We had a lovely sitdown with Auburn head coach
Gene Chizik today. He hit on a few topics. Let's run through them.
- Chizik was very vague about the futures of LB Tray Blackmon, WR Chris Slaughter, CB Ryan Williams and DE Raven Gray, who will reportedly not be back with the team next year for various reasons (Williams is already enrolled at Copiah-Lincoln Community College). Asked if they were off the team, Chizik said, "That's probably where it's leaning. Without shutting the door complete on all of the issues, I'd say that's where you could lean and be pretty correct."
- He had another good quote on the situation: "You know, the bottom line is, I want guys who want to be at Auburn. And again, I'll say that until I'm blue in the face. We want the right guys for this place. And don't have a whole lot of background knowledge on the people who aren't here, but as I've said before, I'm not spending time on guys that aren't here. I'm spending time on guys that are here. And that's how I'll be from here until they put me in my grave. The ones that aren't here, I don't have a whole lot of time to worry about that. I only have time to worry about the ones that are, so that's where I'll spend my energy."
- Chizik said he has not spoke with OL Chaz Ramsey, who had back surgery and missed all of last year. Ramsey had a falling out with Tommy Tuberville's staff and was looking to transfer. But he's still enrolled at Auburn right now and could re-join the team.
- Recruiting-wise, Chizik said he and his staff are a step behind just because of their late start, but they're trying to catch up in forming relationships. There's a somewhat delicate situation with some of the new coaches, who are now recruiting players with whom they had contact at their old jobs. "We're trying to be very respectful of that, but at the same time, we have to be able to bring in the best players for Auburn," Chizik said. "Recruiting is just a battle. There are three weeks before we've got to sign them and so any of the doors that are open and we feel like this is a special kind of kid that fits what we're trying to do here at Auburn, we're going to highly consider going after those prospects. "
- No news on when he'll fill the remaining three spots on his coaching staff. It sounds as though recruiting remains a priority right now. "I’m not a multi-tasker so we’re kind of attacking each position one by one but it’s really going good, very positive,” Chizik said. “I really feel like we’re methodically putting together a great staff."
- Spring practice will be later than usual this year. Chizik wants the time to be able to evaluate what he has before stepping on the practice field.
- Chizik on DE Antonio Coleman coming back: "I'm really proud of him. He and I had a lot of different conversations over the last two weeks -- two or three different ones. We had some heart-to-hearts. It kind of reminds me of Quentin Groves. As a matter of fact, Quentin came by here to see me yesterday. We were talking about AC staying, which is what (Groves) decided to do. I think it's huge for Auburn and our team first. We talked about that. Put the team first, let's worry about the team, and then all the individual things come after that. I'm pretty proud of him to be mature enough to understand that his best days are ahead of him. This was a huge, huge decision in the right direction for him career-wise."
- Chizik said it's been a hectic few weeks for him, moving his family to a new place while juggling his job duties. "When you're coaching, you do it a lot," he said. "In the last probably eight years, we've done this four or five teams. You know, it's a lot, it's a lot on your family. We've got our family here, so that's something off my plate that I needed to get off my plate. You know, it's just part of the territory. You just do what you got to do and everybody learns how to survive. My wife, she's a soldier. So she just moves right along and my kids have been great. It's been an easy transition in terms of the fact that I've been here before. This is the only move that I've had where I've returned somewhere. So that's made it easier on everybody I think."
We had a lovely sitdown with Auburn head coach Gene Chizik today. He hit on a few topics. Let's run through them.
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