Midpoint of Spring Ball.

By Posted on: April 11th, 2013 in Football 8 Comments »
Scrimmage work

Tigers stuttered a bit, yesterday.

     War Eagle, everybody! Spring proceeds apace, and Auburn continues to try and improve. Yesterday did mark the first practice that left head coach Gus Malzhan disappointed in the intensity. On the other hand, I’d be sluggish too, if I was inhaling clouds of yellow dust during an intense workout! I do like the “no excuses” attitude expressed by the players interviewed yesterday. We’ll get a good sense of this team’s leadership after Friday’s practice, and another scrimmage Saturday. I think these Tigers will pick it back up!

     If the number of injuries is any indication, Auburn has significantly turned up the heat in their practice style. I once applauded former coach Gene Chizik for getting us through camps with minimal losses, compared to the cage-match brutality of the Tuberville practices. Now, I’m not so sure players don’t need significant toughening during these periods. Current likely two-deep guys battling injury and missing time include Angelo Blackson, Keymiya Harrell, JaViere Mitchell, Quan Bray, and Tre Mason.

More on the Tigers, unit by unit, after the jump!

      The defensive line has taken a hit with projected starter Angelo Blackson being out. This elevates senior Jeffery Whitaker back in the first unit. Junior college transfer Ben Bradley is probably the top backup right now. Veteran Kenneth Carter has worked both at end and tackle. Frankly, I like the idea of Carter at end. He’s a big 287 pound guy, and there’s sometimes a need for a guy like that. When a team’s determined to run the ball at you, you need a big end on the strong side to keep those linemen honest. It’s a big question right now who’s going to back up starting senior ends Dee Ford and Nosa Eguae. We know both of those guys are good when healthy. However, end is a position where depth is really needed.

     Linebacker remains a huge question, and it will remain so for me till I see ‘em play next week. Defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson alluded this week to last year’s tackling problems, and nowhere was it worse than at linebacker.

     “As a coach, you can’t take too much for granted, even on our level. You recruit some of the best players in the country to come to a school like Auburn, and you can’t take for granted that they all know how to tackle exactly right and don’t need work on it,” said Johnson. That’s about as fierce an indictment of the previous coaching staff you’ll ever hear from Ellis Johnson! Here’s hoping he knows how to get ‘em up to speed!

     We’re hearing about a starting lineup rotation that includes Jake Holland, Kris Frost, and Cassanova McKinzy. Not content to work a starting unit to death like the previous two coordinators, Johnson has been also working hard with a second unit rotation, including LaDarius Owens, Chris Landrum, and Anthony Swain.

     Ellis Johnson’s “star” position has already produced the most consistently praised player of this spring, thus far. Junior Justin Garrett has been singled out for being a leader, showing great tackling ability, and making big hits. Of Garrett, Johnson said, “He is without a doubt the best we’ve got.” Who’ll back Garrett up is the big question. The latest move by the coaching staff was to put Robensen Therezie there, and he’s currently running second team.

     I felt like Auburn had a wealth of talent in the secondary last season, and they were largely misused. Rather than pressuring and shutting down SEC receivers, they were having to keep their heads on a swivel, and make most of the tackles on the team. Your top corners thus far seem to be senior Chris Davis and junior Jonathan Mincy, but they are getting strong competition from sophomores Joshua Holsey and Jonathan Jones. Presumably the starting safeties would be junior Jermaine Whitehead and senior Demetruce McNeal, but yesterday junior Trent Fisher took the lion’s share of the first team reps. Fisher’s going to be hard to keep off the field this year.

     The most interesting aspect of the special teams thus far is that a number of trick plays were run yesterday in front of the media. Senior holder Ryan White practiced some passes yesterday off fake field goal attempts, as did Cody Parkey. Steven Clark also threw some balls from punt formation. There were also some plays with direct snaps to upbacks, and even a throwback from Parkey to Ryan White. This is intriguing stuff, that could ignite seemingly failed drives. It could also resemble vintage early Tuberville, like those failed fake punts against Florida, which always led to another quick Gator score.

     One area where unit consistency is key is on the offensive line. With four guys who started most of last year returning, I think everyone pretty much penciled in Greg Robenson, Reese Dismukes, Chad Slade, and Patrick Miller in as starters, and they haven’t disappointed this spring. Right now it looks like Redshirt freshman Alex Kozan has wrested control of the 5th spot up front, at left guard. I’ve kept an eye out for Kozan, wearing number 63, in various practice videos. This guy gets after it! I don’t see him losing out, unless he gets hurt!

     We’re hearing lots of great things about the tight ends and H-backs. It’s perhaps as deep as Auburn has been in this area since the 1993 season. C. J. Uzomah and Ricky Parks have been drawing rave reviews for their catches, and overall performance. Blockers Jay Prosch and Brandon Fulse are paving the way up front. This is quite a bit of versatility here, and it’s going to be really difficult for defensive coordinators to figure out how to deal with these guys.

     Nowhere in recent years has Auburn taken more hits than in the receiver corps. It’s being said by a number of players that junior Trovon Reed has been a vocal leader in the clubhouse. But the guy singled out by the coaches here has been junior Jaylon Denson.

     Denson’s been an intriguing guy to me the past two seasons. They’d run him out there in games occasionally, generally to block. He’s got decent size, and shows good leverage. When he’d actually get to run a route, he’d show good speed, but our quarterbacks would almost never look his way. Pretty soon, defenses stopped bothering to cover him.

     This year, offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has this to say about Denson: “Right now, if you asked who I can count on, I know I can count on him six days in. We are moving him around a little bit. He’s smart enough he can handle it. He’s making plays. He’s not only making plays with the ball, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do when he doesn’t get the ball.”

     Of the rest of the squad, commentary has been mixed. Quan Bray is injured. Sammie Coates is “making plays,” and has a few dropped balls. Sophomores Ricardo Lewis and Melvin Ray look to have potential, but sometimes they don’t line up right. Trovon Reed is currently a starter. Will this be his year to break out?

     At running back, it’s pretty much been a two-man show. JUCO transfer Cameron Artis-Payne and junior Corey Grant are both running with the ones. Grant was a big mystery last season. He was perhaps the most consistently praised guy on the team last spring, and then wasn’t even used during the season except late in blow-outs against cupcakes. I got a good look at Grant in last year’s A-Day game, as he took most snaps with the starting unit out out there. He was a hard-nosed runner who didn’t go down on first contact. Here’s hoping he’s a major factor this fall.

     Cameron Artis-Payne looks like the real deal. He’s wearing number 44 this spring, and he’ll remind you of Ben Tate. Artis-Payne has a great work-ethic, and coaches feel that he’s made a number of good plays this spring. With Tre Mason largely sidelined with a leg injury, it’s good that Grant and Artis-Payne are getting the lion’s share of the work. Mason has already trained in this offense in 2011.

     Your leading quarterback descriptor this spring from the coaches is “inconsistent.” We’ve also heard more than one defensive back brag about picks they’ve gotten this spring. While this might be cause for worry, it’s also true that there has been a ton of line-up shuffling, and it’s pretty hard for a quarterback to get into a rhythm with a rotating cast of players around him. And with no contact on the quarterback, one can’t get a sense of how effective quarterback runs might be this fall. Coaches continue to insist that Khiel Frazier and Jonathan Wallace are essentially even, and that no decision will be made this spring as to who is the starter.

     We’ve seen guys at quarterback in the Malzhan system come out of nowhere in the fall, and do well. Malzhan won the SEC West in 2006 with Mitch Mustaine and Casey Dick in the gun. Chris Todd didn’t participate in the 2009 spring drills, won the job in the fall, and set Auburn passing records. Cam Newton did do spring drills in 2010, but wasn’t impressive on A-Day. He then had the best quarterback year in Auburn history that fall. However, I see little chance for an incoming freshman or JUCO transfer to pick up this offense’s subtleties in a few weeks of fall camp, and lead Auburn to a title. If we’re starting one of the new guys next fall, we’ll be in trouble on offense once again.

     What are Auburn’s real chances next season? Well, here’s an early look at the schedule! We host Washington State in the opener, against a high octane Mike Leach offense. It’s a dangerous opener, but not as dangerous as the past two. Leach had attitude problems on his team last year, and they lost a bunch of games. While he’s likely to fix a lot of that, his hurry-up strategy will be countered by an Ellis Johnson defense used to lining up fast.

     Home dates against Arkansas State and Mississippi State should also be wins. Both teams lost a lot of talent to graduation, and Dan Mullen also has to deal with a raided staff.

     At LSU is a likely loss. LSU does have rebuilding to do, but they have talent. Also LSU QB Zach Mettenberger should settle down with a year of starting experience under his belt. It’s a tall order to expect a win in Baton Rouge next season.

     Ole Miss follows in Jordan Hare, followed by Western Carolina for homecoming. Auburn basically played Ole Miss to a draw for three quarters, then collapsed under the pace in the 4th quarter in 2012. That shouldn’t be an issue, this year, and with a decent offense, Auburn will win both of these at home.

     At a likely 5-1 record, Auburn takes their first journey to College Station, Texas, to face the Aggies and Heisman Trophy player Johnny Football. Texas A&M has some holes to fill, but what college team doesn’t? Some have also suggested that Manziel is headed for a sophomore slump, with all of the “wild-child” rumors swirling about him. Rumors or not, the kid can play. I see an Auburn loss here, but not a 63-21 loss.

     Florida Atlantic should be another slam-dunk win, then Auburn travels to Fayetteville, likely with a 6-2 record. Brett Bielma will probably build a decent team in Arkansas, but this current bunch will have their hands full dealing with the SEC West hurry-ups. With any sort of offensive life, last year’s Auburn team would have beaten this bunch. I don’t think a road win in 2013 here is out of line.

     After Fayetteville, Auburn travels to Knoxville the following week. The Vols hired up and comer Butch Jones to turn their fortunes around, but I think the Big Orange has a long-term building project to do. Tennessee gave up even more points than Auburn did, last season. The Vols gave up 37 or MORE points to every SEC team they played, except lame-duck Kentucky in the final game of the year. This bunch won’t handle Gus Malzhan’s scheme well. Meanwhile, offensive stars Tyler Bray, Justin Hunter and Cordarelle Patterson have all departed for the NFL.

     Then at 7-3, Auburn has Georgia and Alabama in Jordan Hare. At this point it’s hard to see an Auburn win in either game, but we should expect at good fight. How good can defensive wizard Ellis Johnson be in a first season? Usually, he’s picking up the pieces in his first couple of gigs at bad programs. He has more talent at Auburn than he’s probably used to. The Malzhan offense will knock out a TD or two against anyone! As we’ve seen.

     Realistically, we’re looking at a 7-8 win regular season next fall. The two things that could preclude that are an injury-riddled year, or lack of development at quarterback. My optimistic guess is that we’ll be bowling on New Year’s Day or later. Should a quarterback catch fire, anything’s possible!

Posted in Football | 8 Comments »

Who Will be Auburn’s Most Important Offensive Back in 2013?

By Posted on: April 10th, 2013 in Football 7 Comments »
11427288-large- Jay Prosch

He was a 250 pound, two time All-State selection in High School who helped  his school win the 4-A State Championship. Although he was named the Alabama Lineman of the Year and played in the Alabama/ Mississippi High School All-Star game, he received little attention from SEC schools.

It was a surprise to his coaches when he had to leave his home state to play football in the Big 10. Two years later though, he was named a First Team All-American fullback and considered a true NFL prospect.

When he was granted a release by the University of Illinois to transfer to a school closer to his ailing mother, he had close to 20 deep south schools vying for his services. And as all Auburn fans know, Jay Prosch chose  the Tigers.

It was a time that brought joy and hope to a young man who had been through so much. Yet two days after being the lead blocker for Running back Tre Mason in the Tigers opening game against Clemson …



… his mother Iris lost her battle with brain cancer.

It must have been a tough thing to return to the football field but he was there the next Saturday in Starkville for Auburn’s first SEC road test. That’s the kind of guy that Jay Prosch is… he’s a man you can depend on.

Still in spite of his reputation as one of the nation’s best fullbacks Jay was not utilized as much as coaches had said he would be in the preseason. This despite his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and scoring the first two touchdowns of his college career.

What a help he could have been for the SEC’s ninth place rushing offense … had he not been left standing on the sideline for much of the season.

The players knew what he could do, having named him “The Juggernaut” during summer camp.

The coaches knew what he could do. Former running backs coach, Curtis Looper said, “You know, (backs like him) are hard to find. There aren’t many guys who can power clean 400 pounds and run like he can run and block like he can, as flexible as he is, the hands that he has.”

If that was so, and evidence says it was, Jay had to wonder why wasn’t he in the game more often? It was truly one of the many inexplicable things to happen with the 2012 team. However, Jay never complained.

He is a throwback, old fashion, hard nose football player. The kind who gives it all he has and puts the team above his own interest. His attitude has always been, “Whatever I can do to help the team.”

Now for the second year in a row the news coming out of spring camp is that Jay is once again wowing his coaches and teammates.

In fact he was one of the first offensive players to receive praise from the staff this spring. H-backs coach Scott Fountain for one said Prosch, “Can give us another dimension in the running game that we didn’t have … even the year we won the national championship.”

And since he will be playing in Gus Malzahn‘s downhill, run first offense, Jay Prosch may finally have the Auburn season everyone expected of him last year. Outside of the QB position, he could easily become the most important back in the Tiger backfield.

One things for certain, the guy who received little attention from SEC schools four years ago, will be on the radar of every defensive coordinator on Auburn’s schedule in 2013

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Posted in Football | 7 Comments »

Selena Roberts: A Sad, Dark Place

By Posted on: April 8th, 2013 in Football, News 13 Comments »

Selena Roberts - Cover of Auburn MagazineWhat kind of dark place must you be in to turn on your alma mater? That was my first thought when I read the Selena Roberts article alleging allegations of grade changing and payments to players by former Auburn coaches.

I’m amazed at who and what people will turn against in order to gain attention and further their careers. For Roberts, the Auburn story was nothing more than a Hail Mary to save her crashing career. Maybe things have gotten so dire that throwing your alma mater under the bus makes sense in some sad, twisted way.

If the flame throwing, unproven accusations weren’t so bad, you’d almost feel sorry for the 1988 Auburn graduate.

With her work now labeled as “gotcha, hide-the-ball journalism at its worst,” by her own university, Roberts joins Eric Ramsey and Stanley McClover among others in the ever growing fraternity of Auburn people who’ve been exiled forever from campus.

Roberts’s professional life has been in free fall in recent years. Once a rising star with The New York Times and Sports Illustrated, she now finds herself writing for some lowly web site she started called roopstigo.com. In the world of sports writing, that’s a collapse of monumental proportion.

While the questionable lines in last week’s story will likely end any chance of rehabilitating her career, Roberts has earned a reputation of playing fast and loose with the facts.

Most notably, she was questioned by many in the national media over her quickness to convict the Duke Lacrosse Team in 2006 for a rape that was proven later to never have happened.

Noted sports columnist Jason Whitlock took Roberts to task at the time about her inaccurate reporting, writing in the Kansas City Star…

Not long ago, sports writer Selena Roberts compared the Duke lacrosse players to gang members and career criminals.

She claimed that the players’ unwillingness to confess to or snitch about a rape (that did not happen) was the equivalent of drug dealers and gang members promoting anti-snitching campaigns.

When since-disgraced district attorney Mike Nifong whipped up a media posse to rain justice on the drunken, male college students, Roberts jumped on the fastest, most influential horse, using her New York Times column to convict the players and the culture of privilege that created them.

Proven inaccurate, Roberts never wrote a retraction for the columns that contributed to the public lynching of Reade Seligmann, Colin Finnerty and David Evans (former Duke Lacrosse Players).

That snippet gives some insight into how Roberts operates. In the end, this story is going nowhere fast. The lack of evidence and now denial by those questioned means this becomes nothing more than a sucker punch by a disgruntled alumni.

My hope is that none of us find ourselves in such a sad and dark place that we feel the only way to thrive is to turn against the people and places who’ve given us the most joy.

Selena Roberts is a sad soul.

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Posted in Football, News | 13 Comments »

The [unnamed source] Who Cried Wolf

By Posted on: April 5th, 2013 in Featured Article, Football, News 26 Comments »
The dying live oaks across from Toomer's Corner serve as a stark reminder of how emotions can spin out of control.

The dying live oaks across from Toomer’s Corner serve as a stark reminder of how emotions can spin out of control.

Pack it up, folks. It’s time to give in. We had a good run but the jig is up. Auburn football is doomed. If only I had a nickel for every time I have heard that in the previous three years. Auburn University Athletics (football specifically) has once again found itself facing sensationalized accusations.  I guess you could say I’m surprised, but I’d be lying if I told you I was not expecting something. Auburn has become an easy target for journalists to hitch their wagons to with ambiguous sources and rampant speculation. It is an unfortunate trend that does not appear to be going away anytime soon. 

Selena Roberts - Cover of Auburn Magazine

The latest piece of professional sports journalism hidden agenda driven piece of propaganda I speak of comes from journalist (and Auburn alumni) Selena Roberts. Earlier this week she published this piece and in it, claimed instances of academic fraud and payments to football players attending Auburn University. There is also speculation that former head coach, Gene Chizik, had influence on local law enforcement authorities and used that influence to cast former safety Mike McNeil as the “scapegoat” for the armed robbery he currently faces charges from. Her story along with its claims were almost immediately disputed by the very sources she cited in it, though she reasserted its validity in a follow-up Q&A with AL.com’s Brandon Marcello. This isn’t the first time Roberts has exercised her reckless “creative freedoms” in a headline grabbing story and got called out for it. Yet, given her history of questionable reporting, she has still been able to garner (to some degree) genuine recognition regarding her allegations against Auburn University and its football program.  

Mark Bradley, of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had this to say regarding the fresh allegations laid out by Selena Roberts. I have to wonder if he even considered who he was aligning himself with by essentially perpetuating the Roberts piece and not offering much clarity to the situation. In fact, he actually added a lot of completely unrelated names and incidents from Auburn’s past that are sure to creep into the overall “mythology” of all things Auburn University corruption in 2013. Bradley was not alone, however, fools rarely are.

ESPN revealed in an article published late yesterday evening that their print publication ESPN The Magazine had conducted a six month investigation of an “epidemic of synthetic marijuana use” on Auburn’s 2010 National Championship team. I’m not defending users of synthetic marijuana or the specific players identified by ESPN, but I see no justifiable reason why a major news outlet should or would launch an investigation on this scale simply to outline and identify the usage frequency of a completely LEGAL substance. There have been schools where this was a problem AFTER synthetic marijuana was banned and became a controlled substance. I simply do not see the sound reasoning behind going back in time two full years to when it was a legal substance and finding out how many Auburn football players were using it. Well, no reason other than to stir the pot and continue the now tired and hopelessly overused ‘Auburn-is-going-down-doomsday-ahead-on-the-plains’ talk.

The article is titled, “More Potential Problems for Auburn.” Problems in what way? Problems with news outlets not being creative enough or possessing the necessary incentive to move on to more relative and pressing issues within their targeted fields of coverage? Problems with any baseless and obscure published piece remotely painting Auburn athletics in a negative light being circulated and perpetuated without there ever being any subjectivity or ridicule applied to it? What kind of problems does ESPN mean I wonder? And what previous problems are these being combined with to allow ESPN to declare them “more (potential) problems?” Because I just listed the only two problems Auburn has at the moment and has had for the last three years. In response to the recent published pieces both Jay Jacobs (Athletic Director) and former head football coach Gene Chizik have issued statements disputing all claims made of late.

Here is the initial statements from Jay Jacobs and former head coach Gene Chizik regarding the Selena Roberts piece. 

Here is Jacobs’ statement addressing the content of the ESPN article. 

The biggest crime in the entire stretch of allegations, going back to the beginning of the Cam saga, is that Auburn University as a whole has had part of its sacredness falsely proven a sham to the outside world and its genuineness mocked. Auburn football is a huge aspect of the university, but Auburn is so much more than a football team. One has to wonder what soft spot the next attack on Auburn’s reputation will target. Is anything truly off-limits anymore? Focusing solely on football, some writers and analysts speak of past coaches and their transgressions (some proven, some merely rumored) with reckless abandon that blurs the border of irresponsibility and a premeditated attack. In just the previous five years, Auburn football fans have endured:

  • The collapse of 2008.
  • The 2010 season’s validity being questioned before it was even completed.
  • The fallout from the Cam-saga.
  • The fallout from the armed robbery incident carried out by AU football players.
  • The beautiful Toomer’s Oaks were poisoned (and killed) by a fan of our in-state rival. All over a football game.
  • Repeated accusations that rarely offered any hint of substantial proof or even substance.
  • The second collapse of the football program in less than half of a decade. 

All of that, and Auburn is still the bad guy, the cheater, the big bad filthy corrupt institution that represents all that is wrong with college football. Add to that the fact that Auburn has faced inquiry after inquiry into possible wrongdoings and come through them all unscathed. It doesn’t matter. In the eyes of public perception, we go from being dirty cheaters to dirty cheaters who are masters at not getting caught. The public doesn’t need concrete proof anyway, when they can connect the dots however they like in their minds. Sources are often ambiguous and remain unnamed presumably forever. Auburn can’t win a fight against someone or some thing that doesn’t exist. 

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Posted in Featured Article, Football, News | 26 Comments »

Do the Hustle!

By Posted on: April 4th, 2013 in Football 45 Comments »
Selena Roberts

The face of the latest round of garbage leveled at Auburn.

     War Eagle, everybody. We’re nearly midway through spring drills, but the Auburn news being reported nationally isn’t about this year’s football team. Instead, much-discredited “journalist” Selena Roberts has penned another scathing pile of steaming manure, and this time the target is more or less all of Auburn.

     I’m not going to go into a huge run-down over everything this woman alleges, but you can get the general gist here. It’s another piece alleging football pay for play, grade fixing, ignored drug tests and blatant racism by former coach Gene Chizik. It also alleges that Auburn University and the Auburn City Police Department were in cahoots to punish Mike McNeil and the three other players arrested for armed robbery for… some reason. Roberts’ logic is that Chizik wanted to “send McNeil a message,” but the piece fails to communicate what that is. In addition, a half dozen or so former Tiger football players are quoted in this “report.” The whole report can be found here, but I’d think twice before gracing that site with a lot of hits.

     What you need to know about Ms. Roberts is this: She has a history of penning scathing accusations of sports institutions and athletes. She has lost jobs with Sports Illustrated and the New York Times, and is now writing for some obscure web outfit called “roopstigo.” One example of her work is the “Duke Lacrosse rape scandal” of about seven years ago. She did her best to demonize those players, twisting some facts to fit her agenda, and seemingly outright making many more up.

     In the end of course, the “scandal” fell apart. The victim admitted making the whole thing up, and a rogue, politically motivated prosecutor pursued the case far beyond any reasonable standard of evidence. Even when faced with a scenario that clearly was not true, here is what Ms. Roberts fired back with:

      “Don’t mess with Duke, though. To shine a light on its integrity has been treated by the irrational mighty as a threat to white privilege….lay off the lacrosse pipeline to Wall Street, excuse the khaki-pants crowd of SAT wonder kids.”

      The New York Times sports editor at the time, Tom Jolly said that he very much regretted the paper’s coverage of that story. You can read about the fallout here, here, and here. I’m not really sure how anyone’s supposed to take Ms. Roberts seriously after all of that, but ESPN has seen fit today to run a story on it. And of course it’s all over al.com. Even those guys are skeptical, though.

     It’s important to note that Auburn players “quoted” in the story (Neiko Thorpe, Darren Bates, and Mike Blanc) have come out in force, and either said that they were misquoted, or denied the quotes altogether.

     Supposedly, Gene Chizik hated dreadlocks and tattoos, and persecuted players because of that. I ask this question: has Auburn football ever had more dreads and tats than we’ve seen the past four years? Curious. Chizik was also accused of bad-mouthing his players to NFL scouts, hurting their draft chances. How likely is that? How many times did we EVER see Chizik bad-mouth ANY player, to anyone? (“We had a great week of practice, and things of that nature…”) Coaches like to brag to recruits about how many players they’ve sent to the NFL, not how many they’ve sandbagged!

     Wow. This is why I try to avoid “rant-mode.” I can’t see much coming out of this “article,” but I sure was steamed about it! Now, on to actual football.

     Speaking of “hustle,” hurry-up continues to be the watch-word at Auburn practices. One has to remember that even now we’re not seeing the meat of practices on those youtube videos out there from the news outlets, but I like what I’m seeing thus far from this staff. They are not at all afraid to correct players, and require do-overs if things aren’t right. We’re seeing a LOT more of “this is how you do it,” and less of “you have to cover this area, any way you can.”

     The high-speed aspect of the thing is going to pay dividends on both sides of the ball. The Johnny Footballs of the league won’t be able to catch the defense asleep as much, after they’ve practiced this way for months. We kind of figured Auburn was pretty limited at linebacker this year due to lack of numbers, but Ellis Johnson seems to have a plan to have a full two-deep ready, with replacements also trained in the wings. And if linebacker is really two-deep this year, the line and secondary certainly are! Auburn seems to have enough able defenders on the squad to stay rested, even if the other team is trying to play fast!

     If there’s anything to be concerned about, it’s that none of the junior college transfers seem to be jumping out. General consensus is that the early-enrolled JUCOs were “signed to play, not sit.” Tommy Tuberville famously once said, “they are JUCO transfers for a reason.” He believed that a guy went to junior college either because he had difficulty with the academic side, or that he was lazy. Tuberville believed that those with academic issues had to spend so much time studying that they’d be hard-pressed to stay in college football playing-shape. In one of the early hurry-up offensive drills, running back Cameron Artis-Payne was singled out for saving everyone a bunch of up-downs by snagging a tipped, errant snap, and keeping the play going.

     While Auburn hardly has issued a cast in stone depth chart, reporters are tracking who’s working with the first and second units. Your biggest surprise here is on the offensive line. Redshirt freshman Jordan Diamond seems to be holding on the starting left guard spot, the one vacated at the end of last season by John Sullen. That’s no small accomplishment on a unit loaded with unproven talent. Diamond is as talented as anyone on the line, it’s said, and he’s relentless.

     Another pleasant surprise has been Justin Garrett, at the star position. Before practice began, it was believed that Auburn really didn’t have a prototypical player for this Ellis Johnson hybrid position. Instead, Garrett has remained atop the pecking order. Garrett always struck me as a very fast linebacker, but one with durability issues. No way he’d survive the Roof/van Gorder marching orders to bang against the run for 70-80 plays per game. This way, Garrett gets to use his speed, and the unpredictability of the defense to make an impact. And he sure has, thus far!

     Here’s hoping these Tigers keep “hustling.” The coaches will be on the spot Saturday, when Auburn runs their first scrimmage of the spring. I think we’ll really start seeing the starting lineup settle in, after that. I don’t think we’ll get to see a lot of it on the videos, but Malzhan’s definitely been a lot more forthright and accommodating to the media folk than his predecessor, thus far. I don’t think Chizik ever got that the Auburn fans don’t want to hear the same robot-speech every week after practice. That didn’t play well at all during a 3-9 season, and may have been the single biggest factor in the pressure on the administration to get rid of Chizik.

     War Eagle, folks! We’ve grown very accustomed to shaking off our critics, and I assure you no one is jumping off bridges in light of the latest scandal-rag accusations on the web. It’s really pretty incredible what this institution has been put through the past few years in that regard. It all quieted down last fall when we were losing, but it’s now back again. Think the haters are worried? Looks like…

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Posted in Football | 45 Comments »

Old Friends, Old Friends

By Posted on: April 2nd, 2013 in Football, Memories, Other Sports 6 Comments »

Damon and Pythias - the exemplars of friendship

One spring afternoon in the mid-Eighties, having previously seen the invitation painted on the cafeteria windows, I began walking from my class at Haley Center over to Foy Union to sign up for the College Bowl academic competition.  As I started toward Foy, I noticed a fellow of large stature (who naturally stood out from the crowd) about thirty feet in front of me walking in the same general direction.  Oblivious to me behind him, he crossed Thatch Avenue and headed for the back entrance to the cafeteria, the same exact route I was choosing.  I had the strange feeling I was following him, even though there was a long way to go and many different turns on my way.

The fellow in front entered the cafeteria, and turned to go past the backed-up, stacked-up rows of used trays and dishes on the cafeteria conveyor belt, once again seemingly anticipating the direction I was heading.  He turned down the corridor leading to the elevator, again the same way I was headed.  By this time I think that fellow started to feel like somebody was stalking him for some reason.  We both got on the elevator together, both got off on the third floor, and both walked into the small former storage closet that housed the AU College Bowl team, both feeling a little awkward at having made this dance all the way through the bowels of Foy Union.

That’s how I met Bill Jones, the person I call my “best friend from Auburn” and one of the best friends ever in my life.  During our concurrent time on the Plains, we spent many, many days together on College Bowl road trips and at Auburn football games, and way, way too much time in front of the pinball machines and video games in the Foy Union game room.  When I couldn’t make it home all the way to Florida for non-break holidays like Easter, Bill took me to his home back in Montgomery, where I became the proud owners of a second set of parents (I love you, Mr. and Mrs. Jones!).

Our college careers diverged somewhat: I went straight through and got two degrees in accounting at Auburn; Bill continued at AU and finished up a math degree a year later.  I went into accounting and Bill started in software development.  We both moved around different places in the Southeast, always staying in touch and sharing the triumphs and challenges of young single life.

Our social and political philosophies also diverged, I becoming more conservative than ever and Bill leaning much the other way.  Even our interest in and identification with Auburn (both the institution and the football program) would wax and wane, usually at completely different times.

But our lives also criss-crossed so many ways.  We were roommates for a while when I was between jobs (both of us just happened to end up in Atlanta at that time, for different reasons).  Later on, we were even groomsmen in each other’s weddings within the space of a month (not planned, it just happened that way).  And through the years we always shared that bond of being Auburn men, no matter what the extent we self-identified as such at any particular time.

Recently, I was out of work for a year and a half, all through Auburn’s 2010 National Championship run.  Bill and I had both ended up in Atlanta for a second time, again under totally separate circumstances.  So, we got together to watch almost every AU football game that season, with him keeping up my naturally pessimistic spirits during my mostly fruitless job search.  When we each got “snowed in” for the BCS Championship, we kept in touch the whole game via text messages, and celebrated by phone after that kick went though the uprights.  We both observed that that season was the first time in a while that either of us had strongly felt a part of the Auburn Family.

Right now, I’m the one with the job, while Bill is “in transition” as they say.  On top of that, Bill had a couple of health problems last year from which he is recovering.  Through all of these struggles, Bill maintains the positive (enough) attitude that has always marked him in his own challenges.

Two months ago, I broke my fibula playing Rugby with guys a half and a third my age (“That’s what you get,” said more than one acquaintance, including my beloved bride).  With my right foot in a cast, I could not operate an automobile for the hour-and-a-half commute to my job.  Bill knew I needed face-time at the office, and offered to take me into work two days a week just for gas money.  As Bill’s home was between my home and my office, he basically took on double the time of my own commute, plus, due to the timing of our ride, more time in the snarled Atlanta traffic than I usually spent (well, at least we had some good company).

With me and my crutches and him with his cane, I started to nickname us the “Gimp Brothers” (but then I remembered that scene from Pulp Fiction…).  I thought back to our salad days of yore, when two young guys with a world of possibilities in front of them would ride around singing along with the car cassette player, or would be hollering and cheering during amazing AU comebacks like the 1987 Iron Bowl and the 1990 FSU fumble-rooskie game.  Those two invincible guys back in the past could never picture the “sorry” state in which we now found ourselves—surprisingly still hanging out with each other, but beat up physically (and a little bit mentally) by life.

(I must interrupt these reflections on my friend Bill to tell you of an even more wonderful blessing bestowed upon me.  My wife Eileen, a teacher, was SO looking forward to her week off for winter break in February.  These breaks in the school year are her own personal time to recharge and take care of things.  Bill could not transport me and my cast during the particular week Eileen was off.  Knowing how important getting into the office was to me, this woman effectively gave up her precious break and dragged me into work the whole week, many days killing time—HER time—during my workday on my office’s side of town.  Add to that the days she took off to cart me in several other weeks, and all the personal care she gave me during my time of limitation, and you see why I will always say I have the best wife in the whole world.)

Now, this column isn’t just a well-deserved paean to my friend, nor is it is a mere warm-and-fuzzy piece about our shared Auburn heritage.  No, this is a reflection on an amazing fact that I discovered the hard way (the only way I learn anything):  no matter who you are, life is just too freaking hard to make it well—really well—on your own.  If we are truly going to flourish the way God intends us to flourish, we all need the “human touch” of our friends and family.  In turn, we help our own loved ones flourish with their lives.

That doesn’t mean that we relate to everyone we know in the same way.  Sometimes, out of respect (of one kind or another), one must keep some distance from certain others; the important thing is that the folks who are currently apart must know that whenever either one really needs the other, that temporary gulf will be bridged faster than Bo Jackson could hit the sideline and score.

Everyone meets great friends at whatever college they attend.  I’d like to think the friends we pick up at our time at Auburn are ones of a special type.  As diverse as we Auburn folks are, we already share many things in common that go beyond the eleven young men for whom we scream on autumn weekends—if not the Auburn Creed specifically, then the values and outlook on life that the Creed represents.

So, people, I leave you with this: value the friends you have gained in your lifetime, especially those you found at Auburn.  If you haven’t spoken to one in a long time, pick up the freaking phone, burn some rollover minutes and call them up.  It doesn’t have to be for a reason.  Let’s face it, the clock only runs in one direction, and anything can happen at any time.  For the one thing I have learned from my forty-seven years of walking this earth is that, after all is said and done, the only thing you really have in this world is your friends and family—I mean, that’s all you have.

Michael Val

(who who believes “in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all”)

Posted in Football, Memories, Other Sports | 6 Comments »

“It’s Trovon Reed’s Time”

By Posted on: April 2nd, 2013 in Football 8 Comments »
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He was the quintessential high school football star. Every thing he did was almost magical. He was gifted, faster, and more talented than his peers. In fact he was so gifted he didn’t have to work at it – it just came natural. 

When he finished his high school career he was rated as the No.1 player in the state. College recruiters from far and wide came calling. Everyone wanted the five star to come to their school; and he had his pick. He could have played anywhere in the country including the big state university in his home state, but on National Signing Day, 2010 …  he chose Auburn.

It was a decision that took a lot of courage since he underwent tremendous pressure from his coaches, his community, and the in state media to choose LSU. However, Trovon Reed would not be dissuaded. Auburn was where he wanted to be and Auburn was where he signed

He said a big reason for his decision was Auburn’s Offensive Coordinator. “Coach Malzahn is one of the main reasons why I (chose) Auburn.”

In his first year, Reed looked like the player the coaches thought he would be; reports came out of preseason camp of his wowing both players and coaches alike with his athletic skills. Predictions were that he would play early as a true freshman. Then he injured his knee in practice and just as he seemed to be on the mend … he suffered a broken foot and had to be red shirted.

He worked hard in the off season and started 2011 a much larger (6′, 195lbs.) player. He became the starter out of the slot and wasted no time  proving he could be the kind of exciting player that could turn short passes into long gains.

Then in the Florida Atlantic game, Trovon went down hard on a seven yard punt return and broke his shoulder. His back up, freshman Quan Bray took over the job and has held it ever since. Of course anyone that followed Auburn last year knows what a mess of an offense, skill players had to deal with in 2012. So last season was a wash, a year to be forgotten – now, “It’s A New Day.”

And now, that his old OC is back as Head Coach, Trovon will get another chance to show why so many schools coveted his services back in 2010. In the Malzahn/Lashlee offense there will be a need for 5-7 receivers; so there’s plenty of room for Bray, Reed, Sammie Coates, CJ Uzomah, Jaylon Denson, and Ricardo Lewis.

One things for certain, Auburn needs as many play makers as they can get on the field and Trovon Reed can be a play maker. Auburn definitely needs him to have a break out year. And Gus Malzahn expects him to be that player. 

Gus said recently, “The good thing about Trovon is he understands our system. He’s been in it, so this is a year that will be very critical for him, I’ve got very high expectations for him. I think it’s (his) time.”

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Posted in Football | 8 Comments »

Mixed Emotions about Final Toomer’s Rolling

By Posted on: April 1st, 2013 in Football, News 13 Comments »
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There has been a lot written about the “celebration” following A-Day on April 20th when fans are invited to roll Toomer’s Corner for one last time. The city and university are spending a lot of money promoting and putting on the event.

There’s commemorative toilet paper being made available and once the dead trees are chopped down the following day, fans will have a chance to own a piece of history. Within days, there will be thousands of souvenirs stamped Auburn Oaks on them.

Auburn will charge a small fortune for you to own a piece of nostalgia. I guess there’s nothing wrong with all of it. You couldn’t very well just chop down the trees without some sort of send off.

I still find the whole process a little weird. I’d like to say the gathering will bring back memories of good times with family and friends after big Auburn wins. I’ve made a lot of great memories under those old oaks.

It’s still a little early for me.

When I see those dying trees today, a rage comes over me. I don’t think of Saturdays past, but rather see the face of an ignorant moron who got off too lightly. I think back to the comments I’ve heard from some Alabama people who’ve admitted to taking delight in Auburn’s anguish.

Those trees now symbolize for me a rivalry gone too far. What once was a state’s greatest asset has now been poisoned by the likes of sports shock jocks and fans who couldn’t find Tuscaloosa or Auburn on a map if their life depended on it.

I know there are many good Alabama people out there who’d never wish such actions on Auburn. I know thousands of dollars were raised and donated by people who wear crimson.

But still…

It hurts to look up at that corner. That intersection represents heaven on earth for me. I proposed to my wife a few steps away. I first visited there as a child with my father. In recent years, my own family has made that trek on football Saturday’s.

The final rolling of Toomer’s Corner will be no celebration for me. I’m not even sure I’ll be in attendance. I may head to the car after the A-Day game. I’ve never been big on funerals.

Throwing toilet paper onto dead limbs is not something high on my bucket list. The real celebration will be when those new magnificent replacement oaks are transplanted a few years from now. In the spirit of the Easter season, I’m all about the rebirth.

I hope you attend the event. I may change my mind and see you there. Right now, I’m not feeling it. This story is not suggesting the final rolling is a bad idea. We all say good-bye in different ways.

Personally, I choose to remember the good times – and right now, that’s not so easy.

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Posted in Football, News | 13 Comments »