Friday chatter

Hey everyone. So we all know the Tigers practiced Thursday, but what were they saying afterward?

Glad you asked. Keep in mind that us beat hacks don't ask about practice every day because, you know, that gets boring. So we ask about a variety of different things. If some of this stuff seems tangential, it probably is.

Gotta change it up sometimes.

GENE CHIZIK SPEAKS

• On Thursday's practice: "I thought their effort was really, really good and we’re a little bit sloppy as far as execution goes today, defensively and offensively simply because we put in some more stuff today. The effort was really good. I thought they were focused for the most part. The sloppiness, I think, of execution just comes with more and more that you install. We’ll get better with that."
  
  
• On what they can accomplish without pads: "What we’re all looking for right now is how to practice. I think the practice expectations of tempo, how we’re going to approach the ball defensively as far as getting yourself in positions to tackle; offensively, position blocking or getting all of your receiver split and your tailbacks lined up and the quarterbacks reads."

TRACK ROCKER SPEAKS

• On freshman DE Cam Henderson: "He has an attitude, he has something in him. He can be special. We just have to keep training him. He's a bit raw in fundamentals, but he has also the want-to. My thing is, I have to realize he's a basketball-type-looking-body guy. I have to be a little bit more patient with him and take a little bit more time with him to get him fundamentally sound."
  
  
• On having flashbacks to his playing days ... same field and all: "It's something you really can't believe. I walk out there that first day and I'm like, 'I'm back out here as a coach. We used to have fundamentals over there on that field..." I could remember what we did at every place on that field. And that's the uniqueness of it. One thing about it, you always prepare hard there and went over to that stadium and let it all go. That's the uniqueness of it. There's a sense of pride when I walk out there. It's a sense of tradition and history of all the people that came through here and left a lot on that practice field."

TOMMY THIGPEN SPEAKS

• On his initial thoughts about recruiting: "There has been a lot of traffic through Auburn. If you get a kid on campus, that's all it takes. This place sells itself. The people around here -- young, old, black, white, Chinese, brown -- are Auburn. Everybody around here loves Auburn. We've been on the buzz. Look on the internet. Everybody's talking about us. Once we start getting it rolling and win a few games, the recruiting will take care of itself."
  
  
• On his approach to recruiting: (He handles eastern Birmingham, Atlanta and south Florida) "When was Auburn good? When we controlled two states: Alabama and Georgia. If we get those two states -- that's my main concentration -- then we won't have to go outside of that. I do Pahokee, the glades, Ft. Lauderdale. I'm going to recruit it, but I'm hoping we don't make it that far."

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University