We had a surprisingly interesting round of interviews this morning with head coach Tommy Tuberville, wide receivers coach Greg Knox and defensive line coach Don Dunn.

A lot of the talk centered on the coaching staff's future. Tuberville was grateful to myriad fans who have supported him by calling in to his radio show the last few weeks.

"You're going to have ups and downs in this business," he said. "I think a lot of people are going to understand that. ... I do appreciate everybody's support and we've had a tremendous amount. You never worry about anything but trying to get better, but my phone has rang -- my e-mail and my text messages -- and I do appreciate it."

Dunn said the assistant coaches aren't concerned with what others are saying.

"I dont have time to worry about that stuff," Dunn said. "First of all, if you're in my business you've got a job to do and that job is to get your players to play the best they can play on every rep. Every rep's important. And that's all we're focusing on. We're over here -- you guys see us, you guys are here late -- we're here from 5 in the morning until midnight.

"We ain't got time to listen to all of that. What's the use of it? It's out of our hands. ... Life's too short for me to worry about all that junk. I'm worried about our players and getting Auburn football back in the win column. We need a win."

Does Knox think he and the coaching staff will be back next year?

"I do," he said. "I have no doubt."

Normally Thursdays are light days in terms of notes, but we got quite a few nuggets today.

• WR Rod Smith (hip pointer) is a gametime decision. The senior hasn't been able to do much this week other than catch passes on the side. If he can't go, Chris Slaughter will start in his place.

• On the d-line Zach Clayton and Mike Blanc will start on the interior, with Jake Ricks backing them up. It sounds as though Sen'Derrick Marks (ankles) and Tez Doolittle (groin) will see little, if any, playing time.

• Speaking of Blanc, he only has to wear a cast on his sprained hand, not a big ball like Tray Blackmon had to use.

• Tuberville side RG Mike Berry has been doing so well that Byron Isom (concussion) is having a hard time to get back in the lineup.

• Tuberville sounded like he had renewed confidence in place-kicker Wes Byrum. "I think Wesley Byrum might have turned a corner. We've got to get him out there on the field some to see if he's improved, but I think his technique is much improved."

• Tuberville hopes to use both Clinton Durst and Ryan Shoemaker at punter. (I assume he'd prefer to use neither of them if given the choice.)

• Both Robert Dunn and Slaughter will be back returning punts Saturday. After a strong start, Auburn hasn't done much in its return game lately. "A lot of it has to do with the punters," Tuberville said. "Hang time. We're seeing a lot of people that run the spread formation that the coverage is outstanding. You give up a little bit of protection and people try to block them on you. But it's just hard to get a return on those type of teams."

• Don Dunn was extremly candid when talking about the defense's inability to stop the run the last few weeks. "If you're a football coach, it's embarrassing, it's frustrating because I know we're better than that," he said. "We didn't do it the first part of the year. Why? Lot of reasons I'm not going to go into and ya'll can figure those out. But the bottom line is: fundamentals, being where we're supposed to be, and when we're there make the play."