Light day, at least media-wise, although there were a few things:
- No Barrett Trotter, no Neil Caudle for reporters today. No surprise from me. According to most of the other beat writers here, Auburn never used to be this restrictive. You used to be able to talk to anyone, anytime. It annoys me, but after five years working in Al Groh's totalitarian state, I'm not incredibly bothered by it. Trotter I can kind of understand because he's a freshman. But Caudle is in his third year. Apparently Tuberville didn't want to set a precedent that would give anyone an argument for wanting to speak to Trotter.
- WR Rod Smith on the aforementioned Trotter: "He's a good young quarterback. Once he knows what he's doing 100 percent, he's going to be a great young quarterback. He's very accurate with this throws. He'll get the ball to you on the money. I like what I see in him. He's a young gunslinger."
- Interesting quote from DT Sen'Derrick Marks on his roommate Tray Blac
kmon, who was told he'll need what was presumed to be season-ending surgery on his right wrist: "I said, 'What's up with you?' He was like, 'Nothing man, I just have to have surgery.' I was like, 'Is it going to be season-ending?' He was like, 'Naw.' He said he should be back three weeks after the surgery or whatever. I know he's going to try to get back, even if they don't want him to go, he's still going to try to get out there and play."
- De facto offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, on if he's ever been through anything like last week's turmoil: "No. No. No. It was tough but it's part of the profession. Anything can happen. You're 50 years old and you think you've seen everything and something else will pop up. It wasn't just hard on me. It was hard on the staff. It was hard on the team. I thought with the exception of a few mistakes, our team responded pretty well to it."
- Ensminger said he thought the team left four or five touchdowns on the field last week. I don't believe him, but that's what he said.
- The players have the next two days off. Most of the coaches will be out on recruiting trips the next two days, but only to evaluate, because it's a no-contact period.
- According to the good folks at Rivals.com, three of Auburn's 26 commits for next year have re-opened their recruiting in the wake of offensive coordinator Tony Franklin's dismissal. More could follow. Here's what head coach Tommy Tuberville had to say about it: "They all (reconsider) at this time of year. ... Everybody is still being recrited. We're still recruiting a lot of guys. We're trying to get them to change their minds. That's what happens at this time of year."
1 comment:
.....Emsminger's right about the touchdowns left on the field, but dang it, why didn't he adjust? I was sitting there watching Montez Billings and Tommy Trott get wide open on wide-side combination routes, all afternoon. Arkansas was running man coverage on those guys, and cheating the safety back towards Rod Smith. Our QBs RARELY even looked that way. Arkansas knew. Even Tuberville, on the radio at the half, knew that we had to take some shots on fly routes and corners. Yet, we never did.
.....We never seem to use the wide side of the field, except to run the best downhill runner since Rudi Johnson, to run sideline to sideline. Fannin, Davis, Swinton, Slaughter? Fast guys? Nowhere to be seen...
.....I know we had most of Franklin's game plan in this past week, but next Thursday, we'd better open it up, or we could see a LOT more recruits look elsewhere!
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