Practice Twelve (8/13)
Hey everyone. On this, a second rainy day in Auburn, I'm ready to get to business.
Here is What You Need to Know:
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
Here is What You Need to Know:
- Assistant coach Greg Knox said James Swinton has had "the best camp" among all the wideouts. Maybe he will be Big Game James after all ...
- Swinton said he considered quitting a few years ago after falling to the bottom of the depth chart. Why did he stick it out? He had the skills. ``If I knew I didn't have the talent, I probably wouldn't have kept going. I'm not going to lie to you: I wouldn't have kept going."
- Knox also sounded pretty high on WR Chris Slaughter, saying "the light has come on" for the sophomore.
- The depth chart at WR works like this:
Z: Rod Smith, Montez Billings, Mario Fannin
X: Swinton, Slaughter, Quindarius Carr/Phillip Pierre-Louis
Y: Trott/McKenzie, Hawthorne ("speed Y")
H: Robert Dunn, Terrell Zachery, John Douglas ("power H") - Assistant coach Don Dunn identified DT Zach Clayton as the team's fourth-best pass rusher among all the defensive linemen. The other three? He didn't say, but one man's guess: Hot Carter, Antonio Coleman, Sen'Derrick Marks.
- Dunn said he'd like to see freshman DT Derrick Lykes redshirt this season. "He has a lot of potential but is a little lost right now like most of the freshmen."
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
11:14 AM
31 Comments:
Thanks for the pratice update Jay! About the "Z" position you show Mario in 3rd...Maybe it is just me but I think Mario is a special player. Please tell me he is going to get more snaps than a regular
3rd string player.
Alright Jay, question:
There seem to be "players" all over that depth chart. Some players have stepped up that have never been counted on (i.e. Slaughter and Swinton). The offense appears to be loaded. With that said, how good can this offense be? Do you think "The System" will be effective in the SEC? How good can the entire AU team be? Thanks, I'll hang up and listen.
War Eagle! that is all, carry on. Great blog!
loved the video. acdc's "i've got big balls" would have worked, too.
Fannin is third team. Them's the facts.
With that said, Auburn is going to run at least two outside receivers during every single play. So even the sixth guy on that list will get as much action as a No. 2 guy in Al Borges' system.
I think Fannin is a gifted player, too. It's too early to count on him as a franchise wideout. Guys like Rod Smith and Montez have been playing this position for years and that experience is valuable.
Fannin will get his turn.
Glad to hear about Swinton but with 3 catches in 3 seasons he is gonna have to "show me" what he can do.
A reasonable position.
I'm 99.999999% sure he'll get more than three catches this season.
Fannin's going to do more than claim that third spot. He'll get plenty of touches.
Jay, has Brad Lester lost weight? He was up around 205 last year. He looks like he's about 175 to 185 in recent pics. Just wondering if that was intentional or just perception on my part.
I think that's perception. He seems approximately the same size to me.
Jay, dig these comments from Tubs to Chris Low. If somebody's already posted these, please pardon my duplication.
"There might be some games that we go into and find out, 'Hey, you know, something's working in the passing game,' and we might throw it 50 times," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "But our game plan is to go into the season, use our running backs, use our offensive line and move the ball down the field. When people start creeping up, you know, [we'll] get the ball deeper down the field and make plays. I think this offense can do that."
Now, if that doesn't complicate things I don't know what does. A precursor to feuds to come? Does anybody really think Franklin and Tubs will coexist in peace and harmony? Seriously...
JGT, weren't the coaches saying Charles Olatunji was the best receiver besides Rod after Spring?
How much of this is "coach-speak" and how much is real?
Thanks for the hard work and updates.
Tuberville agreed to let Franklin handle business. Franklin made it very clear before being hired that he'd gladly stay at Troy rather than head for Auburn without control of the offense.
Tuberville acquiesced.
Auburn is going to run the ball quite a bit. I'm not sure 50% run is accurate, but it'll be more than 40% run.
As for Olatunji, he's a guy like Rod Smith who limited errors. Would he have played? Possibly.
50% run with Kodi at Qb 35% with Chris at Qb
Jay G, what has been the run/pass ratio for the last 5 years or so? What was it last year?
I think I know but I'm askin'.
I could look that up, but I'm not going to right now. I'm hungry.
Alright. Fair enough.
Enjoy supper.
60 run 40 pass
I'm going to try to confirm that William, but I am betting against you as of now.
10-4 Phred. I just remember Borges and Tubs bragging maybe twice about going 50/50. Are you betting it was more like 65/35 run/pass?
This comment has been removed by the author.
Crudup wins again!
What will it be this year?
year rush pass plays ratio
2000 462 354 816 57/43
2001 437 303 740 59/41
2002 563 299 862 65/35
2003 541 323 864 63/37
2004 553 308 861 64/46
2005 481 339 820 59/41
2006 470 282 752 63/37
2007 543 356 899 60/40
2nd attempt - tried to make it look better.
I screwed up 2004. Typo. The pass should be 36%.
Jay G and the boys... I have an idea. Let's have a HABOTN contest to see who can come the closet to guessing the actual number of rush plays and pass plays for the regular season.
What does the winner win? Any ideas?
Your job, Phred.
It's my job to decide what the winner wins? or the winner wins my job?
Tubs didn't make that comment to Low, Crudup. Low's taking that quote straight out of the transcript of Tuberville's comments at Media Days.
Low was in Auburn earlier this week talking with the peeps. He may very well have gotten that straight from Tuberville's mouth.
I've heard CTT say stuff like that, but I can't remember when. I can't remember what day it is right now, in fact.
Crudup: To give my 2 cents on your question, I don't think that Tubs and Franklin will be able to coexist in the long run. I obviously have no insid eknowledge of the situation up there but I am a big believer that 99% of the time history repeats itself. Not that Auburn goes through coordinators faster than other programs, but Tubs has had his fair share and after a few years history says Franklin will be coaching elsewhere. Thats just my take
See, I think they can coexist because Franklin isn't your typical OC. He's not the jovial, affable guy like Mazzone and Borges.
He's not the upwardly mobile guy like Bob Petrino.
He's a guy who is earned a second chance at big-time football and is basically trying to outwork/out-think opposing coaches. I think he's content to stay right here and keep honing this offense.
If it works, he could be here a long time. That's what I'm saying.
Jay, that's a bold prediction. But I can't argue paragraph/sentence 2 and paragraph 3. You're on the money there.
The spread sure has generated a lot of dinner table discussion lately. There's a lot of anticipation for what Auburn might or might not pull off. The allure, of course, is in the fact that AU is a running back school...old school if you will. The shifty Tubs comments I like to poke fun at, you don't know if that's by design or not. So it works. It makes you curious even more so than hiring TF in the first place.
I feel this is not West Virginia, not Oregon. Troy last year, they made you watch. If AU can run this thing as well as Troy did last year look out.
I think this system can work.
Another thing to consider: This offensive line, the starting five, is very good. That matters.
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