AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn wide receiver Darvin Adams had three career catches heading into the season.

He had three touchdown catches against Furman last week, the latest big day in what is becoming a potential All-SEC season for the sophomore.

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Adams leads the Tigers in receptions (38), receiving yards (627) and touchdowns (9) through 10 games. Those numbers rank sixth, fourth and first in the SEC, respectively.

“When we first got here, one thing we figured out is that he’s a true competitor and that he’s very coachable,” Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. “He wants the football. That’s very important.”

With two games remaining, Adams is already tied for third on Auburn’s single-season touchdown reception list. Terry Beasley is first and second on the list, catching 12 touchdown passes in 1971 and 11 in 1970.

Credit Adams’ rapport with quarterback Chris Todd.

“He and Chris have a really special bond,” Malzahn said. “They kind of know where each other is going to be and he’s long and rangy. He’ll give up his body and I know our quarterback has a lot of confidence when he’s throwing to him.”

Adams is frequently Auburn’s underneath receiver, going over the middle.

“He definitely has a great feel for doing that,” Todd said. “Being able to catch balls across the middle is something not everybody can do. You get a comfort level with them and you get confidence in them, knowing you can throw the ball and they can make a play for you. He’s definitely made some big plays for us.”

Follow the blog on Twitter. And read these other notes from Tuesday's round of interviews ...

• It didn’t take long after Memphis fired Tommy West for a list of potential replacements to emerge. Plenty of Auburn names — both past and present — have already surfaced. ESPN listed Malzahn and former Tigers head coaches Tommy Tuberville and Terry Bowden, currently at Division II North Alabama, as possible candidates. The Web site FootballScoop.com, citing anonymous sources, said Auburn wide receivers/assistant head coach Trooper Taylor is on Memphis’ short list, along with Oklahoma State offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer. Malzahn, who like Taylor is in the first year of a three-year contract with Auburn, spoke generally about his name popping up as a candidate for coaching vacancies. “I’m flattered if my name gets thrown around, I guess,” Malzahn said. “But I’m extremely happy here. We’ve got big goals, big dreams here. I’m committed to that. That’s the only thing on my mind.”

• Auburn coach Gene Chizik said he would offer any help he could to his assistants on the job front. “All of our guys know that I want to help them achieve every goal that they have set out to do as coaches,” he said. “If that’s being a head coach, I want to help them, just like people helped me. We have some really good coaches, and obviously I don’t want to lose any of them, but my job as a head coach is to help them achieve their goals.”

• Chizik didn't get specific in naming guys who helped him, although I would imagine Mack Brown is on that list. “I hesitate to say one guy," he said. "There have been a lot of people who’ve helped me — there are too many to name. I think that’s the job of a head coach when you get great assistants. If they want to be head coaches, there’s no reason why I wouldn’t help them. And they know that.”

• Rains from Hurricane Ida forced Auburn to move into the John H. Watson Fieldhouse for two separate 75-minute practices Tuesday. The offense practiced first while the defense watched film before the groups traded places. “We’re still focused and everything,” defensive end Antoine Carter said. “Do it inside, treat it like it’s outside.” Despite the restricted space, the Tigers still went through a full workout. “You can get done anything you need to do,” Malzahn said. “The only thing it limits is your deep-ball throwing. Of course at this point in the year, this being game 11, you’re just trying to crisp up your timing things and all the little wrinkles that you have.”

• Wide receiver Travante Stallworth (knee) will not play this week, Chizik said. The freshman left last week’s game against Furman in the first quarter and did not return.

• Nothing much new on RB Onterio McCalebb (ankle). Here's how Malzahn answered a question about McCalebb's status before trailing off: "He's coming along. Mario (Fannin) is kind of stepping into his role and doing his job. So ..." Yeah, that doesn't sound like total confidence that A) McCalebb will be back, and B) that Fannin wouldn't just be the guy in that role anyway.

• I'll be writing some more on how Auburn plans to go about facing Georgia star receiver A.J. Green for Thursday's paper, but safety Daren Bates had an interesting quote about how having converted cornerback Demond Washington at safety changes how the Tigers can play on defense: "We play more man with him. He's able to lockdown receivers. He's a corner back there. We're able to put him down there in nickel situations and he's good. He's got the speed to come down and be quick in the alley, so that's good." I never really thought of it that way.

• LB Josh Bynes appears to have full confidence in Washington: "He’s up to any challenge. He’s believes he can do it, and without a doubt he can do it. I believe he can play safety. He can play anything he wants on a football field."

• CB Walt McFadden on the importance of the Georgia rivalry: "These last two games are bragging rights. They basically let you know who's best in the south. You've got LSU too, but these two games we've got coming up, everyone knows about these games. It's a lot of things that happen, a lot of weird things, a lot of big hits, a lot of injuries, a lot of big plays. A lot of people get invested on these last two games. This is where a lot of names get started from. So this game means a lot to us." I think there might be some teams in the south -- namely LSU, Florida, Texas -- who would argue that first point.

• McFadden, unlike Tate, said players aren't thinking about bowl games yet: "We heard about what bowl games kind of interested us, but we can't think about that right now until we get past these next two games. So that's our main focus. But we've heard the Cotton Bowl. We've heard Capital One, that type of stuff. But it doesn't really matter. If we don't win these next two games, we still may not get anywhere. So we've got to let that go right now."

• McFadden didn't let us know who he thought was better, Green or Alabama WR Julio Jones, although he said he would leading up to the Iron Bowl. We'll be sure to ask him again then.

• Bynes, like the rest of the defensive starters, got the second half off against Furman. He didn't realize how quickly time flies when you're on the bench. "After the game we were just, 'The game went by so fast,’" he said. " You don’t realize it being on the sidelines … especially when you get a half off. To me it was, 'Is the game going on too fast? What’s going on?’"

• We can't seem to let this Soulja Boy thing die. We asked Carter about it Tuesday. "I remember that," he said. "That's more motivation also." Does Carter dance? "I don't dance," he said. "I work between the lines. I don't do all that showboating stuff." It should be noted that Carter is a noted trash-talker, however. Some might consider that a form or showboating.

• Bynes summed up the recent history of this series well: "They’ve whipped us the last three years, so we’ve come back try to stop that losing streak."