News of the day, 3/29

Hey everyone. It was another sunbeamy morning on the Plains as the football team worked for approximately two hours. Lots of collisions and unhappy coaches as you'd expect.

Let's get to business.

First, we're ecstatic that you chhose to spend a March average of 52 seconds per day here at the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

Here are your results from the one-on-one line drill. My favorite moment came when OT Lee Ziemba told DT Sen'Derrick Marks to quiet down "until you can beat Coulahan." Marks didn't quiet down enough to even hear Ziemba's request:

Antoine Carter (45) vs. Jared Cooper (79) -- 45, 45 (perfect inside swim), 45
Sen'Derrick Marks (94) vs. Kyle Coulahan (58) -- 58, 58
Mike Blanc (93) vs. Ryan Pugh (50) at C -- 50, 50
Zach Clayton (98) vs. Bart Eddins (53) -- 98 (pure power), 98 (Eddins improved, still lost)
Mike Goggans (49) vs. Big Snacks Berry (66) at RT -- 66, 49 (bull rush), 49 (inside)
Ryan Burse (97) vs. Lee Ziemba (73) -- 73 (facemask), 73, 73
Clayton (98) vs. Tyronne Green (71) -- 98 (move of the day*), E, 71
Blanc (93) vs. Jason Bosley (68) -- 68
Marks (94) vs. Byron Isom (57) -- 57, 94 (faked inside and cut outside), E
AJ Greene (90) vs. Andrew McCain (75) -- 90, 75
Greene (90) vs. Ryan Pugh (50) at RT -- 50
Goggans (49) vs. Pugh (50) at RT -- E
Carter (45) vs. Cooper (79) -- 45, 45
Burse (97) vs. Cooper (79) -- 79
Luke Farmar (64D) vs. Coulahan (58) -- 64, 58
Farmar (64D) vs. Jackson Timmerman (64O) - 64O
Clayton (98) vs. Eddins (53) -- 98, E, 53
**Nall stopped the drill after the second snap to tell Eddins: "You're waiting for him to make the first move. It doesn't work like that." Then Eddins held his own during the next snap. It's that easy.
Goggans (49) vs. Pugh (50) at RT -- 49 (speed), 49 (bull rush), 49 (inside)

*move of the day = Clayton began by faking outside, then he cut inside and cut off Isom with a swim chop. It was ideal execution. How ideal? Isom, a good player, stopped moving once Clayton made the chop. There was no way to gussy up that mess.

The hit of the day came during the final 30 minutes when OLB Chris Evans sniffed out a screen pass and clobbered TB Ben Tate as he caught the throw. Tate was planted on his back. To his credit, Tate popped up and congratulated Evans on the play.

"That was nice of him to think of me there," Evans said with a smile.

TB Tristan Davis returned to practice after missing three weeks because of a troublesome toe. He broke the toe last season, then sustained a bruise in the same area during Auburn's second spring practice. Davis, who didn't participate in full-contact drills Thursday, said he's planning to play in the A-Day game.

I saw DE Antonio Coleman (neck) after practice. He said doctors in Birmingham gave him full medical clearance on Tuesday, but suggested that he skip the team's remaining three practice days as a precaution. Coleman was bummed about that.

DT Jake Ricks was back on the field Thursday, though he didn't participate in any drills. The sophomore broke his right hand during practice two weeks ago and now is wearing a black cast that runs from his knuckles to mid-forearm.

OC Tony Franklin reiterated his stance on QB Neil Caudle, who was dropped from the quarterback race on Tuesday. Caudle spent part of his Thursday morning communicating plays from the sideline. That's the Franklin System equivalent of holding a clipboard.

``He's an Auburn guy. He loves Auburn," Franklin said. ``He's a student first, which is what you're supposed to be. He's in the major he wants to be in. He knows what he wants to do in life and he wants to be a quarterback, too. He's a team guy and he understood that I had to pick somebody. I just had to make a decision to try to give the other guys reps. In all honesty, it was a feel thing as much as it was anything. He's as good as any kid I've been around."

**********
I should have mentioned this the other day. I've been playing a lot of Rock Band lately because it's something my lovely lass and I can accomplish cooperatively online. She's not a big Call of Duty fan like me, so it's nice to get her involved.

Anyway, Harmonix/EA released a six-song Boston pack on Tuesday. Combine those six with "Foreplay/Long Time," a track that's available in the game, and you have seven of the eight tracks that comprise the 70s band's first (and best) album. I'm so totally geeked about this. I knocked out "More Than A Feeling" at 98% on expert last night, which is very good for me.

The missing track, for you completionists out there, is "Let Me Take You Home Tonight."

For those of you who label me a sellout for compromising my Guitar Hero ideals for this girly game, well, maybe you're right. I'm having fun. Rock Band is easier, too.

AS ANY BOSTON FAN WOULD ... let me give an R.I.P. to lead signer Brad Delp, who committed suicide last year after a long struggle with depression.