Getting things started, 9/1
Hey everyone. September is here. Can't believe it.I meant to tell you all last night about all the traffic on I-85. On the way up there, I passed 17 consecutive cars from Louisiana around Shorter. Coming home around 8 o'clock, there were 15 cars headed north for every one headed south.
All that effort what what ended up being a strong thunderstorm. Sucks.
SCHEDULE UPDATE: Auburn practice begins at 3 p.m. Interviews expected to follow around 5:45. I'll go ahead and predict video debut at 7:30 or so. My main goal is Super Mario reaction.
IN TODAY'S EDITIONS OF THE ADVERTISER
9/1: Back to the drawing board for AU offense
IN PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE ADVERTISER
8/31: AU offense works out kinks
8/31: Game notebook
8/30: My weekly "First and 10" column
8/29: Auburn's QBs deal with hype
8/28: Tigers' punter Durst able to live the dream
**********
SEEKING SUGGESTIONS: HABOTN life seemed to flow pretty smoothly Saturday night and Sunday, though I sense we can create some kind of post-game blogging tradition. Should we pick highs and lows? Or players of the game? Or good trends and bad trends?
You all have too much expertise. It shouldn't go to waste.
Photo credit: David Bundy/Montgomery Advertiser
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
10:50 AM
28 Comments:
That's the problem with hurricanes. People freak out, nothing happens and people get complacent. Then Katrina comes and we are rescuing people off rooftops.
The offense situation at Auburn:
I don't think it's going to be that bad. I think against a good team Kodi Burns will take most of the snaps and we will open it up a little more. And really, it's going to be good to have chris todd ready in case Burns gets hurt and with his size and the way he runs the ball Kodi getting hurt is a definate possibility. Chris todd definately has a noodle arm but we've watched noodle arm throws for the past three years.
Tony Franklin ragging on his players isn't that cool though. He is the coach he needs to handle the media and the fans don't need to know about it.
Should have said tony franklin needs to handle them (his players)
This is how he operates. He keeps it real.
It's going to cause a problem or two in the future. No doubt.
I'm all for honesty but the whole truth isn't necessary all the time
I don't think it's so easily settled that Kodi is the man. He's obviously not TF's man. To your point, Ron, I had to close my eyes just before Kodi, for some reason, invited contact after his runs. He's got to take a knee before disaster strikes. That needs to be the first thing they work on this week. Kodi will take some late licks but those will work in AU's favor if he doesn't get hurt. If he does get knocked out, I will drop my expectations down to 7 games at best with Trotter redshirting and Caudle so INT prone.
I'm glad Tubs pointed out the obvious- the receivers running the wrong routes and running poor routes. Most of them lagged along side a DB as if they didn't want the ball. Fannin looked like a guy that wanted the ball to me. He was fighting. But he got called out by Professor Franklin.
Greg Knox? Anyone? 2004 and 2005 were a little different in that we had 4 NFL receivers in the starting ranks. 3 of the 4 were very intelligent guys and excellent students. With exception to Mix, they knew how to play the position in high school.
To my own point, everyone wants the Prophet to get the ball. It's kind of hard when he can't fight off a little DB. He also played about 80% of the snaps. So far, he's the new Prechae to me. Lots of ability and little technique and needs work closing the deal.
Bottom Line,
If Kodi cant seal the job I say just put Trotter in. Word has it he could be the best out of any of them anyway. I dont know if I can go through a whole season of screens to running backs from CT.
Anonymous would be Will Crudup
Kodi would lose alot of his effectiveness if he avoided contact. I agree he shouldn't take unecessary hits for the sake of our offense but that's not how kodi rolls.
Agree 100% about knox.
Crudup, your point would be reinforced by a clip of the Prophet's missed catch, which is a generous description. In instant replay, it was truly laughable. The ball literally passed exactly in between his hands which were spread about two feet apart. AFTER the ball has continued on several feet, he began to close them and I swear I'm not making this up, his hands crossed each other. My three year old looked at me, seriously, and said "Daddy, that was not a good catch."
Phred, your eyes were not deceiving you. And neither were the young lady's. He had his head on the wrong should and then turned to the left shoulder and lost it. I was fully expecting him to suck that one in and trim the sidelines to the endzone. I'm ready to get billings back. Big target. Good hands. Runs his routes.
Jay do you think Eric Smith is now officially in the mix for week in and week out?
I'm game for the post-game posting.
With Tristan on eternal DL I think ES has to be in the mix all year long. How can these WRs be this bad at the basics??? There are 4 WRs on this team that are in their HS record books in several categories: Hawthorne, Trott, Swinton, Zachary, and Billings. Can we get a scared straight program of WRs?
I think Smith will be on the roster. Tristan is too much of a wild card ... and they need three TBs.
With douglas out and tristan davis's detachable toe. I bet eric smith will get a decent amount of snaps this year.
Is there another fullback type on the roster?
Just saw where Journet is no longer coming to Auburn. Its about time to stop with the JUCO guys...see Smith, Gray etc.
that's "little man." Future AU all-american and dean's list student.
The receiver problems are really getting old. Knox handles outside receivers, Ensminger the inside receivers and both groups seem to have the same issues. Smith and Billings are the only ones without issues. We heard a lot of talk from CTF and in person reports from various folks during the spring/fall camps that had me believing we would be greatly improved.
You can't imagine how much a lack of confidence in the receivers affects a QB. I'm thinkin' that a good portion of the perceived Qb issues should actually be attributed to the receivers.
I agree, Hoop, and I dedicated a big portion of today's story to the WR problems.
Jay, i like all three. i believe we need to change and add different patterns... nothing was run over the middle or slants or deep patterns....those jail break screens are old hat.... sjut get the ball out quickly and hit recievers over the middle.
Enjoyed the article Jay G...any way you could transfer to the Mobile Press Register? I can't help but wonder if the common denominator in the deterioration of our wide receiver performance post 2004 wasn't Borges? Sure Cox had his limitations, but I remember a ton of dropped balls that even his arm put right on the money. On paper at least, this is not a bad group of receivers. As I sit atop my throne of armchair coordinating, I can't help but wonder if Franklin's departure from his own advice (formerly given for a price) of sticking with one QB comes from the delimma of promising Todd a starting job and the sensless burning of Kodi's redshirt last year. The problem is, "we aint in Troy anymore". I simply refuse to believe that these to guys are so close in ability that a starter can't be chosen. Who's the last first-round QB draft pick to come out of Texas Tech? "System QB's" from there at least need to be good enough to run that system.
Lots of great points today. Hoopie drove it home. If Dunn, Lester, Slaughter hold on to their drops the complaints would not have been so harsh. Just can't get over the facts that Todd displayed on the field. Auburn needs to hold on to Raymond Cotton with everything they've got. To me, and I've watched him a lot, he's a more athletic Jason Campbell with a big time arm and great speed for a QB. He runs track and it isn't just a hobby.
Crudup, I hate to think we have to jump on the Cotton train already. I'm hoping for a senior Kodi, getting ready to hand it off to a junior Trotter, who will then hand it over to a redshirt sophomore Cotton.
You know, the more I dwell on this, the more I can't believe we don't decide to live and die with Kodi. There is no way he's less of a playmaker than Cox, and certainly seems to be more of one than Todd.
I guess this is the subject of the new debate. "AU coaches - Where is the logic?"
The only answer I can think of is that CT has some photos of important people in compromising positions.......
I agree Phred. I guess the deal with Kodi is he's somewhat unconventional for Tub standards.when I mention Cotton, I mean we need to recruit better. He's a good one.
I'd more than love for Trotter to be second team now. But it won't happen so I'll shelve that one. There's an emotional attachment to Chris Todd obviously. He's not going to be let down hard.
I remember CTT recounting advice that he got from the Oregon coach to play and keep 2 qbs ready in the spread offense. Oregon, Florida and WVa all lost last season when their running qb got hurt. If Kodi plays enuff...he will most assuredly get hurt. He really needs to learn to slide. I say we need to find a way to make both qbs work out. We may need to use Kodi more in the big games, but the less he plays, the less chance for injury. Playing boh keeps Todd in tune with the team.
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