AUBURN, Ala. — If everything stays the same, six Auburn freshmen will finish the season with their redshirts intact.

“I think we handled everything the only way we could and should have,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said.

The six are quarterbacks Tyrik Rollison and Clint Moseley, running back Dontae Aycock, offensive lineman Andre Harris, defensive end Nosa Eguae and tight end Robert Cooper.

Chizik didn’t haven an ideal number heading into the season for how many players he wanted to redshirt from his 21-member 2009 class.

“It just changes, not only year to year, but it changes from person to person,” he said. “Some guys are just mature enough to be able to come in and do it and some don’t mature quite as fast.”

Of the group, only Eguae stood a chance to play this year, but he was sidelined by a foot injury.

“If it weren’t for that freak accident at the beginning of the season, he would play a lot of football for us,” Chizik said. “He was ready. As it turned out, everything happens for a reason. We’re really excited and really high on him.”

Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has been pleased with the progress of both Rollison and Moseley, who both figure to be in the quarterback race next spring.

Aycock and Harris have used the year to slim down. Running backs coach Curtis Luper said Aycock has dropped 10 pounds to 215.

Harris has lost 35 to 40 pounds since arriving at Auburn, offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said.

“He’s the guy that didn’t come in the best of shape,” Grimes said. “But he’s gotten himself in better shape; still has a ways to go there. He’s really raw but has really good feet. If a guy’s got size and he’s got really good feet, that’s something we can work with.”

I'm not sure yet if we'll be going through with a live chat tomorrow. If we do, it'll be the same time (3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT). I will blog and Twitter about it if it I plan on doing one.

Speaking of Twitter, it'd be neat if you followed the blog there.

And when you're done with that, read some more notes from Wednesday's round of interviews with assistant coaches ...

• Three other injured Auburn players will probably earn a redshirt year as well -- safety Mike McNeil (foot), linebacker Spencer Pybus (concussion) and safety Drew Cole (foot). McNeil and Pybus have not played this year. Cole played the first two games before being hurt and therefore would have to petition the NCAA for a medical hardship waiver to regain the year of eligibility.

• Running back Onterio McCalebb’s status for Saturday’s game remains unclear. The true freshman sat out last week’s game against Ole Miss to rest his bothersome ankle, a lingering injury that he’s had since the Ball State game. “We just have to let that ankle completely heal,” Luper said. “That’s his game. His speed is his game. That’s an element we’ve been missing from the offense with him gone.” Luper said it would be today or Friday before the team knows if McCalebb will play against Furman.

• Auburn’s players and coaches have discussed wearing some sort of commemorative patch or sticker as a tribute to Zac Etheridge, who is out for the season after suffering a neck injury that has put his football-playing future in doubt. “I’m going to talk to the seniors and see what we can do within the regulations and the rules of the NCAA,” Chizik said. “Certainly, it would be something that would be the right thing to do.”

• Chizik spoke with Ole Miss running back Rodney Scott earlier this week. He was the one who lay motionless underneath Etheridge immediately after the injury occurred, helping prevent further damage. "It was a really good conversation," Chizik said. "A great young man and he was just amazing. He said it was a God thing. He just knew that something was different. It was almost like he couldn't explain it, but he just knew it was different and he just, he laid there. And it was pretty amazing."

• Chizik said focus hasn't been a concern this week, despite FCS Furman as its upcoming opponent. "I mean you always worry about that, obviously," he said. 'But as a general rule for us and our team, I don't think so. They've been really focused, like I said earlier. They understand we have to get better every week and it doesn't matter who we're playing or what the circumstances are. We've just got to be better as a football team than we were last week."

• Luper said Aycock has been getting some good work in on the scout team. "He was Montario Hardesty one week," Luper said. 'He wasn’t the little quick scat back Ole Miss had. He wasn’t that cat. But he’s done really well. (Defensive coordinator Ted) Roof gives us a report daily on how Dontae is doing over there. We expect him to be ready to play in the spring when we go back at it." Luper said Aycock could have played this year and almost did. I'm sure Eric Smith's return was a big reason he didn't.

• Luper on Ben Tate: "He may be better than you guys expected. He’s faster than I thought he was. That’s what he is. No one in the SEC has caught him yet."

• Grimes on Tate: "He's made a lot of progress this year. If you look at how he ran the football last year versus how he's ran the football this year, I think coach Luper's done a tremendous job with him in teaching him how to play the position and how to go North and South and how to make those tough 3- and 4-yard gains sometimes. If you keep doing that and trusting your reads and doing things within the design of the offense, those big runs will come."

• Grimes said Harris has lost a lot of weight but still has some to go. He put it quite diplomatically, though. "We want him to reposition some of the weight he's down to right now," Grimes said.

• It's almost been a redshirt year for offensive lineman John Sullen, who started against Ball State but is back on the bench now that Byron Isom has returned. But Sullen has played a key role on special teams. "He's been in on the punt team, taken just about every snap I think, and he's taken every snap on every field goal and extra point we've had this year," Grimes said. "And really that's a very underappreciated role but he and Jorell Bostrom have done a tremendous job in our field goal protection. If you haven't ever done it, you can't have an appreciation for what it's like to play guard on the field goal team. In most situations, they're going to put their two or three most physical guys they have on defense and just try to run you smooth over. And you've got to have a guy that's big enough, stout enough and tough enough to hang in there and not get knocked back. At times, you've got to take one for the team. He's done a good job in that but he's got a ways to go to play offensive line at this level but, you know, he's a freshman, too, so we'll see this spring."