Not "Al Borges balance." I'm talking about real balance where Auburn will call 40 running plays and 30 passes. Haugabook lead his team in rushing attempts this season only because the Trojans' tailback, Kenny Cattouse, dealt with nagging injuries.

Here is the tale of the tape:
**There are 119 FBS teams this season**

TOTAL OFFENSE
Auburn -- 101st (327.8 ypg)
Troy -- 17th (452.8 ypg)

SCORING
Auburn -- 82nd (24.3 ppg)
Troy -- 25th (34.0 ppg)

RUSHING YARDS
Auburn -- 56th (154.2 ypg)
Troy -- 35th (182.6 ypg)

PASSING YARDS
Auburn -- 107th (173.3 ypg)
Troy -- 30th (270.3 ypg)

OFFENSIVE BALANCE
Auburn -- 61% run
Troy -- 47% run

I know some people will naysay the numbers by saying that Troy plays in the Sun Belt against some lame Sun Belt defenses. That matters, though I'm not sure it's a huge deal. Franklin was undermining Sun Belt defenses with his own Sun Belt players. The Trojans demolished Oklahoma State, too.

Recall that Franklin's offense scored 26 points against Arkansas, 31 points against Florida, 41 points against OSU and 34 against Georgia -- a week before Auburn was blown out in Athens.

Here are the Things You Need to Know about what Franklin said this evening:

*He runs an up-tempo scheme that doesn't include a huddle. "We're constantly attacking and trying to attack every area of the field. Every week, it's different. Every team, it's different. You take the strengths somebody has and you build from those strengths. That's what we'll do at Auburn. We'll find out what people are really good at and we'll build from there. Then we'll recruit for the other things we're not real good at."

*He'd prefer to have a dual-threat quarterback, but it's not a necessity. "If you've got a special guy that can sling it all over the place and he's perfect on throws, like Couch was at Kentucky, then he doesn't have to be incredibly mobile. Couch was a 4.9 or 5-flat guy, but he could really move well in the pocket. He just didn't run, but he didn't have to: He could flick his wrist and put in on the back shoulder of somebody.

``If you've got a really good athlete that can run and he can throw with accuracy, all of a sudden he becomes a very dynamic player. The kid we had at Troy was a special kid, because No. 1 he was a great competitor, but he was a guy who could run and throw. When you have that, you really cause people problems."

*He has no problem calling a run play. Troy ran 47% of the time in 2007. "We'll still do that stuff — I did it at Troy the first year I was there. We didn't do it as much this year because we couldn't. It's just that everybody's got a different way of doing things. But No. 1 is — I still believe this, I say it everywhere — in order to win a championship, you have to be able to play great defense and you have to be able to run the football.

``If you look at our stats this year, we finished I believe No. 35 in the nation in rushing, and that was with the idea of always throwing the ball first and running second. But we averaged around 180-something yards per game rushing."

*He likes to recruit. "The very second I'm cleared to go from Auburn, which I'm sure whatever paper work that I have to do, that I'll be able to do it. The very second they allow me to do that…hopefully, it will be before they go dead*. Recruiting is the life blood of any program, and it's something that I've been fortunate I've been successful with, so I'm looking forward to recruiting for Auburn."

*Dead period begins Dec. 17

*He won't begin installing his offense until the new year. ``Basically, I just want to be there and watch and get a head start on evaluating the talent for this spring. If I've got a suggestion, maybe a wrinkle or two, that would be good. I just want to try to see what the players are like and get around them and let them get to know me. If I can give them some advice that can help, that would be good."

News of the day, 12/11

Hey everyone. Let's get to business. I'll cute up the site later.

Thanks for stopping by to peep the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Al Borges is in fact gone. I can write it now officially because, well, his office is empty. That's undeniable evidence.

UPDATE:11:20 a.m. Here is a story I just assembled: Borges out as Auburn's offensive coordinator

It's not clear to me yet if Borges was pushed out or he left on his own accord, though coach Tommy Tuberville said last month that he wasn't going to make staff changes on his own. Auburn will make a new hire shortly. I mean real shortly. I may be able to update this later in the day officially.

UPDATE:12:20 p.m. Auburn sent out a quote from Borges this morning. "After speaking with Coach Tuberville for the better part of 20 minutes, it became increasingly clear that Auburn needed a new offensive coordinator."

Seem incomplete? I thought the same thing. No context provided to me, so I can't give you all anything more than the quote. Bizarre.

We know that Troy offensive coordinator Tony Franklin has interviewed with Auburn. Troy coach Larry Blakeney, a former Auburn assistant, granted Tuberville permission Sunday night. Franklin is known for using a frenzied version of the spread offense, though the quarterback is encouraged to run. It reminds me of what West Virginia uses.

The Trojans' quarterback, Omar Haugabook, led his team in rushing attempts (155) this season. He averaged 4.1 yards per carry.

The Tigers' quarterback, Brandon Cox, averaged -2.2 per "carry". He didn't run (on purpose) very often.

The Arkansas Rivals.com site is reporting that Will Muschamp may end up getting the Razorbacks' job. That's a real possibility, folks. At least one coaching search is wrapped up. Two at once would be tough.

UPDATE:5:35 p.m. ESPN.com and NFL.com now reporting that Atlanta Falcons coach Bobby Petrino will resign to accept the Arkansas gig. Muschamp said he never was interviewed by Arkansas.

Muschamp was interviewed in connection with the job at Southern Miss.