Your Daily Fix, 7/26

Hey everyone. Friday was a fairly interesting day in Hoover for the Auburn Tigers. Here are the three most interesting things I heard:

• Official confirmation that Chaz Ramsey's season is on the rocks already
  
  
• Bo Harris is gonzo
  
  
• The awkward dis Tommy Tuberville seemed to drop on former DC Will Muschamp
  
  

Here is the quote that indirectly discussed Muschamp ... in its official form.

"I think that if you go back and look at us defensively, to have a championship football team, you can't give up big plays in a game. The games that we lost last year, we gave up too many 15- 20-yard runs. Georgia game, we gave up a 60, 70-yard run. LSU game, last play of the game, 35-yard pass.

I mean, in the past, we have not given up big plays on defense. And that's the reason I like Paul Rhodes is because he's a fundamental guy. We've gone back to technique, fundamentals, gone back to basics. We're still going to be a pressure defense with a lot of speed on the field, but we've got to get away from that playing good, playing good, playing good and giving up the big play.

You can't do that and get to Atlanta. Now, you can win games. For us, you know, we're to the point now where we've got to break that barrier and get to Atlanta a little bit more often."

Is it just me? I understand that Auburn conceded some terrible late-game plays in 2007, but it is reasonable to think Paul Rhoads can "fix" that? Is it something that can be fixed? The Tigers' defense was excellent last year. The LSU game? Bizarre ending. Can't blame Muschamp for that.

It's during an event like Media Days when you see the truest form of Tuberville. He was there all three days. He was all along "radio row" on Wednesday afternoon. He was all along "radio row" again on Thursday afternoon. He did that on his own time.

He was a main attraction before and after his official presentation on Friday.

Tuberville works the crowds, gets his name out there and generally comes across as an aw-shucks guy when the media is involved. It's strange to me how many SEC coaches fail to capitalize on those opportunities. Most of them don't care. I think it's a wise investment on Tuberville's part.

I occasionally peruse the "Capstone Report" website because it's one of the most (unintentionally) hilarious outposts on the Interwebs.

One of their Friday posts was a doozy.

Here's the link: Tuberville’s charm offensive (Note: There is a mild profane reference involved)

I don't know who was asking those questions, but I can assure you Auburn beat peeps weren't involved. I was sitting by most of them. Phillip Marshall wasn't sitting by me. I'd know his voice regardless of the distance between us.

So the CR's post there is misleading at the very least. Bummer.

EDIT: Changed phrasing from lie to misleading at the very least. (See comments for additional discussion on this topic)

Auburn @ Media Days, 7/25

Hey everyone. Just got out of the annual Private Beat Writer Meeting with Tuberville.

Here is what you need to know about that:

• Auburn was picked by the media to win the SEC West. The margin over second-place was huge. I don't have the numbers in front of me right now.
  
  
• Auburn will have a clear No. 1 quarterback going into the season-opening game.
  
  
• Tuberville said Chris Todd's shoulder is "much better."
  
  
• Chaz Ramsey hasn't decided what to do just yet. The OG underwent back surgery earlier this year. He has participated in some workouts lately. He may play. He may take a medical redshirt. ``It's totally up to him. You look at linemen -- a majority of them have back problems."
  
  
• Tuberville said WR Mario Fannin is 100 percent. He had shoulder surgery in March.
  
  
• DT Tez Doolitte says he's 100 percent. Tuberville said the doctors believe Doolittle is 95 percent.
  
  
• LB Bo Harris has left the team and will not return. He ended spring injured and on the third-team defense.
  
  
• TB/KR Tristan Davis is 100 percent. Tuberville said Davis will wear a metal brace over his foot to help prevent another injury. "We have a lot of plans for him."
  
  
• Tuberville believes a freshman likely will play a major role at cornerback. The newcomers there are D'Antoine Hood and converted wideout Harry Adams.
  
  
• Tuberville wants more big plays this season. "We have to get some for distance. I don't want it to be like pulling teeth to get the ball over the goal line."
  
  
• Freshman DE Andre Wadley still hasn't been cleared for workouts and probably won't for some time. He spent a week in the hospital earlier this month after experiencing serious problems after a voluntary workout. Doctors still don't understand what went wrong. ``Everything kind of shut down on him. We've got to look out for his well-being."
  
  
• Tuberville believes Wadley will resume his career at Auburn later this year.
  
  
• Freshman TB Reggie Hunt still hasn't been cleared by the NCAA. "We're all waiting."
  
  
• Sophomore CB Ryan Williams may or may not be eligible this season. Academics are at issue. Tuberville said Williams is in the doghouse. "He got himself in a little bit of a bind."
  
  
• DE Raven Gray is 100 percent and ready to practice. He missed most of spring drills because of December knee surgery.
  
  
• Auburn will monitor the number of plays rather than elapsed time during preseason practice. The team's high-paced offense is much more efficient than its previous incarnation. A 20-minute skeleton drill used to go 30 plays. Now it's more like 50 or 60. ``We've got to get to August 30 in tact."
  

Here's C Jason Bosley answering questions at Media Days. He said he's looking forward to Sen'Derrick Marks' column for Sporting News and plans to make fun of him "if he writes something stupid."


This is Marks holding court at Media Days across the room from Bosley. He attracted a much larger crowd, which didn't bother the introspective Bosley one bit.

Media Days update

Hey everyone. I have been instructed to blog on the Advertiser's website. So your updates will not be here as promised. It's out of my hands.

Here is where I am ... for the next few days only: Advertiser SEC Media Days blog

If you want to comment here about stuff you see there, I'm cool with that. I'll be check this as often as usual.

See you there.

Rudi Johnson. Who knew?

ESPN.com ran a story today about former Auburn tailback (and current Cincinnati Bengals employee) Rudi Johnson's love for vehicles.

It's a great read. Amazing that he became this guy.

MyRide with Rudi Johnson

Favorite quote? There are so many nominees to consider.

"I [also] keep a Maserati [Quattroporte] in Miami for the warm weather."

Your Daily Fix, 7/22

Hey everyone. We actually have a little bit of news today, though it's not enough to get the HABOTN on red-light alert or anything.

We do, however, like hot bats. That's a seriously warm HABOTN stick!

Auburn added Scott Foxhall and Matt Heath to the baseball staff today. Foxhall will be the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator. Heath, the former LSU star from earlier this decade, will coach hitting.

Both have been with new coach John Pawlowski for a bit. Foxhall was at Charleston for nine seasons. Heath had been there three years. The team at Charleston had been either good or very good in recent years.

It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it going in the SEC.

Media Days is less than 24 hours away. I'll be blogging as much as possible, passing along any information you need to know about what has been said. There always is some funny stuff going down.

Here is the schedule of what you can expect and when:

WEDNESDAY
Commissioner provides a state of the SEC @ 12:45
Florida @ 1:15
MSU @ 2:15
LSU @ 3:15
Vanderbilt @ 4:15

THURSDAY
Rogers Redding, the league's top official, speaks about changes @ 8:30
Alabama @ 8:45
Georgia @ 9:45
Ole Miss @ 10:45
Tennessee @ 11:45

FRIDAY
Auburn @ 8:45
Kentucky @ 9:45
Arkansas @ 10:45
South Carolina @ 11:45

As I understand it, the SEC will be webcasting live this week. I'm not 100% sure that will work as swimmingly as you may expect, but it may be worth a try.

Check back often. I'll be blogging every 10 minutes or so from the Wynfrey Hotel in scenic downtown Hoover.

I had a very humbling moment yesterday. My daughter made it though summer camp for the first time, so I bought her a Nintendo Wii as a little affirmation of personal progress.

So we play bowling. I lose. To a 6-year-old kid. Badly. It was 174-99.

Goodbye, ego. It was nice knowing you.

Here is someone else struggling to keep up...

Your Daily Fix, 7/21

Hey everyone. The SEC preseason poll (coaches version) was released earlier today. As you'd expect with coaches and their sometimes curious evaluation processes, there were some surprises.

Coaches can't vote for their own players. I understand the thinking behind that, though that means "sleeper" guys lose attention in favor of their more ballyhooed counterparts. That's how a guy like Antonio Coleman falls to the third team.

Commentary follows.

FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE
TE Cornelius Ingram, Florida
OL Andre Smith, Alabama
OL Michael Oher, Ole Miss
OL Anthony Parker, Tennessee
OL Herman Johnson, LSU
C Jonathan Luigs, Arkansas
WR Percy Harvin, Florida
WR Kenny McKinley, South Carolina
QB Tim Tebow, Florida
RB Knowshon Moreno, Georgia
RB Arian Foster, Tennessee

SECOND-TEAM OFFENSE
TE Richard Dickson, LSU
OL Ciron Black, LSU
OL Tyronne Green, Auburn
OL Ramon Foster, Tennessee
OL Lee Ziemba, Auburn
OL Mitch Petrus, Arkansas
OL Garry Williams, Kentucky
C Antoine Caldwell, Alabama
C Brett Helms, LSU
WR Demetrius Byrd, LSU
WR Mohamed Massaquoi, Georgia
QB Matthew Stafford, Georgia
RB Anthony Dixon, Mississippi State
RB Ben Tate, Auburn

THIRD-TEAM OFFENSE
TE Jared Cook, South Carolina
OL Phil Trautwein, Florida
OL Jim Tartt, Florida
OL John Jerry, Ole Miss
OL Anthony Strauder, Mississippi State
C Josh McNeil, Tennessee
WR Lucas Taylor, Tennessee
WR Brandon LaFell, LSU
QB John Parker Wilson, Alabama
RB Keiland Williams, LSU
RB Terry Grant, Alabama


FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE
DL Greg Hardy, Ole Miss
DL Sen'Derrick Marks, Auburn
DL Tyson Jackson, LSU
LB Brandon Spikes, Florida
LB Rico McCoy, Tennessee
LB Darry Beckwith, LSU
LB Dannell Ellerbe, Georgia
DB Eric Berry, Tennessee
DB Derek Pegues, Mississippi State
DB Rashad Johnson, Alabama
DB Captain Munnerlyn, South Carolina
DB D.J. Moore, Vanderbilt

SECOND-TEAM DEFENSE
DL Ricky Jean-Francois, LSU
DL Geno Atkins, Georgia
DL Jeremy Jarmon, Kentucky
DL Peria Jerry, Ole Miss
LB Jasper Brinkley, South Carolina
LB Rolando McClain, Alabama
LB Eric Norwood, South Carolina
LB Tray Blackmon, Auburn
LB Jamar Chaney, Mississippi State
DB Emanuel Cook, South Carolina
DB Asher Allen, Georgia
DB Trevard Lindley, Kentucky
DB Jerraud Powers, Auburn

THIRD-TEAM DEFENSE
DL Antonio Coleman, Auburn
DL Antwain Robinson, Arkansas
DL Kirston Pittman, LSU
DL Jeff Owens, Georgia
LB Rennie Curran, Georgia
LB Micah Johnson Kentucky
LB Braxton Kelley, Kentucky
DB Reshard Langford, Vanderbilt
DB Chad Jones, LSU
DB Major Wright, Florida
DB Joe Haden, Florida
DB Wondy Pierre-Louis, Florida

FIRST-TEAM SPECIALISTS
PK Colt David, LSU
P Ryan Shoemaker, Auburn
RS Brandon James, Florida

SECOND-TEAM SPECIALISTS
PK Ryan Succop, South Carolina
P Ryan Succop, South Carolina
RS Javier Arenas, Alabama

THIRD-TEAM SPECIALISTS
PK Leigh Tiffin, Alabama
P Brian Mimbs, Georgia
RS Trindon Holliday, LSU

You already know how I feel about Coleman on the third-team defense. I think he's 95% as good as Sen'Derrick -- meaning he's one of the best linemen in the nation -- though clearly I'm in the minority there.

No Wes Byrum? No excuse. How does that happen? The kid was 17-of-23 last season. He was 14-of-15 inside of 40. Colt David is an excellent kicker, no doubt, and Ryan Succop is good. Leigh Tiffin? Seriously?

Are Ben Tate and Terry Grant really the best guys behind Knowshon Moreno? Wow.

Ricky Jean-Francois: I told you so.

I'll betcha $50 cash money that Tommy Trott makes the post-season list. He has more talent than the three guys named above and now he'll have a legit opportunity to show it.

Glad to see Tyronne Green getting some love. He's a really good player. I wish he was more open with reporters because he's a fascinating talent totally deserving of more publicity.

Your Daily Fix, 7/20

Hey everyone. I penned a little story for Sunday's editions that reviewed how four major preseason magazines handicapped SEC this season. It's fun to read through the magazines and see how (some) people who know little about Auburn have to say about Auburn.

As you'll see below, an example is saying Rod Smith has the SEC's best hands. He has good hands, no doubt, but Ben Tate is the best receiver on that team. He has the gift, No. 44.

(If the Advertiser wasn't footing the bill, I'd stick with Sporting News and Phil Steele's tome.)

The story reveals a lot of what I found. Some of it was funny. Some of it was pretty cool. As someone who used to chart stats for my NES Baseball Stars team -- I was 15 -- reading through Phil Steele's volume can be annoying in an OCD way.

There are other tidbits that deserve HOTTIE perusal. They are as follows:

SPORTING NEWS
Predicted West finish: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, MSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss

• Says Arkansas' stock is dropping
  
• Says Auburn and Alabama are on the up-tick
  
• Says Rod Smith has the SEC's best hands
  
• Says Sen'Derrick Marks is the SEC's top NFL prospect
  
• Gave Auburn and Alabama 5-out-of-5 for coaching

LINDY'S
Predicted West finish: LSU, Auburn, Alabama, MSU, Ole Miss, Arkansas

• Says Auburn's offense is "definitely on the uppity-up"
  
• Says a 9-win season is "the lowest of expectations"
  
• Rates Auburn's OL as the nation's No. 5 group
  
• Rated Auburn's DL as the nation's No. 8 group (Really?)

ATHLON
Predicted West finish: Auburn, LSU, Alabama, MSU, Arkansas, Ole Miss

• I saw nothing noteworthy here

PHIL STEELE
Predicted West finish: Auburn, LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, MSU, Arkansas

• Ranks Auburn as the nation's No. 4 surprise team
  
• Says "If everything falls (the Tigers') way, they could have a year like 2003."
  
• YES, THAT'S WHAT IT SAYS. 2003.
  
• Says Auburn is a "darkhorse national title contender

AGGREGATE RANKINGS
I think this ran in the actual newspaper, but I cannot find this online. I found it so interesting that Florida and Georgia garnered two first-place votes each yet weren't in the top three overall.

FLORIDA's votes: No. 1 by Steele and Athlon, No. 6 by Lindy's, No. 9 by Sporting News
GEORGIA's votes: No. 1 by Lindy's and Sporting News, No. 5 by Athlon, No. 9 by Steele

Rank, team, avg. magazine rank
1. Ohio State, 2.25
2. Southern Cal, 3.25
3. Oklahoma, 3.50
4. Georgia, 4.00 (2 first-place votes)
5. Florida, 4.25 (2 first-place votes)
6. Missouri, 6.00
7. West Virginia, 7.75
8. LSU, 8.50
9. Clemson, 10.33
10. Texas, 11.25
11. Auburn, 12.25
12. *Kansas, 13.33
13. Wisconsin, 14.50
14. *Illinois, 14.67
15. *Arizona State, 15.33
16. BYU, 15.50
17. Texas Tech, 16.25
18. Virginia Tech, 16.67
19. USF, 17.00
20. Oregon, 19.25
21. Tennessee, 21.50
22. *Wake Forest, 21.67
23. *Fresno State, 24.00
24. **Penn State, 16.50
25. **Alabama, 24.75

*=appeared in three polls
**=appeared in two polls

Source: Lindy's, Athlon, Sporting News, Phil Steele's College Football Preview