No, Auburn did not resolve its quarterback question when spring drills concluded Sunday, the battle to be resumed when two-a-days begin in August after 3½ months of voluntary summer workouts.But the coaches were pleased with the group’s progress throughout the spring, which ended with Kodi Burns and Neil Caudle in a virtual tie for the starting job, neither having distinguished himself from the other.
“I don’t know if I was disappointed,” Tigers head coach Gene Chizik said. “I think that at the end of the day that would have been the perfect world to have somebody be the definitive guy. But in so many instances when you’re in these situations, it takes more than 15 practices really to find out who the guy is, especially when you’re inserting everything new.”
The staff made sure not to draw too many conclusions from an A-Day in which the offense rolled up 501 yards and scored six touchdowns against a patched together defense that rarely included any first-team members.
“We certainly don’t want to have delusions of grandeur,” Chizik said. “We have not arrived on offense by any stretch of the imagination.”
“Just being totally honest with you, we’re a long way away,” offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn added.
But Auburn managed to install its base offense in the spring, a necessity for the quarterbacks, and any other player, as they enter a summer of position drills and 7-on-7 work that, per NCAA rules, cannot be supervised by coaches.
“It’s really going to be crucial during the summer for our guys to go out there and execute the things they’ve learned so far and to be better than they were when they left the field today,” Malzahn said.
Some other news and notes on the conclusion of spring drills ...
- Burns said he was a little disappointed not to get the starting job in the spring but said he wouldn't let it keep him down. “There are a lot of things I can get better at,” he said. “It’s been really tough for me, but I’m not worried about it. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m not going to get my head down. That’s just part of it. I think I’ve learned that and grown up since I’ve been in college that things might not always go your way, but it’s just about how you bounce back.”
- Caudle appears happy just to be in it, something he wasn't at this time a year ago, when Tony Franklin didn't have him anywhere on his quarterback radar. “Getting reps with the ones, and getting a lot more reps in general, really helped my confidence and made me a better player overall just being out there,” Caudle said.
- Chizik didn't dismiss the notion that one of the two freshmen expected to join the team in August — Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley — could compete for the job. “We’re going to have all of our eyes open and leave all of our options open for sure with the new guys,” he said. That being said, you'd have to be a world beater to step on campus and start right away at any program. I can't imagine it happening with an offense that seems as complicated as Malzahn's.
- Goal No. 1 of the coaches: don't let this thing drag out to the eve of the football season like the coaching staff did last year. “You definitely don’t want that scenario,” Malzahn said. “In fairness to the guys, we’re going to have to name a guy as soon as possible so you can let your teammates know and go into that first game. I would really hope it wouldn’t be late in the process.”
- Burns, on the summer workout drills: "This summer the measuring stick of how good we want to be. It’s going to take leadership at the quarterback position as well as the older guys to get everybody out there to make sure they run the right routes, run the right plays, and just try to get better." I'll say this about Burns: he definitely talks the talk of a starting quarterback.
- Players defensive coordinator Ted Roof was pleased with this spring: LB Craig Stevens ("a great spring"), DE Antonio Coleman (became "a force"), LB Josh Bynes ("a steady spring") and S Mike McNeil (pre-injury, obviously), CB Walt McFadden and CB Neiko Thorpe.
- Depth remains an issue on defense. "In this league, you know you've got to have depth," Roof said. "Everybody's got a pretty good first 22, and then what happens after that? We're going to have to continue to recruit and develop some players in order to have some depth there because in order to be successful in this league you can't fall off the cliff when somebody gets injured. It's going to be inevitable that somebody is going to get hurt — or somebodies are going to get hurt. We're just going to have to continue working, but the good news is we've identified where we are and where some guys are and what they need to work on to get better in order to provide some quality depth."
- LB Eltoro Freeman also drew praise from Roof, who was happy the junior college transfer got to enroll mid-year and go through spring drills. "It's invaluable," Roof said. "To think about starting where we started this January with him in August or in June ... We as a football team are going to benefit because of that. He's another guy I thought improved as the spring went on. Once he became more comfortable with the new terminology and new words and new ways of doing things, once he got into a groove, I really saw him get better."
- Auburn's coaching staff doesn't have too much down time, even though they can't do anything with the team until August. Recruiting remains a priority. Chizik, who, per NCAA rules, cannot be on the road, said the rest of his coaches will out there for four weeks.
- Auburn only has four commits for 2010 right now, less than a number of schools (Alabama, for instance, has nine). But Chizik isn't concerned. "It'd be nice if they're the nice ones and the ones you want," Chizik said. "I don't know how many we'll have. There are so many guys that we're recruiting that can go anywhere in the country — West Coast, East Coast and everywhere in between. So, for us to have that many commitments before the summer, that might be a little ambitious."
- That's all from Sunday, although I don't plan for that to be all for the spring. Starting this week, I'm going to go through each position and give a rundown of where Auburn stands following spring drills, so check back for updates periodically.
2 comments:
Great job AB!! I look forward to your position breakdowns. Maybe you could throw in some comments about incoming freshman that might see some playing time at certain positions. We know the WRs Benton and Blake should see some PT. I wouldnt be surprised to see one of the DTs like Travis or even Coleman get some PT.
Keep up the good work!
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