• WR Darvin Adams, 6-3, 192, Jr.
• CB T'Sharvan Bell, 6-0, 179, So.
• WR Quindarius Carr, 6-1, 184, Jr.
• RB Mario Fannin, 5-11, 227, Sr.
• RB Onterio McCalebb, 5-10, 165, So.
• WR Philip Pierre-Louis, 5-8, 150, So.
• DB Blake Poole, 6-0, 188, rFr.
• RB Eric Smith, 5-10, 239, Jr.
• WR Ralph Spry, 5-10, 167, Jr.
• CB Neiko Thorpe, 6-2, 192, Jr.
• CB Demond Washington, 5-9, 183, Sr.
• WR Terrell Zachery, 6-1, 211, Sr.

As it turns out, Auburn didn't have anyone who could catch the ball on a regular basis, just one of many underwhelming parts of a special teams that, save for the kicking game, took a dramatic nose dive last year. Byrum got his head on straight and had the kind of year everyone expected out of him as a sophomore, and Clinton Durst turned in a solid senior year. But Auburn's problems were on returns — both making them and stopping them. The Tigers didn't have anybody who could catch punts on a consistent basis (Washington finally emerged, even though he still had a case of the butterfingers). The kick return units, despite their potential, were ordinary. And the kick coverage unit gave up too many long returns for anyone's satisfaction. For head coach Gene Chizik, who prides himself on special teams, it was not a banner year.

Things are looking up in the second year of the Chizik/Jay Boulware special teams alliance. Byrum has continued to look sharp in practice, hoping to build off a 15-for-16 year on field goals. He's feeling to so good on field goals that he wants to try to do that and kickoffs this year. Shoemaker, a one-time second-team All-SEC pick who has been in Durst's shadow the last two years, has appeared to regain his form. Coaches have taken note of a rise in his play since Auburn signed Clark, a freshman who Boulware has lauded for his potential. Boulware said Shoemaker is striking the ball as well as he ever has. While it's hard to tell how much progress has been made on the return units, Auburn, with a full signing class boosting its numbers, will have more bodies at its disposal this year, which does two things: 1) allows more scholarship (read: skilled) players to be on the field for kickoff coverage, which 2) should lead to crisper tackling. At least that's how it's supposed to work in a perfect world. Oh, and no one dropped a punt in the A-Day scrimmage, a small, but notable achievement.

Of course, no one dropped a punt in practice because Auburn's gunners were deliberately going half speed. For as much as the coaches want to say the return game has improved this spring, most Auburn fans won't be convinced until they see someone cleanly field a punt in a game situation. The Tigers did plenty of drills during the spring to fix their past mistakes (catching punts one-handed, letting the punt bounce of their facemask instead of catching it to make sure they look it all the way in), but those don't amount to much if they don't transfer over to the field. Another blow was Pierre-Louis' knee injury, the severity of which still isn't known. It's a shame for the emerging punt returner. It came right after the sophomore had a good scrimmage and appeared to finally climb out of the coaches' doghouse.

His underwhelming (to say the least) performance at the Under Armour All-American game notwithstanding, Parkey has the potential to be a good kicker, one who won't have to play immediately with Byrum on the roster for another year. That's to Auburn's benefit. Clark, on the other hand, could challenge for immediate time, if Boulware's comments are any indication. "He's big, rangy kid," Boulware said. "Kind of more along the lines of an NFL type player body. 6-5, 225-pound type kid that's really going to change, in my mind, the dynamics of what we've been looking at here the last couple years as a punter." (emphasis mine) Now that's quite a statement, especially about someone who has yet to step on campus. And it's a clear shot across the bow at Shoemaker, who apparently responds well to such motivation. As for returners, there are sure to be a bunch of candidates in the freshman class, but Reed, a do-everything athlete from Thibodaux, La., seems to be the most likely candidate to do something immediately, especially if he finds it hard to crack the wide receiver rotation.

We're kind of limited in people to choose from, so I'll take Shoemaker. It's hard to pick a former All-SEC performer as a breakout, but he's been idle the last two years after losing out on the starter's job to Durst. Remember, though, Shoemaker averaged 42.4 yards per punt as a freshman, second in the SEC and 16th nationally. If he can regain his confidence and get back to that level, he won't have to worry about any freshman taking his job.

Until someone consistently catches the ball, I'm not handing the punt return job to anyone quite yet, even if Washington provided a spark at the end of last year. Washington certainly enters the year as a favorite to return punts, but a handful of others, including Pierre-Louis (if healthy), Carr and even Adams, could displace him if there's any sign of problems (or if Washington, a starting cornerback who will probably also return kicks, has too much on his plate). Boulware was sick of the muffed punts last year. He won't have much patience with any more in Year 2.

“We have to rely on guys that are on our team now because those are the guys that have been in our system for a whole year. And those freshmen, yeah, they'll get better and better and better as the year goes on, but to start off the season when we first kick off, it's going to be guys we played with last year. And they're going to have to come out and step up for us until those true freshmen that we get to work with for a month before we get to play our first game, are actually ready to go, which won't be before, as you guys know, three or four weeks into the season before they have a good clue of what to do and are ready to step in." — Boulware on his coverage units

113— Auburn's punt return rank out of 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The Tigers averaged only 4.46 yards per return.