Here’s Rhett Lashlee. It’s not really a shacket. We’ll call it a ‘swirt.’

Well, hey there. A lot of stuff has been happening around the Auburn athletic department lately. But, don’t worry, none of this stuff is that stuff.

This stuff is just football stuff, from this morning’s outing on the practice field. Believe it or not, the football world is still spinning, and Auburn actually has their first scrimmage of the spring coming up.

Offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee and defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson spoke at the podium today. Both declined comment on the series of stories circulating about the program, with Johnson perhaps putting it best: “People above my pay grade are handling all that.”

But here’s what they did say.

Scrimmage!: Auburn didn’t tackle Friday morning, in anticipation for the first big scrimmage of the spring in Jordan-Hare on Saturday.

For Lashlee, it’s all about the mental aspect of the game, as install (or re-install) continues with the hurry-up no-huddle.

“I’d say the number one thing we’re looking for as coaches tomorrow is attention to detail and discipline,” Lashlee said. “Here we are, now six days in, and we’re still way too inconsistent. You see flashes, and that’s the good thing. But we’ve got to have attention to detail on all the little things as far as alignments and executions and all of those things, because on offense it takes all 11.

“You can have nine or 10 guys doing exactly what they’re supposed to do and one guy isn’t focused and doesn’t line up right and doesn’t know what his assignment is, or doesn’t execute properly, it messes the whole thing up.”

Not surprisingly, the same types of things are going on for Johnson on the opposite side of the ball, as he gets his 4-2-5 installed.

“I feel like in some aspects, we probably are pleasantly surprised on the way they’ve picked up new things they’ve not done before, or things we’re calling a little differently, etc,” Johnson said. “On the other hand, I think we’re a long, long way, especially when we’re doing to the fast-tempo operations, a long way from cleaning up enough missed assignments and other things that are hurting us.

“I know we’re physically in condition, but mentally right now we’re not staying focused through that.”

Friday’s marked the sixth practice of the spring for Auburn and Saturday’s scrimmage be the seventh. The Tigers have 14 practices set before A-Day on April 20.

Wide receiver turning heads: Lashlee mentioned Jaylon Denson as part of a group that he’s seen flashes from, and has stood out for his consistency. He praised Reese Dismukes and C.J. Uzomah as well, but Denson might come as a surprise, seeing as the rising junior has only caught one pass in his career.

“He’s been steady,” Lashlee said. “He’s been a guy that, right now, if you said who do I know that I can count on, I know I can count on him, six days in.”

Lashlee said that Denson has moved around, playing at slot and outside, and that in the end he’s going to be put Denson where he helps the team best.

“We’re moving him around a little bit,” Lashlee said. “Putting him in a few different spots. He’s smart enough, he can handle it, and he’s making plays. But he’s not only making plays with the ball, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do when he’s not getting the ball.”

If you’re doubting the ability of a guy that has yet to produce in his career stepping up as an upperclassman, Lashlee used the example of a receiver who — uhh — remained nameless.

“I think the first year I got here we had a guy that had two or three career catches and had 60 the next year,” Lashlee said.

Hmm, I wonder who could he be talking about?

At court: I missed the media’s actual look-in at practice this morning to go to the Lee County Justice Center, where Circuit Judge Chris Hughes ruled that Mike McNeil’s trial will go on as planned starting Monday.

McNeil had filed a request to withdraw his lawyer, Opelika attorney Ben Hand, from the case.

Hand said that he’ll continue to defend McNeil, despite the motion.

“I’m his attorney,” Hand said. “I’ll do everything to defend my client. As long as the judge says I’m on the case, I will do everything I can do provide the very best defense that I can for my client.”

McNeil declined comment upon exiting the courtroom.

Previously: No-Huddle Notebook: It’s a New Week, No-Huddle Notebook: Tempo, pads, and tempo, No-Huddle Notebook: Happy New Year!, No-Huddle Notebook: It’s another New Day, again.

THE WAR EAGLE READER NEEDS YOUR HELP.

…

Keep Reading:

* Playboy photographer loved first visit to Auburn
* Elvis says “War Eagle”
* Alabama in Auburn gear
* Bo Jackson’s pencil mustache
* VIDEO: Dog dominates 1964 Auburn scrimmage

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The grey jumpsuit: It’s not a fashion statement, it’s a lifestyle.

Auburn powered through another spring practice Monday morning, donning full pads (but not hitting) as the second week of spring camp began.

Post-practice, Gus Malzahn and select players were made available, touching on a wide, wide range of subjects. It’s going to be a mixed bag today.

And it’s going to be another quick mixed bag, too. Let’s get to it:

Practice today. Malzahn said that the team did essentially the same thing it went through on Saturday, just without tackling. The team is allowed eight practices with tackling this spring, and they’ve used one. They did go 11-on-11 in some “situational work” toward the end of practice, though.

“It was pretty much kind of what we thought,”Malzahn said. “We were going at a very fast pace. There were some mistakes. It was pretty much offensively and defensively what we thought.

“The great thing is we have a lot of room for improvement and we felt like our guys were trying to do what we asked. It’s just a matter of fighting through fatigue and being more disciplined with our assignments.”

The Tigers will return to practice on Wednesday, in full pads once again.

The Star back. For the first time this spring, junior Justin Garrett spoke. He’s competing with redshirt freshman JaViere Mitchell for a job at the new linebacker/safety hybrid position.

It wouldn’t be a No-Huddle Notebook without taking a look at that Star back and the 4-2-5. Garrett took time Monday to explain the position from a player’s perspective.

“You can do multiple things,” Garrett said. “The Star position will blitz a lot and roam around to give the offense a hard time figuring out what we’re doing in our defensive scheme.

Garrett said that when the Tigers play a pro-style offense, he can come in and fit as a third linebacker. When they play a spread team, he fits more like a nickel.

“It’s just a mixture,” Garrett said.

LaDarius Owens is back at linebacker. And, he admits, it’s kind of what he’s been wanting to do this whole time.

But LaDarius is taking that temporary stay at defensive end in stride, saying that it helps to just learn the system for the first time, instead of transferring over and have to forget the last system like the other linebackers.

Owens also said all of that practice on the defensive line helps him get past linemen now from the linebacker spot.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Owens said. “Me being at end helps me deal with linemen really easy. It got me to adapt to it, just like Saturday when we had our first scrimmage, we did inside drill.

“We did inside and it was real comfortable for me to come downhill and get my hands on linemen. I tell the guys all the time, it’s fun now. I get a head start at them.”

Owens is working at “Mike,” in what Ellis Johnson called Friday a loose, “in pencil” second group, behind Kris Frost, who is with that first group at “Mike,” and Jake Holland, who is with that first group and learning both the “Mike” and “Will” positions. (Dropping the quotation marks now.)

But Owens said he means business now that he’s back at linebacker. He’s shooting for the starting spot, and if he gets it, he’s plenty confident in being able to ‘quarterback’ the defense from the Mike position.

“I didn’t move to linebacker to watch or to just add depth,” Owens said. “I want to compete. And that’s why I put in so much time off the field to study and watch film.

“My goal really is just to get better, and get more comfortable at the position so I have something to build on in the summer, and then compete in the fall for a starting job for the first game.”

If there’s anything we can take from last season’s 3-9 campaign, it’s that the linebacker spots are wide, wide open for anyone to take.

Previously: No-Huddle Notebook: Tempo, pads, and tempo, No-Huddle Notebook: Happy New Year!, No-Huddle Notebook: It’s another New Day, again.

THE WAR EAGLE READER NEEDS YOUR HELP.

…

Keep Reading:

* Playboy photographer loved first visit to Auburn
* Elvis says “War Eagle”
* Alabama in Auburn gear
* Bo Jackson’s pencil mustache
* VIDEO: Dog dominates 1964 Auburn scrimmage

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Want to advertise?

Here’s your obligatory photo of the quarterbacks kind of doing something.

The Auburn Tigers were back in Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday for the first time since last fall, and for the first time this spring, it was the real deal: full pads, full contact, and even some 11 on 11.

But the pads didn’t slow down Gus Malzahn’s fast tempo practice. And keeping with the theme, today’s post is going to be quick. Let’s get to it:

Quarterbacks in pads. Everybody loved getting out in pads and going full contact — especially the quarterbacks, who saw all the positives of live action around them without any the negatives of actually getting hit.

Both quarterbacks spoke to the media for the first time this spring.

“I think it’s great for me,” Jonathan Wallace said. “Even though I’m not getting hit, I’m still getting that timing of when the rush is coming and how fast the rush is coming and different things like that. Just being able to be in pads today, it was good.”

Malzahn said that there was some good and some bad for the quarterbacks, but overall average. Both quarterbacks ran with “first” and “second” group (neither of which are set in stone of course) in 11 on 11 drills.

“It was good,” Frazier said of playing full pads. “We haven’t been in pads since last year. So for us to get out there and run around a little bit and hit a little bit, it was fun.”

Speaking of the quarterbacks, there’s only two on scholarship with the team right now, which means Wallace and Frazier have had their fair share of reps this spring.

“A lot of reps, a lot of reps, a lot of reps,” Wallace said. “It’s good reps. Even when we’re not in, we’re out there paying attention to the other guy, what the next play is. It’s good for us. We’re always doing something, and I think that’s a good thing for us.”

Of course, Auburn isn’t experiencing any kind of crisis at depth at the quarterback position. Three more scholarship guys will be joining the team in the fall.

11 on 11. The team got to do a good bit of 11 on 11 drills during practice, including this tempo drill that we media types got to see a bit of at the very beginning of practice. That’s Malzahn yelling “WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?” of course.

You can see a couple more quick look-ins at what the quarterbacks were doing with offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee here and here.

Much later on in practice, the team concluded with some much more serious 11 on 11 stuff, according to Malzahn.

“We ended, probably the last 20, 25 minutes with some 11 on 11 stuff,” Malzahn said. “We didn’t move the ball. We just brought it back. It was scripted stuff, but it was tackle football. It gave our coaches a chance to see how we block, tackle, protect the football, everything that goes with playing real live football.”

While Malzahn was encouraged, he still said the team is trying to grasp the frantic pace of practice, and when asked if he had seen anyone step up and shine given the opportunity in pads, the answer was: Zero.

“I thought there was some guys that really tried to and there’s got some guys that we’ve got a really long way to go,” Malzahn said. “That’s kind of what I told them. But, at the same time, a lot of them are in shock, with how fast the pace, everything that goes with that. Fatigue is a factor. We’ve got to get them in our type of playing shape.

“But I really believe that our guys have that attitude and they want to do that and it’s just a matter of time before we get there.”

Up next: Practice back at the practice fields.

Previously: No-Huddle Notebook: Happy New Year!, No-Huddle Notebook: It’s another New Day, again.

THE WAR EAGLE READER NEEDS YOUR HELP.

…

Keep Reading:

* Playboy photographer loved first visit to Auburn
* Elvis says “War Eagle”
* Alabama in Auburn gear
* Bo Jackson’s pencil mustache
* VIDEO: Dog dominates 1964 Auburn scrimmage

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Want to advertise?

Today’s Malzahn press conference clocked in at a fast six minutes.

The No-Huddle Notebook is back, tracking the Tigers through Day 2 of spring practice on the Plains.

Auburn spent another day in shorts Friday, continuing to adjust to new systems on both sides of the ball. Post-practice, Gus Malzahn, new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, and new defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson spoke with the media.

Here’s what they said:

Coaches are finding their chemistry together. Not surprisingly, with how much experience is on this coaching staff and how much time the different pieces have spent together at different places, coaches on both sides of the ball have found that it hasn’t taken long to start meshing with their co-workers.

That’s been especially true of the defense which is good for the Tigers, as the players are also making the tough transition to the 4-2-5.

“It’s been good,” Johnson said of the coaches’ chemistry. “I think the first thing you have to realize is the experience level we each have. I like to use the word ‘experience’ and not ‘age.’

“There’s a lot of coaching experience in that group, and so all of us have seen a lot of ways to do things. Personally, I don’t think there’s one way to do things. I think the Auburn way is the way you do it. And we’ve put it together as a group.”

Johnson has worked with co-DC and safeties coach Charlie Harbison on three different staffs before the two were again reunited at Auburn. Johnson also worked with cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith for a time at Mississippi State.

“Communication is easy,” Johnson said. “And the second thing is the fact that I’ve worked with Harbison in four different places and Melvin before also. And they’ve worked together in the secondary at the same organization, splitting it up. So there’s a lot of things that we’ve been able to hit the ground running with and not have to adapt to each other quite as much.”

On the offensive side of the ball, some pieces are back or still around from Malzahn’s coordinator days, but according to offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee, the other, new coaching additions have found a way to fit right in as well.

“It’s good,” Lashlee said. “Honestly, it’s a work in progress for us. Myself and Coach (J.B.) Grimes have done our system in practice. We know what to expect. Coach (Scott) Fountain has been around. Coach (Dameyune) Craig, Coach (Tim) Horton are big-time professionals.

“They’ve bought into everything we’re doing. We’re all on the same page. We’re all moving in the same direction. They understand what they want now. They’re coaching exactly how we want it. The five of us — I think we’re doing real well together. I’m excited to have all four of those guys in my room with me.”

More of figuring out what this whole ’4-2-5′ thing is. Johnson shed a little bit of light on what he expects from his inside linebackers in his new system, and he even broke down who he’s working with as a first group and a second group as practice gets under way.

Johnson says he’s working Kris Frost at “Mike” linebacker and Cassanova McKinzy at “Will” linebacker for the time being, with Jake Holland ‘double-learning’ both positions behind them, since Holland is older and should have a better opportunity at grasping both positions than the younger guys.

Behind them, Johnson says he’s doing the same thing with a second group, have Chris Landrum learn both positions while LaDarius Owens works at the Mike and Anthony Swain is at the Will.

“They’re somewhat interchangeable,” Johnson said of the positions. “Physically, they need to be about the same guy, the Mike and the Will. We ask the Mike to do a lot more of the quarterbacking of the defense. The Will probably has a lot more variation in his coverage drops. So both of them have their amount of complication, if you will.”

Johnson emphasized, of course, that those groups are in “pencil,” and nothing is set in stone.

As for Malzahn, he had a pretty simple answer for what excites him about the Tigers’ new defensive system.

“I’ve coached against Ellis Johnson,” Malzahn said. “That’s what stands out. His teams are very disciplined. They get after you. They stop what you do best. They take it away. I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

Looking forward to pads. The Tigers will move on to their first practice in pads on Saturday morning, and the spring ramps up another level. By rule, the team is allowed 12 practices in pads, eight of them in which they can tackle.

After a couple of tough days trying to evaluate talent in shorts, every coach is looking forward to seeing what their players can do fully dressed out.

“That’s what football’s about,” Malzahn said. “You can do a lot of teaching, alignments and techniques with just helmets only but until you get the pads on, that’s where you can really judge a player a lot better than helmets-only. A lot of guys look great in helmets and not great in pads and vice versa.”

All of it leads into one of the new coaching staff’s biggest goals this offseason: becoming more physical.

“We have to be physical across the board,” Lashlee said. “The wideouts, with their blocking on the perimeter. I’d like the backs to be physical and protect the football now that they’re going to be getting hit. Up front, we’d like to see who can be physical. I’d like to see how the quarterbacks are when pads are popping around them.

“We’ve got to be extremely disciplined at every position for us to be successful.”

Next up: Pads!! And then an off day on Sunday before returning to practice on Monday.

Related: No-Huddle Notebook: Happy New Year!

…

Keep Reading:

* Playboy photographer loved first visit to Auburn
* Elvis says “War Eagle”
* Alabama in Auburn gear
* Bo Jackson’s pencil mustache
* VIDEO: Dog dominates 1964 Auburn scrimmage

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Want to advertise?

Quarterbacks. Doing quarterback things.

It’s officially the new football year, sports fans: That time of year where the smell of spring is in the air, everyone is undefeated (and winless), and last year becomes “last year” and this year becomes “this year.”

The Tigers took to the field in shorts for their first practice of the spring today, with the theme of the day being the adjustment from Scot Loeffler’s pro-style offense — or whatever that was — to Gus Malzahn’s hurry-up, no-huddle scheme.

They’ll be in shorts again Friday before their first practice in full pads on Saturday. But for now, there were plenty of notes and quotes to be had from the first day of spring ball. Let’s get it:

Gus Malzahn likes things fast. It was a tough first-day adjustment for the Tigers to get back in Malzahn’s break-neck tempo, both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. He talked about it in his post-practice press conference, which clocked in at just under nine minutes.

“It’s great to be back on the practice field with our team and our new coaches out there,” Malzahn said. “A lot of excitement. A lot of flying around. I told our team at the very end of practice when I called them up, the main thing is we just have to learn how to practice at the pace and the intensity and the tempo both offensively and defensively. The X’s and O’s will come.

“Our main focus right now is learning how to practice and being able to process things by practicing them fast.”

Quan Bray called it “hectic.” Demetruce McNeal called it “mind-boggling.” Malzahn called it Wednesday.

“It is about learning how to line up correctly, learning how to process information quickly and having great body language and hustling,” Malzahn said. “It’s all that combined. How we did today, we’ve got a ways to go as far as learning how to practice at the pace and the tempo that we want. But that’s to be expected. We will get better each day at that.”

Wide receiver Trovon Reed compared the tempo to Malzahn’s last season as an offensive coordinator in 2011 (and perhaps confirmed an oft-rumored tactical change of the time):

“It was that fast (in 2011), but sometimes Coach Chiz slowed us down to get the defense — now, pffff, it’s fast,” Reed said. “For the first day, that was fast. I only can imagine that as we get better as a team, they’ll keep pushing us, and it could get extremely fast.”

McNeal explains the 4-2-5. Demetruce McNeal says he’s at the “boundary safety” spot in new defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson’s three-safety scheme. McNeal said that the new spot puts more of an emphasis on his range than the free safety spot he played at last year, where he spent a lot of time in the box (and, consequently, lassoed in 90 tackles and was the Tigers’ second-leading tackler.)

Now, McNeal’s focus is on flying to the ball and picking off more passes.

McNeal definitely looks like the odds-on favorite at the boundary safety spot, while the “field safety” spot is wide open. Auburn worked two guys at the third safety — the linebacker hybrid called the “star” — namely, junior Justin Garrett and redshirt freshman JaViere Mitchell.

“It’s a great defense,” McNeal said. “It gives us a chance to spread our wings and show athleticism. That third guy, that star, he’s the key guy in the defense. He has to be a key guy in the defense for the defense to work. He has to be set, and all of us go off of him.”

McNeal said that the system, and new defensive backs coach and co-defensive coordinator Charlie Harbison, allow the players a certain new level of freedom and puts an emphasis on athleticism.

“I feel more free with Coach Harbison than I ever did with any coach, because he just lets me do what I want to do,” McNeal said. “Do what I do, but just do it within the system. That’s just the difference. With (former defensive backs coach Willie) Martinez, I didn’t really feel that free within the defense, because I felt like a robot, just staying within the defense but doing what he wanted me to do.

“But now with Harbison I can do what I want to do but just do it within the defense. So that’s really the big difference and I think I’ll have a better year because I’m just feeling in my comfort level back there at safety.”

Multiple roles. Wide receiver Quan Bray looks like the leading man for the 2013 version of Malzahn’s Wildcat package, as he took snaps from the formation in team drills and worked some with the quarterbacks today.

“I’m looking forward to playing a lot of different roles,” Bray said. “Just trying to be all over the field and learn different things for me to be able to help my team and be a playmaker for the team.”

Meanwhile, Robenson ‘Cadillac’ Therezie said it looks like he’ll be playing as a “boundary cornerback” in the new defense, but that he could be experimenting on the offensive side of the ball at some point in the future as well.

“It will be a possibility,” Therezie said. “I spoke with Coach Malzahn and it seems like a plan. I won’t mind at all playing (Onterio McCalebb’s) position.”

Corey Grant also mentioned stepping in to fill the void left by McCalebb, even though he can go between the tackles as well, and Bray mentioned Ricardo Louis and Trovon Reed as guys that could take jet sweeps in the backfield.

So, yes, this offense is still just as crazy as you remember it being.

Next up: Another day in shorts Friday morning. They’ll start going full pads on Saturday.

Related: The Toomer’s Ficus Tree at Gus Malzahn’s press conference.

THE WAR EAGLE READER NEEDS YOUR HELP.

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Keep Reading:

* Playboy photographer loved first visit to Auburn
* Elvis says “War Eagle”
* Alabama in Auburn gear
* Bo Jackson’s pencil mustache
* VIDEO: Dog dominates 1964 Auburn scrimmage

Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter. Want to advertise?

Listen: yes, damn it, it was worth it.

Don’t care how many times the guy at the airport is referred to as a prophet. Don’t care that Chizik made thousands of Auburn fans who relentlessly defended him for the better part of three years (myself included, most of the time) look like the gibbering blind fools so many outside of Auburn believe us to be.  Don’t even care that the first half of the Texas A&M game was the single most hopeless moment I have ever felt watching Auburn football, the furthest into the black abyss of despair my team has ever flung me. (Yes, it was that bad. Shut up.)

I care about 49-0 and Reuben Foster’s tattoo some, yes. But not enough to answer the question “was it worth hiring Gene Chizik?” with anything other than the loudest YES I can muster.

Because what I really care about was that night in Glendale, not even two full calendar years ago–it cannot possibly have been that recent, can it?–when I sat in the upper deck of an alien domed stadium because they don’t play national title games at Jordan-Hare and still watched Auburn rush out of their tunnel. Auburn, actually in that strange place where they do play national title games–the navy blue jerseys, the burnt orange stripes on the sleeves pants, the white helmets with the Auburn logo I’d scrawled unrecognizably across a hundred sheets of notebook paper in 9th-grade geometry, each time daydreaming of that night or something like it.

They were there, right there. My Auburn Tigers. And then Kodi Burns scored a touchdown, Nick Fairley opened a fissure in the earth Darron Thomas fell into, Michael Dyer showed us exactly how much talent he’d waste, Wes Byrum kicked a field goal, and I watched that silly confetti fall from the rafters happier than I thought sports could make me.

That doesn’t happen if Gene Chizik isn’t hired to replace Tommy Tuberville. Some other team runs out of that tunnel, some team in different jerseys and helmets that doesn’t have Gus Malzahn as its offensive coordinator, Cam Newton as its quarterback, some team that didn’t have Chizik do whatever he did to keep it on its even keel amidst the Cam maelstrom and half-a-dozen deficits that should have been the end of it. (Surely, surely we can give Chizik this tiny crumb of credit). With another head coach at Auburn, someone else sits in the seat I sat in. Someone else gets to be that happy. Someone else is in this picture:

It’s true: it’s possible that some other coach could have found a way to guide that remarkable group of seniors to the same end result. But some three months and change before that night in Glendale, I became a father. It’s possible I could have fallen through some other leg of what Terry Pratchett called “the trousers of time,” gone somewhere else for college, married someone else, had some other daughter, been almost as happy. But I can’t look at my daughter and consider a universe where she doesn’t exist, exactly as she is, and not be revolted. Likewise, if you’ll forgive the over-the-top metaphor — she was born midseason during an Auburn national championship run — so I can’t look at that picture and even begin to wish Auburn had hired some other coach in 2008.

That’s not to say Jay Jacobs made the right decision, mind you. Sometimes a freshman quarterback will roll out, think he’s spotted an open receiver in the middle of the field, throw an across-his-body duck into a thicket of defenders, and have his receiver come down with the ball anyway because sometimes that happens. Sometimes a subpar athletic director will hire a 5-19 head coach who’s not actually one lick better than that record suggests, but who has one brilliant idea about who his offensive coordinator should be and who’s (just?) smart enough not to look the gift horse of Cam Newton in the mouth, one that comes down with a crystal football anyway because at Auburn sometimes undefeated seasons happen.

Chizik earned his pink slip. I’m of the opinion (one helped merrily along by the hoops teams’ failures) that Jacobs has earned one, too. But was it worth it? I watched my Auburn Tigers win a national championship. Of course it was.

Seasonthoughts: the Reboot

I didn’t see the new Spiderman movie. I have a daughter, now four weeks away from being 2, and haven’t seen the inside of a movie theater in at least 19, maybe 20 months.  The wife and I have talked about ordering something from “DirecTV Cinema” after she goes to bed, but by that point just the idea of having to pay active mental attention to anything for longer than an episode of Jeopardy! is exhausting.

I tell you this because at some point this offseason, I had the insane idea that the fortunes of the 2012 Auburn Tigers might be tied to the quality of “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Sam Raimi’s first Spider-Man, you see, was an awful lot like Gene Chizik’s first season at Auburn: not flawless but far better than it had any right to be, downright pulse-quickening at times, and more than anything a mouth-watering promise of what the franchise could be if everything came together.

Then everything did come together — as together as together gets — in “Spider-Man 2″ and Auburn’s 2010 season.

Which made “Spider-Man 3″ and the 2011 Tigers all the more painful. No one was expecting a second straight helping of that kind of greatness. But no one was expecting everything to already feel so tired, so devoid of inspiration, of spark. Oh, there were glimmers of what had come before (the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, Thomas Hayden Church) but for the most part, it seemed as if the filmmakers/Auburn expected us to mistake lots of on-screen activity — look, Venom! Special effects! last-gasp onsides kick recoveries vs. Utah State! — for their predecessors’ actual genius.  It wasn’t a surprise when those in charge decided that as much success as the franchise had enjoyed, and as young as it still seemed, it was time to scrap it and start over.

The analogy breaks down in two ways: first, as I said, it’s insane. Second, I’m sure Andrew Garfield makes a game effort, at the minimum. But he’s no Brian VanGorder.

VanGorder is, even moreso than Gene Chizik, the man who’s going to define Auburn’s 2012 season–and arguably Auburn’s program going forward for the forseeable. Forget what side of the ball each was responsible for: the coach Chizik hired to replace Malzahn was VanGorder. Chizik asked Dr. Gustav to win him games and Ted Roof not to screw them up; likewise, even Loeffler himself made it clear his first job is simply not to undo the good work done by the ‘Stache’s guys.

Which is why Auburn’s Great Coordinator Upheaval of 2012 both is and isn’t the dramatic overhaul it’s been out to be. On the one hand, yes, it’s a wrenching philosophy shift; in college football terms, if there’s no triple-option involved, there’s probably no further distance between two poles than going from 1. trying to put half a hundred on the scoreboard via a no-huddle spread* and damn the defensive consequences to 2. strangle them defensively, then hope our fullback can plow open enough holes to get us in field goal range. I’m grossly exaggerating, but that doesn’t mean Chizik hasn’t pursued a path that’s going to be highly demanding on his current personnel, dictate a jarring shift in his staff’s recruiting evaluations, substantially alters much of his in-game decision-making, etc. If there’s a been more a complete makeover of a team by the same head coach within a three-year span in recent college football history, I’m not aware of it.

At the same time, Chizik’s vision of how he wants to construct a championship football team hasn’t changed a lick. Hire the best coordinator you possibly can, regardless of cost**; hire position coaches who can recruit like demons and who’ll give him the proper coaching support;  recruit the necessary pieces to let him build an earth-conquering death machine;  find a second coordinator whose schemes and temperament fit being the guy on the other side of the ball, and give him the best pieces you can find, there, too; win.

For two years, that plan made Gus Malzahn the nation’s highest-paid assistant coach and Gene Chizik the first Auburn coach to wear a national championship ring in 53 years. So yes, whatever happened in Year 3, I’d say that was a pretty good plan.

Now we get to watch it swing into action a second time, with VanGorder as the centerpiece. Around this time last year, I wrote that 2011 was the season of the possible, the campaign that would show us — the way 2009 did — exactly how bright Auburn’s future was. But it didn’t work out that way; it showed us instead that the original incarnation of the Chizik era had already put its best days behind it. Given how spectacular, how glorious those days were, hey, fine–just don’t pretend we need a second failed season to tell us what we already know we know.

Chizik didn’t pretend. He rebooted the franchise. Our reluctant nerd genius superhero has been replaced by the mustachioed firebreathing superhero. The bad news is that we’re still where we were at this time last year, in some ways where we were back in 2009–waiting to watch our superhero and his superfriends put on their orange-and-blue tights and flash the powers that will, soon enough, let them take down their evil archnemesis and bring truth and justice throughout the land.

The good news is that it’s not 2009 in most ways. Auburn’s players are better, the position coaches aren’t new, we know Gene Chizik won’t stand in the way of greatness. The Tigers aren’t far enough along that we’ll be able to leap straight back to the top of the SEC in a single bound, but this season can be, should be, evidence enough that good will prevail … and sooner rather than later.

Maybe “The Amazing Spider-Man” was terrible. No matter–I’ve bought my bucket of popcorn the size of an oil drum, my 256-ounce Sprite, enough Mike and Ikes to fill a fallout bunker. The usher’s torn the ticket, my seat’s picked out, the trailers are finally all completed.  We’re ready, Auburn. Dim the lights. Crank the projector.

War Eagle.

*Yes, Auburn’s 2011 offense wasn’t actually the ludicrous speed system we’d seen from Malzahn at Tulsa or in 2009/some of 2010. But the schematic underpinnings were the same, which is one of the biggest reasons it floundered so badly; it’s not really a surprise that a playbook designed over years of trial-and-error to be run at one tempo doesn’t perform when asked to run at its opposite tempo, is it?

**Bizarrely, Malzahn actually came cheaper when he first signed on than Roof did. But Malzahn’s eventual raise and BVG’s salary make clear money’s not much of an object when it comes to Chizik getting the guy he wants.

Clemsonthoughts: Trench warfare

So, yeah, I picked Clemson at CBS. I don’t like it any better than you do. In fact, I almost certainly like it less. But picking what the head thinks is most likely rather than the heart wants it to think is part of the job description.

So why does the head think that way? It’s simple, really: the gap between Clemson’s offense and Auburn’s offense is likely to be wider than the gap between Auburn’s defense and Clemson’s defense, the reason for that being that Auburn’s offense doesn’t have any part of it that’s not a question mark. Quarterback? True sophomore making his first start in system he wasn’t recruited for. Running backs? Handled by committee by Luper’s own admission, an admission that usually amounts to “we don’t have a guy we really trust to be a difference-maker.” Receivers? Fine, if you think Lutzenkirchen and Blake can handle things alone, less fine if — like me — you think a third option somewhere is kind of a necessity. The line? Not one but two freshman tackles, a center who’s never delivered a snap that mattered, and guards who have size and experience but who seemingly no one expects to be anything more than good enough.

For all of that, yes, I think Auburn will have a productive offense this season — I’m a Loeffler believer — and yes, I think some of those question marks will be answers by the end of the 60 minutes Saturday. Enough of them that Auburn pulls out a win? That I’m less sure of.

But it’s by no means impossible. This part is simple, too: Auburn has to own the lines. Both of them. Clemson has talent by the pantload at the skill positions, linebacker, secondary … but (and this is nothing you don’t know by now) they lost at least three-quarters of a pantload of talent on both lines.  How does Auburn’s frighteningly revamped secondary and starless linebacking crew handle Tajh Boyd, Andre Ellington, and Deandre Hopkins? Lemonier/Whitaker/Blackson/Ford and the rest of that two-deep handles them for them. What’s thrilling is that — as I also wrote for CBS — they’re entirely capable of doing just that. There’s nothing I’m looking forward to Saturday more than Clemson’s 3rd-and-long … and after last year’s third-down performance, even thinking that sounds like madness.

But it has to happen on offense, too; Frazier won’t have a prayer unless he has a running game, and as much as I’m expecting to love Prosch, that running game won’t happen unless Greg, John, Tunde, Chad, and Avery flat plow over the CU line. Until we see exactly what Mason and Blakely (and maybe Grant) have to offer, the assumption is that creases won’t cut it. We need lanes, man.

And here’s the thing: I really think Auburn’s line can create them. For all the negatives I listed above, there’s a positive, too. The tackles may be freshmen, but they’re studly ones who earned their positions by beating out a lot of other studly recruits. Sullen and Slade may have been more “just a guy” than “the guy!” last year, but a lot of guys are in their first year on the first string. And Tunde … well, Tunde has to know that if he ever wants to be something more than Dismukes’ backup, he has one shot at it. The shot he’s been preparing three seasons and one offseason for. And that shot comes against Clemson, who, let’s be honest, won’t be as bad as they were when we saw them last … but aren’t going to be world-beaters, either.

Clemson fans would say the exact same about Auburn, of course. But we have Van Gorder, and Lemonier, and a tackle rotation we can be proud of, and a lot of dudes in the secondary who have a 50/50 shot at being entirely new players now that the old coordinator has departed. With just a little bit of help from the offensive line, this defense can make this a game. That much, I’m sure of.

And if it’s a game … well, you may know that Auburn has now won its last 10 games decided by a touchdown or less, going back to the Northwestern win. Maybe that means they’re due to finally come up short. That’s what my head says, anyway.

My heart says this coaching staff and this team “responds under pressure” and “comes through in the clutch” and “just knows how to win.” That’s probably all B.S. But we don’t need it to be the truth all season–maybe we just need it to be true Saturday night. I may not think it;s likely, but I sure as hell ain’t ruling it out.

Something like Auburn 27, Clemson 24? Sounds good to me.

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Scot Loeffler, with one of the only quarterbacks left-ler.

Everyone always says that the first football game of the season is like Christmas, the night before like Christmas Eve, and this year Auburn fans will have a big prime time matchup against Clemson waiting under the tree.

But when you think about it, maybe the beginning of football season is more like Hanukkah — or at least fall camp is. On Tuesday, Auburn lit the first candle on the football menorah when players reported to the complex, and then another with the first day of practice on Wednesday. They’ll be crossing another landmark when they go full pads on Monday, and another when a starting quarterback is named (it will happen eventually, I promise), all building up to the Georgia Dome and the season opener.

Or maybe the start of football season is like New Year’s, and all of August is just a really long, really hot New Year’s Eve.

Whatever it is, it’s here—and by it, I don’t mean the season, but the season before the season. Fall camp is under way, and we’re here to put it under the microscope, with all the best notes and quotes and plenty of opinion and analysis interjected in between.

First, take the time to visit and thank your local beat writers — including Ryan Wood, Joel Erickson, and Charles Goldberg — because the reporting is all theirs. It’s a thinned-out cast at the moment (strange times to be on the AU beat), but in the midst of their own version of realignment the coverage is just as outstanding as ever.

As you might expect, the first day back was all about fresh faces arriving, former players departing, and — as always — the quarterbacks. Let’s get to it:

Zeke Pike is no longer on the team and plans to transfer to another school, according to Gene Chizik. Chizik didn’t offer much in the way of details, simply saying that Pike would not be returning and that that decision was made within the last week or so.

As recently as SEC Media Days two weeks ago, Chizik was saying that Pike could return to the team if he were to do “everything we’ve asked him to do.” It appears impossible to know whether Pike took another misstep back home in Kentucky or if the Auburn coaches had a change of heart / philosophy, but we can hope Pike gets his academic and athletic careers back on track somewhere, and with a full serving of eligibility remaining, anything is still possible for him.

I’ve ranted (and ranted and ranted) about the Zeke Pike situation many times before, so consider this my Pike soapbox swan song… but I still don’t like how this whole thing went down, or how Chizik portrayed the discipline he doled out.

I hope Pike will have the opportunity to be in school somewhere this semester and not fall behind academically. As far as we know, 7-10 days ago — three weeks before the beginning of fall semester — Pike’s entire collegiate career was in the limbo that was Chizik’s hands. Now the 18-year-old has less than 20 days to find, attempt to enroll in, and adjust to a new school to spend his next four years at — which is kind of a major life decision. I get that Pike had plenty of chances to do good and make things work at Auburn, but for a coaching staff or anyone to hold a kid’s academic career hostage like that over football just doesn’t seem right.

It’s silly to think that any kid would have to take a setback in their studies because a victimless “crime” supposedly (arguably) hurt a football team’s “image.” But that’s exactly what happened until and unless Chizik, or anyone in the department, tells us that there’s more to the story.

Jonathan Wallace actually is on the team, and he is impressing people. The freshman QB has been praised by just about everyone at the athletic complex over the last two days, which may come as a surprise to some unfamiliar with the eleventh-hour three-star signing-day steal.

It started with senior linebacker Daren Bates on Tuesday. He was asked about freshmen catching his eye over the summer: “Even the freshman quarterback, you see that he can be the leader in the near future, the way he can go out and operate even with the veterans on the offense,” Bates told reporters. “They might mess up and he’ll be the first one to try to correct them. I like that.”

On Wednesday, Wallace drew even more rave reviews, even from his fellow quarterbacks.

“He really cares,” said Clint Moseley. “He wants it as bad as pretty much anybody I’ve been around. He’s definitely got the right attitude to play football at this level. He’s got it figured out already. That’s what really stood out to me, is his work ethic and attitude.”

As far as what kind of reps Wallace is getting through the first day of fall camp, Kiehl Frazier says that he and Moseley split reps with the ones, while Wallace got mostly every snap with the B-team. Obviously, if you’re in a position battle you want to have reps with the first-team, but in Wallace’s case, it’s helpful to take every snap you can. On the B-team, Wallace doesn’t have to split reps with anyone. For a yougn quarterback,  each one of those snaps is precious experience.

Speaking of Wallace, you can see our Surveying the Recruits profile of the Central-Phenix City stud here. (And you can expect that series to continue now that fall camp is under way.)

ETC, ETC. Auburn is still waiting on a couple of enrollees from the 2012 signing class. Darrion Hutcherson and JaQuay Williams have been delayed with academic eligibility issues. Each should be around by the end of fall camp.

Gabe Wright was back and completely healthy at Wednesday’s practice, and on Tuesday T’Sharvan Bell said that his rehabilitation was complete and that he was ready for camp.

And this happened. And this. Lutzenheisman for Heisman.

And in the best news of the day, Shon Coleman reported to camp at 305 pounds, cleared to play by doctors after his long bout with cancer, and in fit, gameday shape. He took the field with his teammates and practiced on Wednesday.

Photo via Todd Van Emst.

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“Personal issues. Day-to-day. Everything we’ve asked them to do. There is no timetable. In that order. Are we done here?”

SEC Media Days is still going strong on its third and final day at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, but Auburn’s allotted time at the annual frenzy has come and gone. Gene Chizik, Philip Lutzenkirchen, Emory Blake and Corey Lemonier represented the team in front of droves of media members on Wednesday.

I wasn’t among them. Unlike last year (when we couldn’t make it), our (admittedly last-minute) request for media credentials was denied. (Please direct your angry letters of protest to someone important.) But thankfully, several fine reporters from the Auburn beat were there.

Before we go on, be sure to thank Ryan Wood, Evan Woodbery, Charles Goldberg, and Joel Erickson for their great work this week. The reporting is all theirs.

The update is that there is no update. At least on the current status / situation of freshman Zeke Pike. Pike is still back at home in Kentucky, and defensive back Jonathan Rose is back home in Leeds. Chizik simply said that Rose was dealing with some “personal issues,” but he had plenty of (somewhat harsh) things to say when asked about Pike.

“In Zeke’s case, I’ve said this so many times before, we have a certain standard and a certain expectation of our guys,” Chizik said. “And if they’re not living up to that, they’re not going to be here. So that’s why I sent him home. If he comes back here, it’s because he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. And he’s got a lot to do.

“So right now, we’re going to make that decision as we go down the road, but as we sit here today he is at home and he will continue to be there until I feel like — if I feel like — it’s the right thing to do, to bring him back.”

Of course, odds are that Pike will be back around at the start of the fall semester, and that he’ll be able to manage doing what Chizik has asked him to do (i.e., sit around and not do anything stupid). But sports-related discipline issues like this are always interesting. Should Chizik really be hanging Pike’s academic future over his head? If you’re in Pike’s shoes, should you be filling out applications and looking at other schools, or are you just out of luck for the fall semester if Chizik’s decision goes against you?

Obviously there’s tons more to it and there’s a lot more Chizik has told Pike than what he disclosed to the media, but I’ve been public about my take on the Pike situation before, and in my opinion Chizik’s walking a tight line when he’s using the language that he’s using.

Did he seriously instruct Zeke Pike to drop his summer classes, set his academic plan off track, and leave school because of some football issue? Because there’s some imaginary “black eye” given to the program when people realize that the team is made up of college students that get in trouble sometimes?

Obviously it’s a tough situation, but everything about the handling of Pike’s situation from the beginning has left a bad taste in my mouth, and Chizik’s answer yesterday didn’t help.

On the flip side of the quarterback battle, Kiehl Frazier has been doing pretty good, according to some of his teammates. Frazier received a notable amount of praise from running back Tre Mason last week, and yesterday more of his teammates echoed confidence in the sophomore.

“Kiehl has gotten a lot better with where he was last fall to where he is now,” Lutzenkirchen told reporters. “Kiehl has taken that leadership role. I think last year, being a true freshman trying to help lead an offense, he wasn’t that comfortable with it. Now, he’s assumed that it is an opportunity for him to take reigns of this offense.

“He’s thrown the ball a lot better, a lot more arm strength, a lot more accuracy. You can tell he’s been in the playbook a lot more.”

Another one of the offense’s biggest weapons, receiver Emory Blake, had more to say:

“If I didn’t know Kiehl, I wouldn’t think he was the same guy, because he’s changed that much,” said Blake. “He’s always had a big arm. Even last year, he was throwing darts, but his progressions and his reads have been so much better that it’s given us new confidence.”

I think it’s pretty safe to say that while Chizik maintains that the quarterback situation is still “up in the air,” there’s going to be a well-established frontrunner for the job going in to fall camp.

Especially when Frazier’s earning comparisons like this.

There were plenty of other news and notes to come out of Media Days about more than just the quarterbacks, though.

Corey Lemonier added 20 lbs. this offseason, bringing his weight up to 250. Gene Chizik said that a lot of that has to do with bringing balance to his game:

“What we’ve done in the spring is, we’ve tried to work with Corey in great depth of understanding the importance of the run game. Not that he doesn’t understand it, but really imparting that to him, this is a game where you have to do both. I think he’s still growing in that regard. He has to balance up his game the whole way around.”

Lemonier echoed his coach in regards to an emphasis on the run game, and he also touched on the amount of depth Auburn has at defensive end. Somewhere, Nosa Eguae and Dee Ford nod their heads.

You can hear Lemonier talk about it all himself in this al.com video, and while we’re at it, and while we’re at it, Ivan Maisel of ESPN caught up with Gene Chizik for another interview that’s worth your time.

Elsewhere at Media Days, Mississippi State was also on center stage Wednesday, and they appear to have the Auburn game circled on their calendars this season. Ryan Wood of the Opelika-Auburn News gathered a set of quotes from the Bulldog camp that you’ll want to check out.

Meanwhile, back at home Auburn added its 17th commitment for the 2013 signing class in Cordova, Tenn., running back Jordan Wilkins. Wilkins, who had offers from Michigan, Arkansas, and Tennessee, chose Auburn over Vanderbilt on Wednesday morning.

Wilkins has been rated as a universal four-star prospect by 247 Sports, Rivals, Scout, and ESPN.

The fine folks at AuburnUndercover.com and AuburnSports.com had the news first.

Photo via the Associated Press, photographer Butch Dill.

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No. 68: “What are you pointing at, Darrion?”

Since we started this season’s Surveying the Recruits with quarterback Jonathan Wallace, it only made sense that we follow it up with the other home-grown product of the 2012 signing class, Darrion Hutercherson.

I had the chance to cover Hutcherson and his Dadeville Tigers on stringer duty last fall. If memory serves, he only had a couple passes thrown his way in the rout, but that doesn’t mean the tight end didn’t do great things his senior year, or that Auburn fans shouldn’t expect great things from him.

Thanks to Philip Lutzenkirchen’s heroic hands, the quintessential receiving tight end has become a fixture of Auburn football. Could Hutcherson possibly be the man to fill the Swede Killa’s dancing shoes beyond 2012?

THE ESSENTIALS: We’ll start with some facts and figures from Hutcherson’s AUfficial signing day bio:

TE, 6-7, 247
Dadeville, AL (Dadeville HS)
High School Coach: Richard White

HIGH SCHOOL: Ranked 15th overall from the state of Alabama by SuperPrep. Ranked 12th on the Birmingham News’ list of 2012 Super Seniors. Ranked 118th on the Mobile Press-Register’s Super Southeast 120. Selected to the ESPN All-Alabama Football team prior to his senior season. Member of the 4A Alabama Sports Writers Association All-State team in senior season. Selected to play in the 2012 Offense-Defense All-American Game following his senior season. Caught 31 passes for 550 yards and 6 touchdowns on offense while collecting 36 tackles (18 solo) including 2 sacks and 1 INT on defense in his senior season.

As you can see, Hutcherson spent plenty of time on the defensive side of the ball, not only during his senior year but throughout his high school career, lining up at defensive end above and beyond his duties at tight end.

Auburn offered Darrion — and he committed — in the spring of last year, well before his senior season even began. But he didn’t disappoint during his 12th-grade year, as you can tell by the awards and accolades listed above.

As for Dadeville, they pounded their way to a region championship and a 12-0 record before falling in the quarterfinals of the AHSAA Class 4A playoffs in their only loss of the season.

ANALYST’S ANALYSIS: Hutcherson was a universal three-star prospect coming out of high school, and for the most part was regarded as a top-20 tight end prospect nationally and a top-20 overall player statewide.

247Sports rated him most favorably, ranking him as the 13th-best tight end nationally and the 14th-best player in Alabama. Scout wasn’t far behind, positioning him as the 14th best tight end in the country, while Rivals rated Darrion as the No. 20 tight end and the 18th-overall player in the state.

ESPN was the least generous of the crew, ranking him as the nation’s 31st-overall tight end and as the 25th-best player in Alabama.

LINKS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST: Perhaps the most interesting — and definitely the most encouraging — aspect of Hutcherson’s recruitment last year was his super-early, super-solid commitment back in April of 2011.

This David Morrison article at the O-A News from back around signing day sheds a little light (and is well worth your time):

Coaches started calling “24, 7.” It was fun. Until it wasn’t.

“It’s just busy,” Hutcherson said. “It gets old after a while. You’re like, ‘Ah, forget this.’

“That’s why I just went on and committed. I knew where I was going anyway. I wasn’t trying to blow up in the media or anything.”

Auburn offered the 6-foot-7, 247-pound Hutcherson on April 12, and he committed to the Tigers nine days later.

His mind was made up, and it wasn’t changing, no matter how many schools kept calling him after his commitment.

Another interesting fact David mentioned there (and something that you can go ahead and add to Hutcherson’s long list of accolades): Darrion became the first Dadeville football player to sign to a Division-I school in 16 years.

Morrison was also around for video, notes and quotes during Hutcherson’s commitment announcement.

There’s plenty of other links where you can find out more about the big tight end, including Joel Erickson’s signee profile and my little post right here at TWER way back after his commitment.

HIGHLIGHTS: There’s a lot of free video highlights of Hutcherson’s out there, mostly from his junior year. But you might have the most fun with his single-game reel from Bryan Matthews of AuburnUndercover, where you’ll find Hutcherson blocking, catching, running and, yes, tackling, during his senior year:

247Sports also has another nice tape of Hutcherson during his junior year here, and, of course, there’s always the AUfficial signing day video.

If that’s not enough, you can find plenty more Hutcherson-in-action footage, dating all the way back to 2009, right here.

As far as off-the-field video and interviews go, SportsBlitz has to take the cake with this 15-minute entry from Hutcherson’s commitment announcement that I’d be remiss not to share.

WHAT’S NEXT? No matter how many stars you rated Darrion Hutcherson coming out of high school, the truth is it’s going to be pretty hard to keep 6-foot-7 off of the field in the near future.

New Auburn offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler promises to tailor his offense to his team and its talents, and with a weapon like Lutzenkirchen coming into his senior year, it’s obvious that he’ll be putting some emphasis on the tight end spot in the new scheme.

If Hutcherson doesn’t work out at the tight end spot down the road, he’ll find his way onto the field in some capacity. As he’s said during the recruiting process, he’s willing to play wherever his coaches want him to.

It’ll come down to Hutcherson and rising sophomore Brandon Fulse as to who will attempt to fill Lutzenkirchen’s shoes down the road.

For now, Darrion will probably be hitting the weight room and sharpening his skills on special teams during the 2012 season.

Photo via.

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