I think it was another successful spring wrap-up period. I think I've sufficiently stretched it out as long as possible. In case you missed it, you can read my position-by-position analyses by clicking on the following: the secondary, linebackers, defensive line, special teams, offensive line, wide receivers/tight ends, running backs and quarterbacks.I ran an accompanying poll question with each review, just to get a gauge of what the masses are thinking. Let's check the results.
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QUARTERBACK: Who will be Auburn's backup quarterback? (1,078 votes)
QUARTERBACK: Who will be Auburn's backup quarterback? (1,078 votes)
- Neil Caudle: 582 votes (53 percent)
- Barrett Trotter: 477 votes (44 percent)
- Clint Moseley: 19 votes (1 percent)
RUNNING BACK: Who will get more carries this year? (994 votes)
- Michael Dyer: 549 votes (56 percent)
- Onterio McCalebb: 445 votes (44 percent)
I worked off the assumption that Mario Fannin will get the lion's share of carries this season. Not surprisingly, many fans think Dyer will step in and be an immediate threat. Again, I can't argue the point here. McCalebb is a nice speed option, no doubt. But I'm still skeptical of his ability to be a back who can carry the ball on first and second down and run between the tackles on a consistent basis. Everything we've heard about Dyer suggests that he can be that back. And it's not out of place for a freshman to be used in a prominent role in an offense these days.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: Who will emerge as Auburn's No. 3 receiver? (1,014 votes)
- Quindarius Carr: 337 votes (33 percent)
- DeAngleo Benton: 245 votes (24 percent)
- Emory Blake: 189 votes (18 percent)
- Philip Lutzenkirchen: 88 votes (8 percent)
- Trovon Reed: 70 votes (6 percent)
- Kodi Burns: 33 votes (3 percent)
- Philip Pierre-Louis: 21 votes (2 percent)
- Ralph Spry: 16 votes (1 percent)
- Jay Wisner: 15 votes (1 percent)
People have certainly bought into Carr's spring game performance. I'm still a little skeptical. This is a guy who never got on the field last year, or for that matter, his entire career. And while occasionally that kind of player emerges to be a big-time player (see Adams, Darvin), I think it's common for receivers to ease their way into bigger roles. My money would be on Benton and Blake, the second- and third-leading vote getters. And I'd probably lean more toward Blake, who worked in the slot this spring and wasn't backing up and entrenched stater like Adams or Terrell Zachery.
OFFENSIVE LINE: Who will win the starting right tackle job? (790 votes)
- Roszell Gayden: 419 votes (53 percent)
- Brandon Mosley: 371 votes (47 percent)
Another interesting vote, considering Mosley finished the spring as the frontrunner (if not by the coaches, then certainly by the way he performed). Of course, Gayden was limited by a hand injury, so he wasn't able to showcase everything he could. So any kind of conclusions drawn from the spring are probably premature. Both have plenty of adjusting to do. Gayden has always played on the left side of the line. Mosley is a converted tight end. Whoever wins the job, it probably won't be decided until well into two-a-days.
SPECIAL TEAMS: What's your biggest special teams concern heading into the season? (845 votes)
- Muffed punts: 424 votes (51 percent)
- Poor kickoff coverage: 346 votes (41 percent)
- Ryan Shoemaker replacing Clinton Durst: 75 votes (8 percent)
I thought muffed punts would get an even greater share of the vote. They were definitely a glaring problem last year, and an embarrassing one at that. And it's not like Demond Washington showed a great set of hands back there near the end of last year (of course, once he caught the ball, he did good things with it). Kickoffs figure to be less of a problem with Auburn bringing in another full class to strengthen its scholarship numbers. Those players are usually better than walk-ons on kickoff coverage (excluding Ikeem Means). And nobody seemed particularly concerned with Shoemaker replacing Durst, probably because of Shoemaker's former All-SEC credentials. Can't say this is surprising.
DEFENSIVE LINE: Which defensive lineman is poised for a breakout year? (846 votes)
- Nick Fairley: 361 votes (42 percent)
- Antoine Carter: 272 votes (32 percent)
- Nosa Eguae: 137 votes (16 percent)
- Michael Goggans: 31 votes (3 percent)
- Mike Blanc: 30 votes (3 percent)
- Dee Ford: 15 votes (1 percent)
I asked a similar question in January and Fairley again got the majority of the votes. I guess part of this question involved determining whether you could consider Carter's 2009 season a "breakout year." Some people probably did. I'm on the fence. I feel like it was a breakout half-year. Semantics aside, Fairley definitely will be a key part of the defensive line. Like I wrote in the position review, he's a play-maker at tackle, not just a run stopper. Those don't come along often. Eguae finishing third is not surprising but Ford finishing sixth kind of is. He's bulked up quite a bit and he showed his chops as a pass-rushing specialist in part-time duty last year. Seems like he has a lot of upside, at the very least.
LINEBACKER: Who will step up as Auburn's third linebacker this year? (845 votes)
- Eltoro Freeman: 303 votes (36 percent)
- Daren Bates: 275 votes (33 percent)
- Jonathan Evans: 194 votes (23 percent)
- Somebody else: 58 votes (6 percent)
Of all the polls, this result surprised me the most. Freeman has been erratic through most of his career, was mostly invisible this spring and didn't get the most ringing endorsement from the coaching staff despite being given multiple opportunities. Is he talented? Yes. We saw that last year. But only in bursts. And that's not going to cut it at a spot where if you're out of position, the opponent breaks a long touchdown run. Perhaps part of this voting had to do with Bates' position switch. Nobody knows quite what we're going to see from him this year and how Auburn will use him. One astute commenter posted that Bates' situation feels a lot like how Chizik used Antarrious Williams back in his days as the Tigers' defensive coordinator. Williams was 5-foot-11, 213 pounds, even smaller than Bates. But he made Auburn's defense fast, which is Chizik's stated goal with the Bates move.
SECONDARY: What safety's return from injury concerns you the most? (744 votes)
- Zach Etheridge (neck): 579 votes (77 percent)
- Mike McNeil (leg): 91 votes (12 percent)
- Aairon Savage (Achilles', knee): 74 votes (9 percent)
Absolutely no surprise here, given the seriousness of Etheridge's injury and the fact that he didn't participate in any of the spring's drills. Kind of surprised by the second-place vote. Yes, McNeil still showed signs of a limp during the spring, a year after breaking his leg, but he was out there doing full contact drills. That's more than Savage can say. I figured there would be more concerns for someone coming back after missing back-to-back seasons with major injuries. Especially the Achilles' heel injury. There are no minor Achilles' injuries. To jump back into a featured role is not easy by any stretch of the imagination.
That, as they say, is a wrap for football this spring. Well, until the APR results come out ... or Big Cat Weekend 2 gets underway ... or a recruit commits (or de-commits) ... or if a coach speaks anywhere near Columbus ... or they participate in a golf tournament ... or ... you get the idea. Football never ends down here.
5 comments:
Mr. Andy, perhaps you didn't get the results you envisioned because you didn't have a third option for your poll questions...
c) I will support whatever decision Coach Chizik and Coach Trooper think is best.
That would have been my vote for every category, and I suspect many other people as well.
However, I do want to thank you for all the hard work you do, and I want to give special thanks for your refusal to go on the Paul Finebomb show ever since he tricked you into tearing down Auburn several weeks ago.
You mentioned that Carr never saw the field last year. This isn't true. He caught two deep balls, one for a TD in the Outback bowl. Sure, it isn't much experience at all, but between those plays and the spring game, I think it's safe to say he's got some potential as a regular big-play specialist.
I should clarify. I was using "never" as a relative term.
The following players caught more passes than Quindarius Carr last year: Adams, Fannin, Zachery, Tate, Smith, Trott, Blake, Benton, McCalebb, Lutzenkirchen, Burns and Wisner.
He had exactly as many catches as Travante Stallworth, who injured his knee and missed the last few games.
And he had one more catch that Derek Winter, Tim Hawthorne and Lee Ziemba (Lee Ziemba!).
So I woudln't say he was a primary option in the offense. Yes, he had a big catch in the bowl game. It was one of two. And yes he played well in the spring game. So did walk-on Nathan Taylor. So consider me skeptical that Carr will suddenly be a big factor in the offense this year.
Ummm... NEVER is an absolute... not a relative term. I teach my children to use it SELDOM because it often makes the wrong. Perhaps you should be more careful, if you knew he only caught X amount of passes then why not just state the facts. As it stands, you sound like you are making excuses for being lazy in you writing.
How about "rarely" got on the field. The point is, he caught two passes last year. I doubt he's going to be a factor.
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