After Tuesday’s flood of scout team- and depth chart-related information, not surprisingly Wednesday toned it back quite a bit; there’s not a whole lot new to report. But here’s what we’ve got, courtesy of Andy Bitter, Jay Tate, Andrew Gribble, and Charles Goldberg:
–Most of the important tidbits we got were all injury-related. Deangelo Benton is back at practice, finally, though he’s apparently being eased back into the flow of things and Chizik stopped far short of promising any playing time against Arkansas St. Or speculating on when he definitely would see any. Or–as is his wont–really offering any info other than “Benton is practicing again, slowly.” But hey, it’s something.
Elsewhere, the Swede Killa has a recurring shoulder problem that sounds like the sort of thing that won’t keep him out of action as is, but might be a problem if it gets worse in the future. We also got a little bit more info on Roszell Gayden’s injury, a knee problem that the Chiznick essentially blamed for his struggles in competing for a starting job. Chizik sounds happy with Gayden’s effort and work ethic, which is nice to hear; you might expect a gigantic, highly-rated JUCO who fully expected to start on arrival to tone things down just a bit out of disappointment. If that’s not the case, it bodes very well for Gayden’s chances of earning a major role next season.
No word on Antonio Goodwin’s injury status, which is a bit disconcerting. Oh, and “beat up” Trovon Reed has a bit of a ding as well–again–which is probably even more disconcerting. But at least he’s still practicing.
— I swear, I almost wrote yesterday that Mike Slade’s demotion to the scout team (as a redshirt junior!) and the No. 8 slot in the safety pecking order had all but ended his Auburn career, since Slade was clearly looking at neither any playing time this season nor a future fifth season on scholarship. But I thought it was maybe still a little too harsh, a little too premature.
Nope: Bryan Matthews reported that Slade (kind of understandably) responded to his demotion by leaving the program. It’s a precipitous fall for Slade, who saw adequate playing time as a redshirt freshman third safety in late 2008 and seemed poised to take over as a starter when McNeil couldn’t get healthy for ’09. But he first got beat out by Daren Bates in fall camp, then struggled mightily in his first shot at meaningful playing time (against Ole Miss, after the Etheridge injury), then watched the coaches turn to a shifted-over Demond Washington, T’Sharvan Bell, and even Drew Cole when injuries continued to take their toll on the safeties down the stretch. Then the scout team thing. It’s a shame he won’t finish his education at Auburn, but if he’s looking to put his two remaining years of eligibility to use on a football field somewhere, yeah, the handwriting was on the wall, wasn’t it? WBE wishes him the best.
— And now Chizik boards the “Derrick Lykes isn’t doing so hot” train. I’m guessing we don’t see Lykes as a regular member of the rotation any time soon, sad to say.
— All signs point towards Corey Lemonier having a lock on the backup quick end slot. Not good news for Dee Ford’s chances at playing time, I suppose, since “power end” really isn’t an option for him.
— In other depth chart news, Grimes more-or-less confirmed that Mike Berry would take over at center if anything happened to Pugh … leaving who to take over at left guard, I wonder? Probably Bart Eddins.
— P-Marsh broke down the playing status for all 30 new members of Auburn’s team, and in 29 cases, it’s what you’d expect him to write based on the reports out of practice and the scout team assignments. The one exception:
CHAD SLADE, OL, Moody: Has secured spot on No. 2 offensive line. Redshirt possible, but not likely.
Really? Because of all the first-year players on the offensive line, Slade was the one–well, he and Tunde Fariyike were the two–thought most likely to redshirt. If he’s already moved ahead of the likes of Eric Mack and Ed Christian, well, then he’s had one hell of a fall camp.
— Mario Fannin is up for the Doak Walker. As he damn well should be.
— Honestly, the most interesting thing to come out of yesterday’s practice was Bitter’s quotes from Ziemba and Newton. There’s not much to add to them or analyze about them–though it’s nice to see Ziemba give Grimes so much credit, and fun to learn that Dr. Gustav is just as wired when it comes to practice as we’ve been led to believe–but they’re definitely worth a read.
Photo by Van Emst.
Good for Chad. Ive been high on him since he earned his offer at camp last summer. Just goes to show what hard work will get you…..On Benton, I know his hand was broke but cant he still practice? He could be out there running routes and trying to block with one hand. Seems like that would be more beneficial than Muscle Beach for a month.
3 frosh on Dline 2nd team. Looks like a salty line for a few years to come.
I agree on both points wok, especially on Chad. I friend of mine coaches for Moody, and from everything he told me about his athleticism especially at that size, I knew he would be successful. But I am pumped that he has done well enough to earn a spot on the two deep. I thought because of his lack of experience at o-line (only one year I think) he would have to red shirt. But this shows he has been working hard. Great job Chad! Keep it up!
BH, three? Whitaker, Lemonier, who’s the third? Sanders is still behind Eguae, isn’t he? Not that your point isn’t entirely correct, of course.
WDR, I dunno, I feel like I don’t know enough about the kinds of limitations Benton’s had or what exactly he’d be required to do to say one way or the other. But I do think it’s odd he’s been so … not there.
As for Slade, yeah, it’s a hell of a start. What kind of odds would you have gotten on Signing Day that of the entire incoming offensive line class, B. Mosley and Slade would be the only two to grab spots on the second string?
The sports-sim site Whatifsports has simmed/predicted the SEC. Their simulation engine actually makes AU the favorite in its first 11 games (ever so slightly vs. Arkansas), but they predict the Tigers to wind up 8-4 (5-3).
http://www.whatifsports.com/beyondtheboxscore/default.asp?article=2010CFB_SECPreview
Seems about right for AU to head into the season with the capability to win every game but most people giving the benefit of the doubt to the other teams. I’m really in an undefeated kind of mood.
Mike Slade…..attrition once again hits the recuiting class of 2007.
The 3rd on the Dline is Ken Carter.
Bell Ive actually advocated for Slade to play DT on here and a few other places in the past. It was his athleticism I liked also….Looks like the coaches know exactly what they are doing when they give offers at camp.
We really need a picture of Cam on the moped…..
Interesting, Amorak. That’s a lot of home upsets we’d be suffering, hmm?
WDR, Carter ahead of Clayton, Blanc, or Fairley? Really? Are you guys seeing some insider depth chart somewhere I haven’t seen?
I do totally agree with you about this staff’s camp offers. What a surprise: Tracy Rocker, Trooper Taylor, Jeff Grimes et al actually know what they’re doing when it comes to player evaluations.
BPY, we may be working on that, actually.
Glad to see Lee Ziemba doesn’t know that we run a spread offense.
You can still be run-first out of the spread. You just “spread” the field with wide receivers and run it up the gut, which we do.
… Who told him that we don’t run the spread?
http://www.thewareaglereader.com/2010/08/scootin-newton/
Sad to hear about Lykes. I’ve been keeping an eye on him as the last unknown piece of the 2008 signing day massacre (I consider Trotter, Bell and PPL somewhat known quantities at this point). He could have been Tuberville’s last diamond-in-the-rough miracle recruiting find. He’s still got time. Maybe he’ll pull an AJ Green (or Pat Simms) and make a run next year.
Malzahn did, Aub. In Gus’s own words: “We are a two-back, downhill running football team.”
Link for that quote:
http://www.auburnundercover.com/news/story.php?article=4667
Yeah, we run the ball… out of the spread.
The spread is a formation, not a philosophy. We use the spread formation.
Ziemba is thinking of a philosophy, like the west coast offense, or something like that. What Malzahn is talking about is the team philosophy. Doesn’t mean we don’t use the spread.
I think Carter will rotate in alot this year. He has to have experience especailly since Rock is not high on Travis and Lykes. That leaves us next year with just Fairley, Whitaker, whatever freshman we bring in. Thus Carter will play alot. This is why Ive said in the past I think we will take a Juco DT in this class. Im hoping for Jenkins since he is really a NT, him and Whitaker can man the one techique. Fairley and Carter can man the 3 technique.
It is comforting to see Fannin working on his ball-handling skills in the background of that pic! My opening day prediction: 26 carries, 130 yds, 2 TDs for Super Mario. WDE!
I don’t disagree with your point, Aub–any philosophy can be executed from any formation, and Auburn certainly uses the spread as a primary formation. I would argue that there is such a thing as a spread philosophy, which has its focus primarily on the passing game, and develops its running game out of that. Malzahn clearly starts in a spread formation, runs many proven running plays to establish the run, and then builds off of that with the play action, which runs counter to that spread philosophy. Hence your assertion that Auburn runs from a spread formation, and does not use the spread as a philosophy.
Reading that article, however, specifically the line “Auburn, he insists, does not run the spread,” I kind of get the feeling that Malzahn bristles at the idea that his offense isn’t legitimate because it’s run from a spread formation, and I think that Ziemba was parroting Gus in the links Jerry has posted. It seems like it angers Malzahn that people associate him with Mike Leach or Tony Franklin just because his offense lines up with three or four wide receivers and a quarterback in the shotgun.
You are right, though, and it is an important distinction that riles me, as well. No one says the Indianapolis Colts’ offense isn’t a legitimate offense because they will line up in a shotgun and go no-huddle for entire drives, but the lack of truly competent media coverage of college football has propagated this idea that if a team lines up in a formation that the commentator doesn’t recognize, that team must surely be running “the spread” in the style of the Tony Franklins of the world. It doesn’t matter if Auburn pulls two guards and runs an old fashioned sweep between them, and it doesn’t matter how many times Mario Fannin will pound the ball on Joe Gibbs’ favorite power-o, as long as Auburn lines up in the shotgun, they must be running “the spread” as a philosophy and not the spread merely as a formation.
I don’t have anything to add to your comment, David; I think that sums up the situation nicely.
Re: Carter, sure, he’ll rotate in a good bit … but I don’t think I’d say he’s on the two deep, since the first two guys off the bench will be Whitaker and some combination of Clayton/Blanc/Fairley. Speaking of which, do we know for sure who the starting DTs are? We all assumed Blanc/Fairley, but as much as Rocker has talked up Clayton this fall, do we KNOW it’s those two? And does it matter?