News of the day, 3/9
Hey everyone. My trip to Atlanta went really well. The highlight of the trip was touring the Lenox Apple Store, having my wife tell me that I could get a MacBook Air and actually saying: Nah, I don't need it.I'd rather spend my money on fun stuff like beach vacations and trips to Ohio rollercoaster parks.
Be sure to check out my Sunday story on Antoine Carter, aka Hot, who is running with the No. 1 defense these days. I think he's going to be an outstanding player. He has added 20 pounds since the Chick-fil-A Bowl and looks like a more menacing element in uniform. The added weight hasn't affected his quickness; I've seen him school OT Lee Ziemba in pass-rush drills several times this spring.
This would be a good time to mention the rise of fellow DE Mike Goggans as well. He clearly has gained (good) weight and seems significantly more physical now than he was during two-a-days. With him and Hot and Antonio Coleman, Auburn has a really nice trio going. I guess A.J. Greene will be the fourth guy, though he's pretty inconsistent right now.
The baseball team swept Virginia Military Institute this weekend, bumping the Tigers' record to 10-4. That's 4 wins against ETSU, 4 wins against VWI and 2 wins against Davidson; 4 losses to Florida State. I still can't get a read on how good this team is.Here is the official HABOTN series report ...
**Hitter of the series: 3B Joseph Sanders goes 6-for-17 with 7 RBIs. Also played 2B on Sat. and Sunday.
**Pitcher of the series: Cory Luckie earned a complete-game win on Saturday by allowing one unearned run and no walks. He struck out seven batters. He's a freshman, too.
**Interesting statistical markers:
-->3B David Cunningham goes 4-for-8 during the final two games of the series. He's hitting .438 in six games this season.
-->OF Ben Jones, working mostly in a pinch-hitting capacity, goes 3-for-6 with 2 RBIs.
-->The bullpen worked 11 innings and surrendered two earned runs. It walked just one batter and fanned 17. That's efficiency.
Here's a look at the entire batting order's performance:
Cunningham, 3B -- .500 (4/8) 1 RBI
Jones, OF/PH -- .500 (3/6) 2 RBIs
Patterson, DH/C -- .455 (5/11) 3 RBIs
Hargett, 2B -- .428 (3/7) ... missed most of the third game and all of the fourth with ankle injury
Bianucci, RF -- .384 (5/13) 3 RBIs
Morris, 1B -- .357 (5/14) 3 RBIs
Sanders, 3B/2B -- .353 (6/17) 7 RBIs
Greinke, CF -- .333 (1/3) ... started Thursday, didn't play in the field again
Hall, SS -- .231 (3/13) 1 RBI
Mummey, CF -- .181 (2/11) 2 RBIs
Jenkins, C -- .167 (2/12) 1 RBI
Fletcher, LF -- .127 (1/7)
Questions? Comments? You can email me at jgtate@gannett.com or post a comment directly to the blog.
Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University
posted by Jay G. Tate at
5:59 PM
13 Comments:
nice article. It sounds like quentin groves should've taken his own advice. He was pretty one dimensional in my opinion. I really like the idea of the 3-4 and in my opinion it's the best defense out there, but it takes a really special player for the "buck" position hopefully carter can become that guy. The whole quentin groves as a "buck" experiment left me scarred with visions of knowshon moreno doing the "soulja boy".
Moreno and a good portion of that team...they remind of Miami wheb they were actually good. Lots of jukin' and dancin'. Lots of tribal, rhythmic gestures.
Plenty of "ballas" on that squad.
Jay, don't delete that as it's not racist in any way. Factual statements are not racist. Don't be afraid.
That's pushing the envelope, though I'll let it pass.
I don't think Quentin's problem was the "buck" experiment. It was the toes he dislocated against Florida. He finally got some time away from the field in Jan and Feb and performed really well at the Combine.
Read your piece on AC but I know it can't be true 'cause he was only a 3 star recruit and Bama fans have convinced me that a scholarship to anyone less than 5 star is just wasted money. Are you sure about this guy?
He's overcome a lot, obviously.
yeah i knew he would do good in the combine the guy is a hell of an athlete. I just think when it comes to football skills he is basically limited to coming off the edge. Don't get me wrong he is damn good at it, and there seems to be more of a need for that in the nfl lately, so i hope he does well. I just don't ever think he was that "complete d-end" he mentioned.
Q is entering Phase 3 of his career. He's a super talented football player. Q totally decided to take his own pathway in '07, away from team goals. It was a mistake. It was also very disruptive at times. And he's a good guy.
I'm willing to bet Q learned a few life lessons during his senior season which was supposed to be monsterous in a good way. I'm also more than willing to bet he becomes a much bigger star in the NFL.
A Phase 3 guy, that's already married, has a sense of urgency about him if he's at least somewhat intelligent. A Phase 3 guy can decide to cruise through his professional career only good enough ( which is still damn good) to make a check. Or he can work extremely hard and become something far greater.
Label Q any way you want to. But he produced in big game because he wanted to. He was a force. The offense planned around him.
Q will be a star. He's got what it takes.
I like the way Jay removed 'boy' from "Hotboy". I feel much more comfortable with that nickname. I can work with "Hot". "Hot-boy" was not rolling off of my tongue at all.
So, for that, I want to take this time to thank the "G".
Ironically, it was Quentin who told me to refer to Carter as "Hot."
Carter is a really interesting dude from a sociological perspective.
a.) He has "Hot Boy" tattooed on his face.
b.) He has gold teeth.
c.) He's from south Florida.
Then again ... he comes from a military home, he's really polite, he's understated and every coach I can find says Carter is the most coachable kid in the world.
This is Lesson 2,311 in not judging people by the way they look.
Where is it tattooed on his face, exactly?
Seems like anyone referring to themselves as "Hotboy" wouldnt want ink all over his mug.
FYI, Q only ran and jumped at the combine; he didn't run position drills with the other DE prospects.
I just got back from Pro Day.
I'll get an update together in short order.
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