AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn running backs coach Curtis Luper boldly promised last spring that Ben Tate would run for 1,000 yards last season. Tate finished with 1,362 yards.

Luper made a similar promise Monday about Tate’s successor, rising senior Mario Fannin.

“No question,” Luper said after the Tigers’ final practice this spring. “Write it down. Bold letters. He has everything that you need to get that done.”

Fannin, who averaged 8.4 yards per carry in limited touches last season, answered all the questions Auburn had about him entering the spring.

The often-moved utility player had a history of fumbling problems. Luper said Fannin didn’t put the ball on the ground once this spring.

He’s also improved his pass protection and lowering his pads when running between the tackles, something he didn’t have to do often last year running in space as an H-back.

“It’s obvious to me that Mario can do what Ben did for this offense, after being with him for a month,” Luper said. “He’s a complete back. He can do it all, and expectations are going to be high for him.”

Luper’s one caveat for the 1,000-yard prediction is that Fannin must stay healthy, something he’s had trouble doing his first three seasons.

If he can’t, Auburn isn’t lacking in options. Speedster Onterio McCalebb has bulked up to 177 pounds, hoping to be more durable. Dontae Aycock got some looks at tailback, although Luper said his role will broaden to other positions in the fall.

The Tigers also have Michael Dyer, the No. 1 running back recruit in the country according to ESPN, arriving this summer. Luper said he’ll be thrown in the fire immediately.

He predicted 1,000 yards for Dyer too before quickly backing off a little bit.

“You better put that one in small print,” he said, laughing. “Until I at least work with him in practice.”

Here are some other notes and quotes from the final practice of the spring:

• Make sure to join in tomorrow's LIVE chat about Auburn football. I'll be answering any and all questions you might have about the Tigers. Click here to get to the chat.

• Head coach Gene Chizik said again Monday that the Tigers’ quarterback competition will likely carry over into the summer. He added that all four quarterbacks — Neil Caudle, Cam Newton, Barrett Trotter and Clint Moseley — remain in the race.

• While the coaches’ stated goal at the start of spring was to name a starter, Chizik thinks there could be some benefits to allowing the competition to carry on. “It depends on how you look at it,” he said. “There are some things that maybe aren’t as positive for you from the standpoint of who your starter’s going to be — your leadership, them taking charge because they know they’re the starter. The other side of that is keeping everybody working and challenging and competing for the position.”

• The quarterbacks haven’t been clued in about where they stand. “We’ll meet with (offensive coordinator Gus) Malzahn some day this week, and I’m pretty sure he’ll go over that with us,” Newton said. “But it’s really not important right now. Today, it was clear to see what the coaches expected of all the quarterbacks — the role that we have to play this summer, and just controlling things when coaches aren’t there.”

• Asked if he would feel comfortable with a starter if Auburn had to play its first game tomorrow, Chizik didn’t think so. “Thank god we don’t have to name him tomorrow,” he said. “We need more time.”

• Guard Byron Isom said it'd be nice if Auburn named a starter soon. "Everyone would like to know that," he said, "but as an offensive lineman, you just go out there and do your job. No matter who's behind you, you're going to go to work for them."

• Newton thinks he's made giant strides this spring, both in gaining his teammates' trust and learning the playbook. "In a short period of time, I think I’ve grasped the offense pretty much," he said. "I still have a long way to go, don’t get me wrong, but as far as getting the base of the offense, I’m pretty much comfortable with it."

• Despite Chizik’s statements, Moseley, a redshirt freshman who spent last year with the scout team, thinks he might be the low man on the totem poll. “Being the younger one, I feel like I’m the least ready,” he said. “Barrett has been in the offense two years. Neil's been in the offense two years and he's a fifth-year senior. Cam's played in junior college and he came out of high school going to Florida. I realize I’m at a major disadvantage.”

• Moseley, who led tiny Leroy (Ala.) High to three straight state titles, thinks he made strides this spring, especially after having what he called a “negative attitude” last fall. Things changed after a heart-to-heart with a graduate assistant. “It’s about how I handle criticism,” he said. “I come from a little school. I was criticized, but not too much. I’ve never been chewed out the way I’ve been up here. Malzahn always tells me it’s the mental part of it that’s holding me back. ... The reason Malzahn — I'm not going to say he gives me leeway — but I guess you could say that. He knows I've never been second, much less fourth. I really don't know how to handle it."

• Moseley, who said he never seriously considered transferring, said things turned around near the end of spring. His attitude is better and confidence is up, even if he thinks he’s trailing in the race. "I'm on full scholarship at an SEC school, which is my dream," he said. "I actually have a decent chance to compete for the starting quarterback job in one of the best offenses in the country. I love the town. A lot of my good friends from high school are here. I really don't see any reason for me to leave."

• Defensive tackle Mike Blanc, safety Mike McNeil, defensive end Antoine Carter, Newton and a handful of other Auburn football players are planning to make a humanitarian trip to Haiti this May to help an orphanage in the wake of January’s devastating earthquake. “I’m ecstatic about it,” Newton said. “I couldn’t believe it at first when they told me I was going. It’s very fun to go and help people in Haiti, and to see how blessed we are as individuals in the United States, and to just help out any way that I can.”

• Blanc is of Haitian descent but had never visited the country. His father, Moname, was in Haiti when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit the island country earlier this year, but he emerged OK. The upcoming Auburn trip is being organized by Chizik’s wife, Jonna, who visited Haiti with Malzahn’s wife, Kristi, earlier this year. “She came back with a lot of stuff to say,” Newton said. “I guess she was getting a vibe on who really wanted to go and who really wanted to help out.”

• Chizik said he’ll touch base with redshirt freshman quarterback Tyrik Rollison before schools ends. Rollison, one of the prizes of the team’s 2009 class, sat out this spring to focus on academics, amid reports last winter that he intends to transfer elsewhere. “I can’t give you any positives one way or the other, but I will assure you that when we know, we will get it out there and it will be clear-cut,” Chizik said.

• Isom had good things to say about Brandon Mosley, who appears to have edged in front of a partially-injured Roszell Gayden for the right tackle spot. "I saw leaps and bounds of progression," Isom said. "Like you said, before he came onto the field here, he never really played tackle, he was always tight end. Knowing that and taking that into accountability, he had a great spring."

• Regardless of how he fares in the quarterback race, Caudle could be the holder. He's worked there all spring. "I like being out there on the field," he said. "Anytime I can be on the field. Me and Wes (Byrum) work well together. We'll kind of get a chemistry out there. It's one of the biggest plays in the game. I want to be apart of it."

• Chizik on S Zac Etheridge's progress: "Every day I think Zac's made a lot of progress. Medically, when it's time to really kind of hunker in on the decision on whether he's gonna play, not play, I think there's just going to be kind of a meeting of the minds with a lot of people involved. Obviously if it gets to that point and we feel good about it, we'll move on and he will be ready. Mentally, if we get to that point, he's just gonna have to — it's going to be a challenge for him. He'll be ready for it. If that's the direction we go, he'll be ready for it."

• We'll close on this. Newton on next year's outlook: "Every time that I look at this team on film, I really believe we have a chance next year. You go outside the program, you see Auburn is not the dominant fan base in Alabama. But, four years ago, when they had that 13-0 season, everyone was on the Auburn bandwagon. Everybody has taken that step, and said, 'Hey, we got someone in this state that has been very dominant the last couple of years, it’s time, right now, that we get it back.’ There are people on this team ready to take back the pride of Alabama."