
Auburn took Sunday off, but since I decided I would too, we’ve still got some notes to recap and analyze from Saturday’s late-evening practice. Actual reporting-type stuff courtesy, as always, of Andy Bitter, Charles Goldberg, Evan Woodbery, and Andrew Gribble. Enjoy:
— In the absence of harder news in the absence of full access, the beat guys have turned towards topics like “holy hell, is Ladarious Phillips big and intriguing”; see Exhibit A here and Exhibit B here. Not without reason: when both Malzahn and Luper confess that Phillips is some 40 pounds heavier than the heaviest running backs they’ve ever worked with previously, yeah, he’s a big ol’ boy.
And for the record, I’m still skeptical Phillips becomes anything more than a money short-yardage back (or incredible defensive tackle), and maybe not even that in 2010, depending on how much weight he can drop. But it has to be encouraging that Malzahn feels he “probably needs to lose a little bit of weight, but still, he’s very athletic.”
Probably? At 285-290? And even Malzahn admits that he’s still “very athletic” at that weight? What happens if Yoxall gets him down to 270-275? I’m still of the opinion that the overall expectations level for Phillips amongst Auburn fans needs to be dialed down–not that I’m helping here, I guess–but I’m as fascinated to see what happens when the guy hits the field as anyone*. Maybe we’ll start getting a better clue now that the Tigers are in pads, starting tonight.
— Asked to pick a player from the entire offense that’s stood out from the first four practices, Malzahn went with Phillip Lutzenkirchen. Which … whoa.
Lutzenkirchen, or “P-Lutz” as I like to call him starting now, hasn’t exactly been the first choice for “breakout offensive star” over the summer; we’ve got five-star receivers, 290-pound running backs, All-American tackles, and the new-and-improved Jamarcus Russell to worry about. But hearing that P-Lutz has taken a big step forward is very, very good news for the offense. To wit:
1. We didn’t see it a whole lot last year since Trott was a much more effective blocker on the edge, but Malzahn’s offense at Tulsa routinely used a hand-on-the-ground tight end. If Lutzenkirchen’s bulked up enough to handle that role more often, it’s another wrinkle Malzahn can rely on, especially in the running game
2. We already know he has phenomenal hands, route-running, etc.; if he’s big enough to start blocking consistently, we’re talking about a complete, total-package tight end, and he’s only a true sophomore
3. Newton could use a security-blanket type possession guy in the middle of the field, right? Assuming you don’t slot Darvin Adams into this role, is there anyone else who fits the bill?
The short version: P-Lutz’s hands are so good, if he can do the other stuff, we’re talking about having yet another serious weapon on the field for Malzahn to put to use … and he sounds pretty excited about the possibilities already. So I am too.
— Just as a general rule of thumb, I’m not going to care much whether a given practice was “full of energy” or “sluggish” or “kind of insane, Ziemba was tearing chunks of the turf up and throwing them around like King Kong swatting away biplanes.” (Well, I might care in that last instance.) Over the course of a month, Auburn’s going to have some good practices and some bad practices. It’ll happen. That one beat guy (Gribble? Can’t find it at the moment) said Chizik seemed legitimately pleased in their first three efforts was a little encouraging, but this one of the few notes we get that even I can’t seem to get all that interested in.
–Nothing really new on the safety front. Mike McNeil has had his turn to say he’s healthy, and Roof is still saying they’re “being smart” with them, which on the one hand would seem to indicate maybe they’re not totally 100 percent just yet … but on the other, it seems pretty clear at this point that Ikeem Means the wonder walk-on is the No. 4 in the pecking order, so they’re sinking or swimming with the three injury-returnees. I’m guessing they’ll be healthy enough and ready enough once the season starts, or Roof would be even more cagey (or “smart”, if you like) about it.
— No movement in the backup quarterback race, not surprisingly.
— Woodbery provides a useful look at Chizik’s “roster management” and specifically, the contrast between the ’06, ’07, ’09 and ’10 classes vs. the EPIC FAIL of the 2008 class, which–if you don’t count the JUCO and prep guys who re-signed later–has provided all of eight roster members and three–three!–contributors to date. There’s also this breakdown of roster members by signing class:
2005 — 12006 — 122007 — 132008 — 82009 — 182010 — 30
I know that thanks to attrition those numbers are always going to skew in favor of the more recent classes … but still, more than third of the entire team is either a true freshman or first-year JUCO. That’s less than desirable, I’d say.
*Fascinated, yes, but more excited about Michael Dyer. That a lot of Auburn fans seem more giddy about–and that more of the early press has focused on– Phillips rather than the five-star guy who could very well be the best Auburn back since Ronnie and Cadillac seems … odd. We’re Running Back U, not Third-and-Short Specialist Colossus U, as thrilling as the prospect of that colossus might be.
Photo by Van Emst.
I’m ready for the season! Let’s get it on!
I can’t freaking stand it anymore! Only 3 football free Saturdays to go… War eagle!
I wish the best to Phillips, but I suspect he’s this year’s “yellow shoes” story (i.e. filler because the beat writers are allowed to view 5 minutes of stretching and have nothing else to write about). Still, doing a backflip at 290lbs is impressive, as is 4.8 speed.
Chris Todd was a 2008 guy, so there’s one more major contributor from that class (making 4). PPL is still floating around so there may be hope he adds to the 2008 impact. Same for Lykes and Trotter. Bell is starting to come on so he will almost certainly need to be mentioned when we lament over the the 2008 class two years from now.
I wonder what the normal level of contribution is per class NCAA wide. On Tuberville’s best days he was getting production from about 15 out of each class. Obviously, the number has to be around 55-60% considering the number of scholarships available at any one time (85) and the number of players in the two deep (46 + extras on special teams). A return of like 70% would indicate a solid 3 deep in places.
……Auburn’s had great running backs. What we haven’t had since Jake Slaughter left after the 2005 season is a fullback-sized fullback. Allasuddn, we have a 290 pound one that’s “pretty athletic.” Yep. I’m giddy. I admit it!
I have to agree with Acid Reign, I LOVE the idea of having a full-sized fullback again. I look forward to seeing what he does at Auburn. Though there is a sadness in me at the thought of what he could have done with my Georgia Southern Eagles playing the B-back position and pounding the ball up the middle on the fullback dive in Coach Monken’s version of Paul Johnson’s triple option.
I see a much, much better third-down-conversion rate in our future.
Phillips’ highlight clip must be the most effective of all time.
Alex, no question. I keep asking myself “what would think about a 290-pound whale of a running back who got two stars if that from the gurus and committed only after Lattimore told us now, if we didn’t have the world’s best highlight video for him?” And I don’t think we’d be all THAT pumped up.
But like John says, thanks to the tantalizing promise of Phillips on third-and-short or the goal line–and the natural, circus-attendee-like desire to see a fat guy do non-fat guy things–I’m pumped, too.
you guys are missing the point on phillips.
bottom line: over 7000 ft*lbs/sec of momentum barreling down the field with the finesse and grace of a ballerina. Physicists and sportswriters alike will be amazed. Sit back and enjoy one of the few things in life that needn’t be explained.