Hoo-boy, that was a busy day. Between the Auburn basketball team losing in the final seconds of its NIT semifinal to Baylor to the Tigers opening spring practice, it felt like we were running ragged all night.

I hope to get some video up tomorrow in addition to some more material, but in the interim, here's something to tide you over. (Also, how sweet is that Todd Van Emst photo?)

First, some housekeeping:

• Auburn named Wayne Bolt its Director of Football Relations. Bolt is a former Tigers assistant under Pat Dye who worked as Gene Chizik's defensive coordinator at Iowa State the last seasons. His 31-year coaching career has included stops at East Carolina, Wyoming, Clemson, Troy and UAB. Twenty-one of his 31 years have been in the state of Alabama.

• Lots going on at the tight end position. Brent Slusher is on a medical hardship and is not listed on the roster. Vance Smith has moved to offensive line, where the Tigers are short on numbers. He'll moved around to all the positions, depending on where Auburn needs him. Gabe McKenzie was not practicing but is on the team. He is dealing with some undisclosed injuries, Chizik said. Tommy Trott, meanwhile, is not going through contact or cutting at 100 percent this spring after having major knee reconstruction in November.
  

• Aairon Savage is back at cornerback after missing last year with a torn ACL suffered in training camp. He seemed in good spirits and should make for a very good story this spring.

Now for some of the quotes of the night:

• Chizik, on why he closed practice to the fans and media this spring: "I think there's enough pressure on these guys already to deliver. We just feel like this is a deal where we don't want any outside or any extra pressure on these guys. We just want them to go out and practice and not worry about what anybody thinks or writes or hears."

• Quarterback Kodi Burns, on Gus Malzahn's offense compared to Tony Franklin's: "The biggest difference is tempo. We're really going to actually run that tempo."

• Quarterback Neil Caudle, on Malzahn as a teacher: "He's constantly coaching. If you run into him in the hallway, he'll coach you on something, so it helps a lot."

• Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes, on how well offensive tackle Lee Ziemba moved just a few months after surgery: "I didn’t see any question marks whatsoever in terms of his ability to move around or keep going. I saw no limping or any hesitation."

• Savage, on his knee injury last August: "Just a bad dream, man, to sum it all up. It was just a bad dream. We worked so hard the offseason just to be in the position that we were in. For things to happen how they happened, it was hard.

• Quarterback Chris Todd, on how much his shoulder (now repaired through surgery) affected him last year: "I knew something was wrong all the time. There were throws that I could make my sophomore year of high school that I couldn't necessarily make all the time last year."

• Defensive end Antonio Coleman, on what it was like practicing without the usually boisterous duo of Sen'Derrick Marks and Tez Doolittle: "I try to keep it loud out there, but they're clowns, so it's quieter than it usually is when they were here."

• Trott, on what Dr. James Andrews did to repair his knee: "It was a complete ACL. They took out my patella and repaired my ACL using that tendon. Also, they had to stitch back up my MCL. I had a partial tear over there and they had to shave my meniscus back. So they got my knee pretty good."

• Trott, on learning to walk again: "I could not walk on it to save my life. It was almost a month. Finally they just took my crutches from me and said, 'You know, you're going to have to learn to walk if you want to go anywhere."