The Tigers speak, 10/26
TOMMY TUBERVILLE SPEAKS
PAUL RHOADS SPEAKS
- Tuberville said Clinton Durst, the punter, now is kicking field goals. As you know, top kicker Wes Byrum has been off this season. Tuberville seemed willing to use Durst if needed, but he noted that Byrum was good in practice today. Byrum usually is good in practice. The trick is transferring that effectiveness into game situations.
- They were in full pads today, a break from Sunday protocol, and did some legitimate hitting. Tuberville said they'll take Monday off as usual and resume Tuesday morning.
- He said Ben Tate is "80 percent" with a hamstring strain.
- He said Mario Fannin is fine.
- He said Jerraud Powers (hamstring) and Neiko Thorpe (ankle) attended practice, but did not participate.
- He said Byron Isom missed the West Virginia game because of a concussion. Tuberville added that Big Snacks Berry, Isom's replacement, played "decent."
PAUL RHOADS SPEAKS
- On Powers: "He was playing on one leg during the second half. Right now, I'd say he's day-to-day. I would expect him to play (at Ole Miss.)"
- D'Antoine Hood is playing at Powers' spot since Thorpe is out.
- What Hood needs to improve on: "A multitude of things."
- What messed up Auburn's defense so badly last week: "Their speed. You have to bring your feet and hips to attack them, not hands."
- Worried: "We had a lull in the Southern Mississippi game. A lack of confidence wasn't the reason for it. We played pretty darn good defense throughout the season. That past couple of games, we just haven't handled adversity. It's one of the things we're stressing right now."
posted by Jay G. Tate at
5:32 PM
128 Comments:
Happy to hear pratice has gone long. We need this one this weekend.
Things that crack me up about myself ... I sit here and talk about what players can and can't get the job done while I massage my sore back, which is sore due to some over zealous swing pushing and wagon pulling.
Oh, the irony.
ha ha guess you had a good time with the boy, Phred
welcome and WDE Mr.Biscuit
tuberville will say that WVU was the best they played all year. That we have too many injuries, we are young, we had a great practice today and everyone looked fresh. We are going to simplify things. Blah blah blah.
He's been this guy for 10 years now.
Why is it all so surprising now?
How about a trip over to the intramural fields at 7:30 to see "Section 26" play the first game of the co-ed football season?
No surprises here.
Video could be on the rocks ...
Battery level low. Ugh.
Thanks Monica. JG what is supposed to be suprising?
Full coverage of "Section 26" vs. "Paper, Rock, Kickers" ... tonight at 10.
Surprising ... that Tuberville would speak half-truths and not be fully open about how serious his concerns are.
I read that as "Paper, Rock, Knickers."
Kickers = not as enticing
Gotcha...Section 26 do yall still wear the yellow shirts to the game?
Can AU pull a Texas Tech and start scouting these intermural games for players?
Amended.
Paper, Rock, Knickers.
Jay G. Tate said...
Amended.
Paper, Rock, Knickers.
Sounds like a Pi Phi pledge swap to me...
Does this mean I can kick it in the Pi Phi house now?
Gang, just heard an interesting point by Stan White.
If we start to jettison assistant coaches, how will that affect recruiting based on the relationships these guys have built over the past 10 years?
JG if you need someone to roll with you I'll volunteer myself.
There is some talk on one of the other sites that Muschamp has been contacted. He would bring the kind of energy this program is needing. Would love to see what kind of staff he would put together.
Why would Will Muschamp come back to Auburn if Jay Jacobs is still in charge?
If you think AU is bad on offense, the Cincinnati Bengals haven't scored an offensive TD since the end of last season.
I think the whole Muschamp/JJ thing was way over blown...
The real question should be, does anyone on Muschamp's staff eat BBQ?
I'm going to laugh when Will Muschamp is coaching either a Sun Belt of MAC team next year.
- C.O.B.R.A. Commander
I hope Stan does not really have that type of defeatist attitude.
Heard with my own ears. He warned that the cost of losing those relationships would be high.
My guess = pffft - minimal effect on recruits, Auburn is still Auburn and we don't have tons of recruits over which other schools are fighting. But I'm no Stan White.
JJ has no power.
auburnfan71 has it right, imo. not necessarily bad blood there, but lack of trust/ill will. re weezer, i went for "geezer". saw gordon lightfoot last thursday. great show for the nostalgic in me. i've followed him since the mid 70's. while i was mainly listening to black sabbath, aerosmith, etc., he was such a great song writer that i respected him. voice shot now--apparently a really bad health thing in 2002. see y'all.
Is it me guys or is there a major drop in pure, SEC talnet right now?
One guy goes down and there's no one who can take up the slack?
I'm suprised to be honest. Someone's been content with less talent in recuits and coasting in recruiting.
If we start to jettison assistant coaches, how will that affect recruiting based on the relationships these guys have built over the past 10 years?
------------
Those "recruiting relationships" didn't really benefit AU that well last year when a coaching staff that came in across the state and 1 year later lands a top notch class. So who cares about these relationship?
If it's that potentially that devistating the only answer may be total change. Now that's what is scary!
I agree with that Mr. Sensible. Not to mention that the stability of our program,in part, has somthing to do with their committment to developing these guys into productive men on and off the field.
What did Stan White say?
Essentially, if we start to jettison assistant coaches, it will have a negative effect recruiting based on the relationships these guys have built over the past 10 years.
I have updated the main blog entry with some practice information.
Negative effect as in we'll recruit players who aren't five stars in character?
I'd like to hear Stan's answer to the questions posited by The Birmingham News:
"Why didn’t Auburn’s undefeated season in 2004 translate into better recruiting at the skill positions afterward? Why didn’t Auburn take better advantage of its long winning streak over Alabama on the recruiting trail long before Nick Saban touched down in Tuscaloosa?"
The Muschamp/Jacobs thing is way overblown, no doubt.
Clinton Durst is a special teams assasin...next he'll be deep snapping his own punts.
Thanks for the updates, JGT.
I'd say they didn';t pay off becuase they didn't work hard.
JMO.
As far as changing coaches and recruiting, it happens all the time at other places.
Rodney Garner would be a big help in that area.
Great updates JG. What color was Tubs jacket today?
How many scholarships are we wasting on non-productive punters and kickers?
What about Hull, why can't he kick field goals? What happened to him kicking off? I thought Tubs wanted one person for kick offs, one for field goals and one for punting. I guess that part of the playbook has been simplified also.
yeah, we need those scholies for QB's
oh wait...
Hull is in there, too.
Tuberville mentioned Durst repeatedly.
repeatedly?
Was he hugging himself and rocking back and forth?
Jay,
What's your feeling on Rodney Garner and his relationship with AU?
to think he was demoted to a desk job by the Dumb anus Bowden makes me sick. He went to UT -- did well -- went to UGA -- did well.
And by "well" I mean BETTER THAN AUBURN.
So, any chance someone would consider him as a recruiting coordinator?
Jay---every week I ask the same question....percentage of Tuberville veing gone at years end is...?
What about Shoemaker, didn't he kick field goals while at Oak Mountain?
Anywhere between 10% and 95%.
See you next week with that great question.
"Why didn’t Auburn’s undefeated season in 2004 translate into better recruiting at the skill positions afterward? Why didn’t Auburn take better advantage of its long winning streak over Alabama on the recruiting trail long before Nick Saban touched down in Tuscaloosa?"
I've been asking this for 4 years.
We are currently reaping the benefits of all the recruiting battle wins over Southern Miss, Troy, UAB, Tulane & Florida Atlantic.
I'm sure there are a lot of important people at Ole Miss, who would love for their team to nail one of the final nails in the pinebox for Tub at Auburn this weekend.
I think the answer to that question is Tuberville has been resting on his laurels. By the way, how many high schools did Tuberville visit versus Saban
So according to Stan, the relationships would be ruined? I agree that they would take a hit, but (and not to sound rude) but who the heck cares? Either this staff is not as skilled at evaluating talent as we have been led to believe and/or they are inept at coaching it once it gets here. One coach in the Mobile area (Vigor High School) said earlier in the year that "you can't send Greg Knox down here to recruit against Nick Saban and expect to win that battle". I kind of shrugged that off at first read but after watching how things have unfolded, the truth has come to hurt a bit. Assistant's relationships with high school coaches will only get you so far folks. Sooner or later the big cheese has to get off his CEO butt and come show these players he actually cares.
You know what?
I'm back down to 75% on Tuberville.
Exactly Erk! As long as we keep winning recruiting battles with the likes of Southern Miss, Tulane, Troy, etc, we can expect the same results on the field. If we clean house why can't the new staff build relationships with the high school coaches & recruits?
75%, REALLY? What has changed?
JG what lead to the change in percentage?
What changes your mind since Thursday, Jay G.?
Heard some stuff.
That's all I'm saying right there.
Ok. 'Nuff said.
Thanks.
you are going to hold out on us?
I feel you on the Tubby percentage Jay G. Money, but how about the odds on zero changes in the coaching staff (new OC not withstanding)? Franklin has already been sacrificed with zero changes in the results.
Jay G, weren't you supposed to get on the horn with people in the know? Is that the reason for your revision?
JG 75% stay or 75% gone?
Exactly, RK.
This is one of the issues that highlights our troubles are more than "just one bad season.
*******************
Amen, brother Kris
*******************
When asked: What are your keys to get the kind of recruits that make your program successful and allow you to succeed within the context of the university that your represent?
Tuberville: My recruiting philosophy is we take a 200-mile radius, which covers most of Georgia, all of Alabama, parts of Mississippi, and the northern part of Florida, and we recruit the heck out of it. My belief over the years is, the closer a player you get is to your campus, the better chance you got of them staying and being a part of your program for four or five years. The farther away you take them, the harder it is.
We don't go out and look for five-star players every day. I could care less what their stars are. We look for guys that want to work, want to be at Auburn, want to play, want to go to class. ... But you look for that consistency. I'll take all the three-star players I can get that have work ethic and great attitude, and you'll beat those other guys every day, if you'll work at it. Those five stars tend not to be five stars. [They're] ranked by somebody if they knew anything about football, they wouldn't be ranking players anyway. They'd be coaching.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=3421971
So, I am glad to see the field goal situation has worked its way out. Let Byrum kick in practice and Durst in games. That should work nicely.
As for assistants, I think we have been focusing on the wrong thing. First, Auburn has been one of the 3 winningest programs in the SEC with these assistants, so stop bashing those assistants. The question is purely should Tuberville stay or go. He should be better at evaluating his coaches than we could ever be. If not, Tuberville should go.
I am under the impression that for Tuberville to stand any chance of staying we must win half our remaining games. That is going to be tough considering Ole Miss appears to be pretty darn good. They beat an Arkansas team that seems to be improving.
Should we will more than half our remaining games, I would give Tuberville a good chance of hanging around. Now, that doesn't sound bad, now does it.
Biscuit, that would be 75% gone, down from 90% previously.
Well stated SteveFC.
I would like to nominate The Biscuitator to Notable Newcomers and SteveFC to the Ring of Fire.
Monica:
I think this is one of the few times Tubbs speaks without the normal spin. Our talent level never became an issue 'til saban rolled last year. I honestly don't think that (talent) is our problem now. We have no leaders, poor coaching, poor conditioning, worse technique and thus a bad football team. I wholeheartedly feel that Franklin's decision to make co-starters out of Burns and Todd and Tubberville's lack of leadership to stop it lost this football team in the summer. It is obvious to us who the starter should have been and it had to be to the players. IMHO they felt like their coaching staff wasn't giving them the best chance to win by playing the better QB, so they simply packed it in. Can't say I really blame them either...the coaches let all of us down too.
Jay, Interesting that it went down. Is that 75% just as it is right now. Is winning out required? Glad to hear some people have some sense.
I think we have SEC talent every where on D. I do think we lack speed at the safety position though. We haven't had a go to guy on O in the last 2 years. We need some help there.
not sure how my blogger account changed....crap didn't want anyone to know my full first name. Only time I'm called Kristofer is when I'm in trouble.
Mike McNeil was one of the most sought after high school safeties in '07.....
Thanks for the info on Hood. Looks like he's on a very steep learning curve. Shame, because they need some healthy DB’s badly at the moment.
I’ll take a contrarian position and place the odds of Tubby being replaced at 25%. Why? At least three reasons:
One, finances. Too much buyout cash for the big money AU guys to pony up, along with having to pay for a new coach, along with already paying for two ex-OC's, and all done during a bad economy.
Two, public relations. Lots of students and their families will strain to pay tuition for the next couple of years until the economy turns north again. For AU to pay obscene sums of money to a former football coaching staff as well as a new one would be hard for Jay Gogue to justify.
Three, the basic sense of fairness among the majority of the Auburn family. Tubs has had a bad year, and the seniors have lost the most by not being able to leave on a winning note. But on the basis of his 10 years in Auburn plus the notion that this year was an anomaly, he deserves to be here next year and get the train back on the tracks.
We’ll see if this holds true if he goes 1-3 over the remaining four games.
Kris- I disagree with the "poor conditioning" statement. Yox is one of the best and most well respected strength coaches in the nation. If you want poor onditioning, you should see Fuqa under Bowden.
I say CTT stays. I got no percentage for ya.
Kris - Speaking for myself, I promise to never call you Kristofer.
:-)
The likelihood of zero changes to the coaching staff: 0%.
There will be changes. Book 'em, Dan-O.
Again, I am on record as saying I would not fire Tuberville. Everybody has bad seasons.
I roll like Virginia Tech. They have a good coach, he has good seasons more often than stinkers. He doesn't get in trouble. He likes being there. He portrays a good image for the university.
That's a guy I like.
How about the noms, JG?
Impending changes on the coaching staff duly noted and booked ....
Too bad Virginia Tech's players doesn't know how to handle success. But I agree about what you were saying. I don't know when it was, but Virginia Tech was ready to run Beamer out of town. I bet they are glad that they didn't.
Jay
Last week you thoiught we would split uga and bama. Do you still feel that way
Did I say Auburn would split those? I don't remember.
Sooner or later, yeah, this team is going to break through. The offensive talent isn't great, but it's not this bad.
Sensi: Noms?
Jay G., this is completed unrelated to football. However, since you use Twitter, I thought you might find this read interesting:
Twitter Article
From the 5th paragraph of the article:
"Twitter has also become a social activism tool for socialists, human rights groups, communists, vegetarians, anarchists, religious communities, atheists, political enthusiasts, hacktivists and others to communicate with each other and to send messages to broader audiences," the report said."
Very amusing stuff.
James- Twitter is the tool of al queda :)!!!
Mr. Sensible- Are you refering to noms for the Ring of Fire????
For your consideration:
The Biscuitator for Notable Newcomers
SteveFC for Ring of Fire
Something just doesn't seem right with College Football on a Sunday night. I hope that Tulsa's OC is our next OC.
Mr. Sensible- Biscuitator for Notable Newcomers on the first day. Impressive.
good evening everyone!
The guy has been bringing it.
Hey Bear, good evening to you.
I have gone back & forth on CTT. On the one hand, he has ran a clean (as far as we know) program, beat UA 6 times in a row, and provided surprises (beating UF twice with Tebow) and put a lot of kids into the League. On the other hand, the players seem to have no desire or fire to finish the games, he was 65-5 with a halftime lead before this season, now 4-4, and in the past 10 years, he has usually started strong in the polls, but them seems to decline throughout the season. So, I an on the fence. Either way could be justified.
I'm trying to prepare myself for zero changes so as to avoid more crushing disappointment.
Howdy, Bear.
They dont need to get rid of James Willis, being here in Mobile, he is just know starting to get in good with the local high school coaches here. Kids like him, so do coaches, they like he played in the NFL, he has gotten in good with the urban schools where we get alot of our best recruits down here..keeep em....he is starting to get back where whitt left off..
Bear, I think you have summarized this whole Tubs situation perfectly. I still believe that Tubs has more people that want him to stay and have a chance to correct the situation than you have people that want him out right fired. I just think that people that want him fired are more vocal while the Tub's fans sit back with a wait and see attitude.
Who is a better orator, Tee Martin or Sylvester Stallone?
i finally signed up for this google/blogger thing, but have been reading for a while. i recall the "good ole days" when Jay G. and Neal McCready went back and forth on WNSP Sportsdrive, since I live in Mobile. When they would reminisce about driving to New Orleans and their experiences, it was great. i am loving all the informative, intelligent thoughts in this, rather than the other stuff on other forums.
PDT- I would say that James Whitt is probably the most well like assistant coach with the fans. He seems to be a good coach and a good recruiter. I think he will end up being here either way.
An off note, Did anyone believe it when Tony Franklin said his neighbors and townfolk in Auburn say hey and say they are behind him. I laughed at that statement, my mom and dad both said they would give him the finger and personally book his rental van out of town..
PDWT- I would not be surprised for him to have people say that to him. Some people definitely feel he got a raw deal. I would be shocked if any one would say something negative to his face.
I won't make any more comments about Franklin's passive aggressive behavior for fear of the BANHAMMER (and Josh Moon).
(but if I were going to, I'd say that was more disingenuous blah blah blah to highlight what meanies those Auburn coaches were to poor lil ole Tony)
Eddie,
I know hundreds of Auburn fans in Dothan and Mobile, none would say anything nice to Franklin...even my grandmother...
on a different topic.. does anyone think Texas Tech's offense would work with what they have now against an SEC dfnense, like UGA, UF, or even UA? I know they don't play def. in the Big XII, but after watching that offense, man, it looks unstoppable.
I would have no problem whatsoever saying something negative to his face. Just so you know.
I think Tony Franklin has and had issues way before he came to Auburn. Like Jay said pervously I believe, anyone that has to move their office in order to not be distracted has issues with being around other people. It was a bad marriage from the start, and Tuberville should have done some better research, especially if he really wanted to run Oklahoma's offense, which is nowhere near what Franklin runs.
Me and McCready on NSP back in the old days sure was fun. I miss those days.
We don't really talk anymore because he's so ensconced in the Ole Miss stuff. It's a different world. So it goes.
I think Texas Tech's offense could and would be successful against SEC Defense's. Mike Leach is definitely the Mad Scientist. He reminds me of Spurrier.
shave and a haircut wouldn't hurt either
just sayin
Thanks for the props Mr. Sensible.
As for the changes at a guarantee JG are these major changes or just something that we are already expecting like we're going to add an OC who is not on the current staff?
BTW Sunday's are made for Jesus, Cracker Barrel, and NFL not College Football! Tulsa's OC Malzahon is not the answer to who we need. He truly runs a HS offense...(of course I say that when they're the #1 offense in the land!)
Bear82,
That offense will be stopped...this weekend.
I think Tech would win the first few games, but 8 games into the SEC schedule they would get figured out and dominated by speed and size in our league...no chance..after a while..
Added a new post to the blog.
It's sure to stoke your pro-Franklin fire.
So what do you all think of Florida's offense? Next weeks game with Georgia should be a doozy. I think Georgia is lacking a good defense and I believe Florida is going to put some big time points on the board.
Why would not have your 1st string guys go up against the 1st string,
Jay, seems our depth has been a major problem this year...injuries, etc., freshman..etc.
mr. sensible,
I am assuming that also, but it would not surprise me if they beat Texas. As for Franklin, I have an opinion, but obviously I do not know enough of the behind the scenes stuff to make an intelligent decision whether or not he should have been fired. But, obviously, the offensive production, or lack thereof, was the #1 concern of the program, so something had to be done. As for asst, coached saying we wore down in the 2nd half at WVU, what the heck, we had on off week prior to the game, how could they wear down?
Kentucky (under Mumme) did the same thing -- shied away from hitting until game day thinking it would help the team avoid injury.
Franklin had a similar thought.
I don't buy that they were physically worn down. I believe that they are just playing in a daze right now. This week at Ole Miss will show whether this team will rise up and play with some heart.
Hi everyone - Don't know how I've missed this blog; just found it a few days ago. I think I'd probably read some of Jay's posts before, but never got into reading in the comments section. Lots of great posters here, and I don't feel like I'm back in Jr. High the way I do when I read on the al.com forums.
I'm old as dirt; graduated from AU in 1976, and have been a fan all of my life. My dad was an AU grad and he raised me to be an Auburn Tiger. I couldn't be anything else if I wanted to, and I'll someday be one of those old men in the nursing home wearing an AU shirt and cap.
So I've been through a lot of bad times as an AU fan. I made my first trip to Cliff Hare Stadium in 1966 when I was 12, and watched Auburn beat TCU 7-6. TCU lead 6-0 most of the game, but an Auburn QB named Larry Blakeney threw about a 40 yard TB pass to a WR named Freddie Hyatt. Whatever sins those two may have committed later in life were always forgiven by me, for they sent me home a happy kid that day. But that team finished 4-6 and got clobbered by Bama, and we were right in the middle of a 5 year losing streak. And I had to put up with the Bammers every day.
I suffered through the Barfield years, the 9 year losing streak, and the end of the Dye era. Suffered through the end of the Bowden era. This year doesn't compare with those times. I didn't want Tubs when they hired him, I wanted Sully to get a shot at the job, but Tubs has done a lot better job than I ever expected and beating the Bammers 6 in a row should surely earn him the chance to have one bad season. I think it would be a disgrace to fire him without an opportunity to turn it around.
And if somehow the streak makes it to 7, how on earth could anybody even talk of firing him?
A good evening to all.
Thanks for the update, Jay. hmmmm... having your first team go against your second team..yeah, right no gaining a sense of confidence there. of course our second team will be as good or better than an SEC team's first team. i understand about injuries and all, but maybe that was a difference maker.
Welcome Coosa. War Eagle.
Yea ... welcome, Coosa.
Coosa, Great post.
War Eagle
Coosa, My grandfather who was a graduate from API in '54 has talked about that AU-TCU 7-6 game my entire life. It is crazy to hear you mention that. That was a great post!
It's hard to believe Blakeney was a QB.
Did you guys see where CTT is tied with Blakeney for most coordinators in the last 10 yrs (with the same head coach). After CTT names a new one next yr he should have the lead. Not a good rcd.
My question is how does he maintain the good teams and records he's been able to have?
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