It's been quite a summer for junior Neil Caudle, who's finally in the thick of a quarterback race for the first time in his career.As a result, he has to answer all the annoying questions from we the media about who will win the starting job come August. Does he mind?
"No," he said point blank. "It definitely beats the alternative of nobody caring what you have to say."
Caudle ran the gamut with a few reporters yesterday. Here's what he had to say:
- He's been doing some schoolwork and working out with receivers during the summer, just working on routes and timing. "This is kind of the most important time we have, because we can all get out there every day, get out there on our own and really work on things as much as we need to for as long as we need to and work on the exact things we need to do," he said. "In practice, we just run what is scripted and if we mess it up, we just go over it again, but you've got to move on and work on some other stuff."
- Caudle thinks the work is especially important considering Auburn is installing Gus Malzahn's offense. "It's really a timing offense as far as the routes go and the passing game," he said. "So it's really important this year, not just because it's a new offense, but because of the way the offense is structured."
- He said he's treating the quarterback competition as a job interview. "It's intense," he said. "You can't really take any days off and can't really take anything for granted as far as the job goes."
- He's worked sparingly with one of the prizes from Auburn's 2009 recruiting class, wide receiver DeAngelo Benton. Caudle said it's clear that Benton has good hands and knows the game well. It's just a matter of the freshman learning the routes and running them crisply.
- For those counting, there are seven scholarship quarterbacks on the roster right now -- Caudle, senior Chris Todd, junior Kodi Burns, redshirt freshman Barrett Trotter and true freshmen Tyrik Rollison, Clint Moseley and Robert Cooper. It'll be interesting how Auburn deals with having seven QBs on the practice field. "I'm not really sure," Caudle said. "We'll address that later when we get closer to two-a-days. But it's weird having I guess seven quarterbacks in the meeting room now and seven quarterbacks on the field. It gets really crowded. So there's going to have to be some system to work that out, but we're not real sure right now.
- Malzahn is Caudle's fourth offensive coordinator, joining Tony Franklin, Steve Ensmiger and Al Borges, something Caudle never envisioned when he first came to Auburn. "It's really tough," he said. "Coming in, I had it in my mind that it was going to be one offensive coordinator all the way through, and I'd get to work with him a lot. Fate hasn't worked out that way. I guess I've had something like four offensive coordinators. And it's been tough, but that's just life, especially in this business, which has a high turnover of coaches. And you've got to expect different offenses coming in and out until things start working."
- He's added about five pounds since the end of spring, hoping to add some overall strength. He's also been doing a lot of long toss to strengthen his arm. "This time is always a good time to get your arm stronger, because there is time to go out and long toss and you can really take care of your arm instead of the grind of a season or practice," he said.
- Gene Chizik has been straightforward in laying out his team rules, not leaving any gray area. Still, Caudle, like many of his teammates, was a little surprised at the dismissal of safety Christian Thompson, defensive lineman Jomarcus Savage and linebacker Marcus Jemison last week for violating team rules. "It showed that they weren't joking about these rules, and they're real serious about making Auburn have a good image and for this team coming together," he said. "The off-the-field stuff will help us on the field also. It definitely showed the whole team they are serious about it. I'm sure a lot of people were surprised, because normally that would have been just a suspension or a slap on the wrist or something. But I think that it's really an eye opener. They know that these coaches really mean what they say and will act on what they say." (Quick aside: I realize Chizik is trying to make a point with these dismissals, but I always find it funny that the players in question are always second- or third-teamers and not starters.)
- Don't know if anyone had mentioned this in the spring, but Caudle was wearing a blue, team-issued T-shirt that had the date for the Iron Bowl (11/27/09) on the right sleeve and the date of the SEC championship game (12/5/09) on the left sleeve. "Obviously two of the more important dates on the schedule," he said.
5 comments:
Doesn't Deangelo Benton go by Voodoo?
I agree about the kicking the third string guys off the team. I don't think "acting up" in class should be punished by losing your scholarship. And isn't it funny how PPL was rumored to be in that mix, but is still on the team when speed on offense is what we desperately need. I don't know if this was sending a message or getting our scholarship numbers down for this next year's signing class.
I think I have heard Benton called "Voodoo" somewhere before.
I like it. It's just like that Friday Night Lights character, who I believe was also from Louisiana.
I doubt PPL was involved. Don't be dumb enought to take rumors as fact. If PPL was involved, it would have sent the wrong message to the team. I can't believe anyone would be dumb enough to believe that.
By the way, depth at linebacker is a bigger need than speed at receiver. Depth in the secondary has become a concern also.
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