TAMPA, Fla. — Make no mistake: Auburn’s Philip Lutzenkirchen likes playing tight end, a position he’s practiced at all season as Tommy Trott’s backup.

But the versatile freshman has taken a liking to the H-back role he’s filled in at the last few weeks.

“I’ve worked a lot at tight end so I feel pretty comfortable there too, but I like the H-back and being able to motion and kick-out and play in space,” he said.

Lutzenkirchen might get some looks at both positions in Friday’s Outback Bowl against Northwestern. He is one of several options Auburn has at H-back, a position lacking bodies after Eric Smith was ruled academically ineligible and John Douglas and Jason King were suspended for separate DUI incidents.

The freshman has five catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns this season, playing in all 12 games. Although the 6-foot-4, 262-pound Lutzenkirchen is behind Trott on the depth chart at tight end, his ability to run, catch and block make him suited for the H-back spot.

“For that position, we ask a lot — to block, to run different types of routes,” offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. “He’s got to do a lot of different things, and Philip has that skill set.”

“It kind of goes back to when we recruited Philip, how did we see him?” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “We feel like he’s a versatile enough guy to wear a couple of different hats in this offense. So as time goes on with him and he gets older and matures and he understands everything, we feel sure he’s going to do that.”

What that means in the future is unclear. With Trott graduating, Auburn has a definite need for a traditional tight end, even if Lutzenkirchen is anything but.

“I would imagine they would tweak it a little bit,” he said, “but they’re still going to expect me to be able to do everything that Tommy is this past year.”

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• Florida coach Urban Meyer spent Sunday evening clarifying his decision to at least temporarily leave his position as the Gators’ head coach to improve his personal health. Chizik knows first-hand the pressures and stress associated with coaching at a big-time SEC school and is aware the toll it can take. “I think everybody is,” he said. “And it’s so competitive that you feel such an allegiance to your university and your players and your coaching staff, and that’s before you even get to the outside pressures of the world. And I’m very cognizant of it and it’s just a tough, tough business and a lot of stress that goes along with it.”

• Auburn enters the Outback Bowl against Northwestern as 7-point favorites. That’s not indicative of much this bowl season. Entering Sunday, underdogs had won outright in six of the nine bowl games. Chizik struggled to find an answer for a reason why underdogs seem to fare well in the postseason. “Anything can happen in these games,” he said. “There’s so much involved in the preparation. Do you over-prepare? Do you under-prepare? Are your kids excited about playing? Sometimes kids expect to be in ‘X’ bowl game and then they go to a different bowl game and their mentality changes because it’s not what they wanted. There’s all kinds of variables in there. ... Every game is individualized and every game is different. So I just think it depends on the team.”

• With Auburn low on bodies in the secondary, Chizik thinks D’Antoine Hood, a Central-Phenix City graduate, could see an increase in playing time against Northwestern’s pass-happy offense. Hood, a sophomore, has battled an ankle injury all season. He played in nine games this year, getting in on four tackles. “He had some nagging injuries all year,” Chizik said. “I feel like the last three or four weeks he’s come on. He’s healthier. And he needs to come on for us. We need his help. We’re hoping in the bowl game he can come out there and give us some plays.”

• Converted wide receiver Anthony Gulley might be another option in the secondary. The wide receiver moved to cornerback as an emergency option before the Furman game. "It's definitely a work in progress with him," Chizik said. "Of course it was a month ago or whatnot, I can't remember how far back exactly we moved him, but he's made significant strides. Is he ready to play in the bowl game? We've got three or four more days to prepare him every day. So I can't say right now. But we think he's making some great strides right now."

• Count defensive coordinator Ted Roof as someone impressed by Northwestern quarterback Mike Kafka. "Kafka has really grown as a passer since last year," Roof said. "He’s turned into a very high-percentage accurate thrower. He was a track guy in high school. He can run."

• The Wildcats don't strike him as an off team in the Big Ten, despite their preference to spread the field. "If you asked that question eight or 10 years ago, I would have said yes," Roof said. "But after being in that league last year, almost every team, with the exception of two or three has some form of spread. They are now more the norm. That league has turned into a spread league."

• I touched on this in my main story for tomorrow, but the players enjoyed a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game Saturday night. Needless to say, it was a new experience for most of Auburn's players. "It was pretty exciting," cornerback Walt McFadden said. "The big thing was the horn. Every time they scored it was really loud. You always look at the cheerleaders because they're pretty and that was a good thing because they were kind of running up and down the aisles so that was pretty exciting as well."

• McFadden said he wanted to get a horn for the football field. "I wish I could," he said. "I'd blow the horn every time they didn't score a touchdown. Any other play, even if I didn't make the play, I'd push the horn. If I get a horn that big, you're going to know I'm around somewhere."

• Walt offered this other take on the hockey game: "It was kind of funny that we're like, some of the DBs sitting together, these guys are skating backwards. When we first started off to get with coach (Phillip) Lolley running backwards we were falling and these guys are skating backwards."

• After watching the game, linebacker Craig Stevens thinks he picked the right sport. "I'm not ready to play hockey," he said. "If I went out there I would just be going to fight."

• Auburn capped the day with a visit to the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital. Here are a few photos: