Football chatter, 4/13

Photo credit: Todd Van Emst/Auburn University

Hey everyone. In lieu of any substantive news to report today, how about we examine a few things that have caught my eye during the past few weeks?

I discussed a few of these things on the radio today. So what?

• I get a lot of questions about the wideouts. I often give different answers because, well, it's a complicated situation right now.
  
  Montez Billings hasn't been practice as best I can tell. We haven't received any answers about why he's not practicing. Tim Hawthorne is a solid contributor. I sense that Quindarius Carr can be a solid contributor. PPL? Can't tell yet. Terrell Zachery appears to have some star power, but I'm still waiting to see potential meet performance.
  
  One thing is for sure: DeAngelo Benton and Emory Blake will have a chance to play immediately.
  
  
• Depth along the offensive line is laughably barren. Auburn has almost no safety net in place. With Kyle Coulahan now off the team, the Tigers have seven healthy scholarship linemen. When Bart Eddins returns from his injury, that makes eight. Freshmen Andre Harris and John Sullen arrive this summer, but you know how that goes. Plus, Sullen is a long-shot prospect from the start.
  
  
• Eltoro Freeman has a real chance to get everything you wanted Tray Blackmon to be. Freeman has all the speed, bloodthirst of the LBOH ... but adds an awareness that was missing from the Tigers' last Impossibly Hyped Linebacker. I like him.
  
  
• Mike McNeil sounds like he may be out for a while with the leg injury he suffered last weekend. If that's true, remember that broken bones can heal firmly within six months.
  
  Also, Christian Thompson is one heck of an understudy. He has some star potential.
  
  
• I couldn't make a list without mentioning the weird, unnecessary decision to close practices and scrimmages to the media. Gene Chizik said he didn't want distractions. I guess Tigerettes and hordes of high-school coaches never cause distractions.
  
  Judging from the message-board gossip posted by one of those high-school coaches last week (re: the imagined "fight" between Coleman and Rocker), Chizik may want to reconsider his reasoning.