Chatting about The Latest, 9/25
Hey everyone. Been an interesting morning. One my my TVs is behaving in an awkward manner, so I'm trying to identify the problem by shuttling equipment between my two HDTVs. Always a gas.
You came here for Auburn chatter. Let's do that.
- Auburn finished its Tennessee preparations this morning with a 90-minute workout. The team hit more than expected because several guys -- ie Brad Lester and Zaccheus Etheridge -- haven't been exposed to live hitting since the LSU game.
- I think you'll at least see Kodi Burns this weekend. I believe Tony Franklin saw the error of a equitable two-quarterback system and moved to the other end of the continuum by sticking with Chris Todd exclusively against MSU and LSU. I expect him to find a happy medium somewhere between those two extremes.
- I think you'll see more Mario Fannin soon. He had surgery earlier this season to repair a serious shoulder injury. The more I watch things unfold, the more I think the wideout experiment simply was a way to keep him in the fray while that shoulder continued to heal. He's almost seven months out now. My guess is that his shoulder feels almost normal. As such, I think you'll see him emerge as a more consistent contributor in various ways. The coaching staff knows what they have here.
- The season has ended for Jomarcus Savage. That shoulder injury he suffered toward the end of two-a-days became more painful. He underwent surgery last week. I expect to see him plenty next fall. He's an accelerated learner and has a ton of energy.
Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
12:31 PM
38 Comments:
What was ZE held out of contact for?
Also, do you think MarFan will be in the backfield, split wide/slot, or both?
Thanks for the updates.
Etheridge had what Tuberville termed a "stinger," though I'm not exactly sure what happened. He suffered the initial injury during the third quarter against LSU.
If Lester is slowed, I expect to see Fannin in the backfield.
There are some people who might fall over dead in utter delight if Burns and Fannin play a series in the same backfield.
Oh the man-crushes some have had with those two all fall.
what happens the first time Burns hands the ball off to Fannin? an eruption of ricther scale proportions from the home crowd?
Jay, I was just curious and you may have already commented on this subject. What do you think of Les Miles being called "The New Riverboat Gambler." I dont know if I agree with that completely but I will say it seems that CTT has lost the...edge that he once had. Now he's almost just to conservative. He is playing not to lose rather than to win the game.
fannin+burns= orgasmic
Jay I hate to go backward but your comment about playmakers(and AUs lack of) got me thinking about how this came to be(and I agree with you). CTT constantly stresses speed in recruiting but we seem to have nobody that can stretch the field. Has the problem been recruiting the wrong players, lack of development of the players or the offense not putting the players in position to show what they can do? I don't even want to start another QB thread but anyone can see the receivers having to stop or slow down to catch rainbows. If the ball hit them in stride would we see a big difference? Just wondering, thanks for ALL of the info!
wartiger,
your assessment is completly true. Go back and watch Tubbs, when he came from Ole Miss, our tigers were weak on talent and wins, he came in and knew to turn the corner on some of those close games he had to catch people off guard and go for broke. I recall hating it at times when it backfired, but i loved it when it worked. But now that Auburn has been a winning program Tubbs does basically what he does in games, he is conservative and hopes the defense holds, that his mantra.
When he is buried, his tombstone will say ..here lies tommy his offense was boring and terrible...but his defense held..
Les Miles is the new river boat gambler, even though i like Corso's name the Mad Hatter better, Miles vs. Tubbs the past 2 years there is nooooo comparison, Tubbs is as wild as a Captain and Tenille concert(70's) or insert Richard Marx (80's), Miles is the gunslinger, so far he has huge balls, one day they will get stepped on, but so far everything he has done has worked...lets be honest...they, LSU, has the wins ans title to back it up.
Tuberville is richer now (making $2.8 mil this year) and he's firmly established.
Back in the Riverboat Gambler days, he had nothing to lose. Now he has plenty to lose. That makes risk seem less necessary, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
As far as playmakers, I don't have a great answer there. I've never been impressed with what Auburn got out of its wideouts while they were here. I mean, there have been guys like Courtney Taylor and Ronney Daniels.
Then you look at Aromashodu and Obomanu and Marcel Willis and Reggie Worthy and Dee Dee Green and even Tim Carter ... I just felt they should have been better while in college. So development plays a role at that position as well.
Jay that was the point I was trying to make a few days ago in reference to fishing on the pro bass circuit. Tubs does just enough to stay in the money and keep his sponsors, but he won't take the necessary moves (maybe some would call them risks) to win a tournament.
Seems like the best we can hope for is just to see our team somewhere on the leader board.
I think the move to the Spread is Tubs' "win the tournament" move. It's a risk that no one expected at the end of last season. Tubs may gamble more off the field now than he does on the field.
As far as Wide Receivers go, we haven't been able to recruit the big-time WR talent due to our primarily rushing offense. Courtney Taylor was an Athlete, not a WR. Obomanu came to AU because it was right down the road from mama. And he and Aromashudu knew that they could play as freshmen since our WRs were graduating.
Hopefully, the Sread offense will change the way high school WRs look at Auburn.
I agree with Jay on his WR commentary.
I've been on our WR's and Greg Knox for years. Our WR's have never fully developed for the most part and it seems they never know how to get open. It's been that way for a long time.
I think the WR problem falls squarley on Knox. It seems like we get solid WR each recruiting class but none of them ever pan out.
Hawthorne and Slaughter were both big time recruits who could have gone anywhere. Dunn was Mr Football in GA and wouldve been a bigger recruit is not for the off-field problems. Swinton and Billings were also decent recruits.
Granted, none of them were top 5 Julio Jones type recruits, but they should be better than they are and should be more advanced than they are. Just my opinion.
Greg Knox....
All I gotta say.
Greg Knox is a nice-enough guy and he's done some real recruiting work in his day.
As the same time, wideouts have been the one area where the team consistent has fallen short in development. We know this.
Yes and yes, Jay. So Knox isn't going anywhere. I just don't know why you don't have the ability to teach a player to run a route and catch the dadgum football like a grown man.
Ready to see Fannin have some tosses thrown his way from various positions. Tate can't catch a cold lately.
Ontarrio M. has committed...again.
He and Perkins are interchangeable.
I don't think they know what to look for in wideout recruits like they do in other positions. They seem to have an uncanny ability to pick offensive and defensive lineman, while most of the receivers fizzle out. Think about where we'd be if Smith didn't follow swinton to Auburn.
I also completely agree about Greg Knox and his lack of developing players.
I feel like Auburn gets in the top 10-15 in recruiting every year because we have had the same players commit and recommit after JUCO/Prep school. Must have some serious brain surgeons on our team by now.
What is everyones take on the "blue-out" on Saturday?
Apparently they are asking everyone to wear navy instead of orange this weekend so the Vols don't feel at home.
(Not that our orange is anywhere close to the yellow/orange the Vols call orange.)
Always loved navy blue. Can this actually happen? Can we be perfect? Or would we be a bunch of tools with a gimmick?
Go BIG BLUE!!!! I'm an old timer and have always preferred AU Blue. I don't own any AU orange.
WRs?.....um ditto.
I always have liked the way our crowd looks on TV in the all orange look. It was far better than the orange, blue, white mix we had in the past. I'm all for unity.
oregon state 21, so. cal 0 at the half. that could liven things up.
USC doin down there is still a tiny bit of hope :)
just walked in from a day on the road. saw the half-time score. I thought it was a mistake. Dang! Kinda screws up your theory from earlier there Jay G.
Come on, Phreddie.
They're averaging 11 wins per season since 03. That seems pretty good to me.
yes sir, but your comment was they don't choke. just sayin'.
I'm glad USC lost. They are becoming Notre Dame in my opinion. The media has an infatuation with them and every year we hear that this is the best college football team ever assembled, and every year they lose to a much lesser opponent.
Auburn recruits in the Top 15 area because they keep signing the same players? I smell what you're cooking. But it just isn't logical. Auburn does a good job retaining the guys that don't pan out at first academically. That's not a fault. Nick Fairley, Eltoro Freeman, and Onterrio McCallebb can play some ball.
USC got bumrushed by Oregon State's O-line and a 5'6" tailback that carried USC D linemen for yards after contact. Joe McKnight was awful. They try to use him like Reggie Bush and he's not even of the same planet. Sanchez was sort of clownish. It was all fun and games on the sidelines with busty blondie looking on but he was poor in the clutch.
USC seems to support my theory that you can go too big on the defensive side of the ball and the smaller, sleeker cats can't beat you. Alabama is going to jumbo thing. I just don't think it's the way to go anymore.
Jay,
so now you are a pumper. Nice.
I read this blog because you are one of the few that actually tell it like it is.
This entry today looks like you took your notes from Phillip Marshall.
You're the first person in the history of history to call me a pumper.
Thank you so much.
In fact, I'm putting that just below my blog title. I think I've made it.
What is a pumper?
Sunshine pumper - Homer - on the payroll - Phillip Marshall.
All pretty much the same thing.
I love this blog for its reality. Today's entry seemed like CTT wrote it for Phillip's article.
Jay:
Pay me no mind. I am just cranky about the offense right now and still a little unsettled about the last week's game. I guess, I just don't want to hear a bunch of hunky-dory life is great stuff. I want our guys to bust heads and win big.
Sorry to be so cranky.
Jay G ... you're one of those? I had no idea.
Crudup... you say my statement doesn't make sense logically, but how many times has Auburn gotten credit on rivals.com for the same people. Nick Fairley, Raven Gray, Eltoro Freeman, Jermaine Johnson Onterrio McCalebb. These people boost our rankings every year. Have any of these people played a down of football at Auburn?
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