Practice No. 2

Hey everyone. Auburn's second spring practice has ended. Here's what we have learned:

• S Daren Bates will be held out of contact drills until two-a-days. He suffered a torn labrum in his left shoulder during the LSU game last year. Surgery was performed in January. Bates is in shape and all, but he's lost a lot of weight because upper-body weightlifting is out. So it goes.
  
  
• TB Onterio McCalebb said he's gained 10 pounds since the Outback Bowl. It's from weightlifting. His arms look significantly bigger to me. "O-Dog" said he can feel the extra weight, but it hasn't affected his acceleration.
  
  
• McCalebb is predicting a better season in 2010 because he's not partying as much.
  
  
• Here is the current skill-position array:
  
  • "9" (outside) -- Darvin Adams, D'Angelo Benton
    
  • "5" (inside/tight end/utility) -- Phillip Lutzenkirchen, Blake
    
  • "3" (inside/utility) -- Emory Blake, Kodi Burns, Jay Wisner
    
  • "4" (tailback) -- Mario Fannin/Onterio McCalebb, Dontae Aycock
    
  • "2" (outside) -- Terrell Zachery, Quindarius Carr
  
  
  
• OL Bart Eddins is running with the first team at left guard. Big Snacks Berry played that spot last season, though he's been slowed after undergoing a relatively minor knee surgery. Eddins is aiming to make that spot his own.
  
  
• Gene Chizik said it's his understanding that S Zac Etheridge will try to play this fall. I haven't spoken with Etheridge to confirm that or understand the medical risks involved.
  
  
• McCalebb is "boys" with Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who soon will begin his second season in the majors. They're both from Ft. Meade, Fla., and McCutchen's father was McCalebb's youth pastor.
  

Photo credit: Leffie Dailey/Auburn University