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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Early Tuesday notes: Nothing new on Trott's status

Gene Chizik didn't give any concrete updates on the status of tight end Tommy Trott, who left the Mississippi State game just before halftime with a right knee injury.

"Obviously, Tommy is day by day," Chizik said. "We’re going to look at it without me going into great detail, but we’ve got a plan.”

Trott, a fifth-year senior, had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee last November. He didn't have a catch in either of Auburn's first two games.

If Trott can't go, freshman Philip Lutzenkirchen would be the first candidate to replace him. Lutzenkirchen, a 6-foot-4, 262-pound true freshman from Marietta, Ga., caught his first collegiate pass last week, a 13-yard touchdown from Kodi Burns out of the Wildcat formation.

"He’s a young guy that’s going to be a very good player, and we are going to up his responsibility in his role," Chizik said.

Senior Gabe McKenzie is another option at tight end, as are hybrid players John Douglas and Eric Smith.

Here are a few other notes from early interviews. And don't forget to follow the blog on Twitter.
  • Chizik on West Virginia RB Noel Devine: "He’s exactly what you look at. You know you tackle him a few times, then he makes you miss and hits a crack, then the next thing you know, he’s hitting his head on the goal post. I mean, that’s how fast he gets in the end zone."
  • And on QB Jarrett Brown: "He can throw it and run it. When you see him hit a 46-yard touchdown pass the other day against East Carolina from off his back foot, and when you see him at third-and-4 or third-and-5, he has just got so much scramble ability right now that you have issues with down field. We say that you have to cover him twice, but then you have to contain him on third downs, which we have been average at right now when it comes to quarterback scrambles. So, he brings a lot to the table in terms of what he can do for them and making plays with his feet. He is a very good quarterback.”
  • OL Mike Berry says things have been pretty positive on campus with Auburn's fast start. But he knows that can change. "Since we're doing good now, people are going to love us," he said. "But all it takes is that one bad game."
  • DE Michael Goggans said DE Antonio Coleman wasn't bragging too much after returning an interception for a touchdown last week. "He ain't really been talking much about it," Goggans said. "He's a real humble guy. But I just joke with him, I said I guess you got your touchdown this year. Because I scored one last year. We just joke around with it, but he's a very humble guy. He's not one to joke around with it and just brag on things to do."
  • CB Walt McFadden has a different answer, being facetious of course. "Actually, yeah. I remember yesterday we were in film, he asked coach if he can move back to safety next. I don't know what's going on with that situation. I guess he showed the world what he can do. Super AC."
  • For the record, that's one INT for the defensive line and none by the cornerbacks, not that anyone's keeping count. Walt thinks he can do AC's job for a day. "I think I can get down there and do a little bull rushing," he joked. "I've got a couple of spin moves. I'm a Dwight Freeney type of guy. I like to get down there, do a couple moves. If you see me down there this week, don't be surprised. I'm trying to tell you a hint."
  • McFadden on the progress of backup CB Demond Washington. "Right now, what I've seen is that he's a competitor. As you can see last week, he went for the pick. It's just a gamble. You have to make those sometimes. And I commend him on that. I tell him, that's our job. We're going to get beat, you just have to bounce back from it sometimes. The way he reacted to that play, the next series or two, he got a sack on a quarterback or it was a hurry-up pass -- it was the pick to AC, matter of fact. So that was just him regrouping. So I commend him."
  • Chizik wasn't all too thrilled with Washington's aggressiveness in that particular situation. "“I think it does but there is a fine line with that," he said. "Let me give you an example, third-and-12 or 13 the other night trying to get takeaways, we had a chance to get off the field, and we went for the interception instead of the tackle and trying to get off the field turned into points. So, in that particular instance, aggressiveness was not the right choice at that point in time. So, you’ve got to be smart about when you take your chances. Yes you can be aggressive, you can be aggressive on how you call the game, but you also have to understand the situations and all that comes in to play.”
  • McFadden, for one, is taking great delight at watching other defenses get tired after going up against Auburn's offense. "It's good to see a different defense get tired out there, because they do it to us sometimes during practice, and the second-team just be laughing at us," he said. "But it's good to be laughing at a different defense on the other sideline."

1 comment:

AUBigCat said...

Actually T'Sharvan Bell had an INT for the DBs.