AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn coach Gene Chizik was disappointed by Monday’s practice, the Tigers’ fifth of August and their first in full pads.

“I was really hoping it would be a more physical practice,” Chizik said. “After having kind of an off day yesterday, I felt like today would be a little more high-energy. ... We’re going to get that fixed ASAP tomorrow. ... That was pretty poor.”

Monday marked the first time Auburn had a chance to go live this August, something that usually brings out the best in most players.

“You’d expect more crisp play, a little more excitement and energy,” Chizik said. “That’s how it is on the first day of pads for anybody. ... We certainly need to pick the tempo up and that’ll certainly happen tomorrow. We’ve got to make up some ground.”

The Tigers have their first two-a-days today, with a 10:55 a.m ET morning practice and an 8:10 p.m. ET night practice.

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Lots of news and notes out of Monday's interviews. Bullet points will take us through it all:

• Safety Zac Etheridge, who is making a comeback from a career-threatening neck injury suffered last fall, didn’t go full contact. “We were very strategic in how we placed him in the drills and things,” Chizik said. Chizik said his staff will be judicious with how it eases Etheridge back into full contact. The senior, who wore a cumbersome neck brace for months after the injury, sat out the spring while waiting for doctors to clear him. He got that go-ahead in mid-July and has been easing his way back since. “Zac’s been great,” Chizik said. “He’s been pretty much full speed the whole time. We didn’t let him go full contact today, but really he’s done everything but that. He’s about as close as you can get to doing that.”

• Fellow safety Aairon Savage, who is returning from ACL and Achilles’ injuries that cost him the last two seasons, practiced the entire day and did some live work.

• Starting wide receiver Darvin Adams has continued to work as a punt returner, something he started in the spring. Special teams coordinator Jay Boulware has no qualms about putting a preseason All-SEC receiver back there and exposing him to more hits. “Everybody across the conference does it,” he said. “There was no hesitancy about (Alabama’s) Javier Arenas or the kid at LSU (Trindon Holliday) or the kid at Florida (Brandon James). All those guys are ballplayers, all those guys are starters. Those are premier positions. You might try to save on other areas of Special Forces, but that’s not one of the areas where we try to save kids."

• Boulware liked what he saw out of 6-foot-5 freshman punter Steven Clark, who got all the punting reps with his competition, Ryan Shoemaker, attending his graduation ceremony Monday. "He did a phenomenal job in getting the ball off in time and making contact," Boulware said. "The big thing for a freshman punter is his get-off time. His catch-to-kick time is a little slow right now, as expected. We’re trying to work to get that down without taking too much away from him striking the ball. He’s got a big leg. He’s doing some good things. He’s hit some five-second hangtime punts for us, which is the best that we’ve had since I’ve been here. But the consistency is the big thing when you have a true freshman punting."

• It appears Auburn has no plans to move converted linebacker Daren Bates back to safety in the future. “He's going to be a linebacker," Chizik said. "That's my anticipation. I can't say 'never,' but … he's home now."

• Count Chizik as another player impressed by TE Philip Lutzenkirchen so far. "He's 260 pounds, so he's physically more ready to play at this level in terms of hand-on-the-ground than he was at this point last year," Chizik said. "That's where we're seeing a lot of the improvements. He's catching the ball, but his blocking is certainly going in the right direction."

• Lutzenkirchen on the difference between this year and last: "Just coming in as a freshman, you don't really know what to expect. ... I had no clue what I was doing. This year, I mean my mind set is that I'm the guy and I'm back in my mind set where I'm one of the best players on the field and I think that's helped a lot with me being physical. I was patient for a year. Everyone wants to be out there as a freshman, but you kind of learn that you're not ready for it. And now I feel like I'm ready for it."

• Lutzenkirchen confirmed QB Cam Newton has a cannon for an arm. "Yeah, you've got to snap your head around quick, especially when there's a blitz coming and you're out in the flat -- he'll take your head off," he said.

• He also says Newton is going to make teams more honest as a runner on the zone read, saying Newton's running ability will "widen out" the offense. "I'm not saying anything bad about (Chris) Todd," he said with a laugh when asked about if he was slighting last year's QB. "Todd got the job done, but Cam's a little more athletic than Chris was."

• Most of the freshmen linebackers are working on the outside right now, except for Jake Holland. But that doesn't mean they'll stay there for their entire careers. "All four of our linebackers we signed, they're all big enough to be middle guys," Chizik said.

• We had a more extended chat with freshman RB Michael Dyer today. He took a good lick from someone in practice. "One guy hit me coming off a block," he said. "You know, they come so quick. Just as soon as you get out there, he's right there. It's like, OK, my feet's not ready, I'm not set. Sometimes you just take it. I took one today. I thought it was funny, though, because it's my first time ever to get really hit and you get held up like that before." He said he didn't remember who hit him.

• Dyer on the difference between high school and college: "When you play for Auburn, there's a winning attitude that you need to have every time, not just every minute or every moment, but every second has to have a winning attitude. And that's what you think of with this team."

• He said he doesn't model his running style after a pro or college running back. "I've always just gone out and just ran and played as hard as I could," he said.

• Dyer will return kicks or punts if he has to, but he didn't sound thrilled or confident in his ability about the latter.

• Dyer said there's been some adjustment coming to college and not being the best player on the field. "In high school I didn't need to worry about that, because I knew I was the best," he said. "But in college, everyone's good. Everyone's fast. Everyone's quick. And I guess it's the reality if you're willing to go the extra mile to be great. And so far we've been talking about being good to great. And while I know that there are players that are better than me, bigger and stronger than me, then every little thing counts. If the coaches need it, that counts. The little block. The little shove. The little contact, all that, the things I need to take in mind, because all of them can do exactly what I do, but it's the little things that separate the good and the great and the best, so I try to do those little things. We all try to do those things so we can be separated and try to help our team out."

• Defensive end Joel Bonomolo has taken the first week to get used to how Auburn operates after not arriving until last week. The transfer from Fullerton (Calif.) Community College said he took 29 credit hours the previous semester and a half to get into Auburn, which wore him out. "It was good to take a break, but also I wish I could have been here," he said.

• Bonomolo was up front about why colleges didn't recruit him coming out of high school. He didn't have the ACT score to play college ball. ("I never took it seriously," he said.) He's committed to academics since then. He said he had a 3.0 GPA last semester and made the dean's list.

• The 6-foot-2, 242-pound transfer started at power end early in camp but switched tonight to quick end, which he prefers. He stayed in shape during the summer, so he doesn't feel like he's lagging physically. "I can’t say that I’m behind," he said. "The only thing I can say I’m behind is the defensive scheme and the playbook."

• DE Nosa Eguae is up to 259 pounds and said he's 100 percent after a foot injury kept him out last year. He considers it a blessing in disguise. "I feel like the game is more here," he said, pointing to his head. "I see a block, boom! I'm making a play." That was Madden-esque.
  

• Eguae said he's at 100 percent, by the way. He's working at power end behind Michael Goggans.

• Cornerbacks coach Phillip Lolley said freshmen Chris Davis and Jonathan Mincy have a chance to play this year. "It's my job to bring them along and that's what I plan to do," Lolley said. "I just told them 'soon' and 'however long it takes.' It's a long season but I expect them to be playing. I can't tell you whether it will be the first game, second game, third game, you hope its the first game. They're progressing."

• Lolley on CB Demond Washington's confidence, which can border on cockiness: "Confidence is one thing that Demond Washington does not lack. If you ask him tonight, he'll tell you he's the best tailback on this team, he's the best receiver, he'll tell you he's the best DB. That's the kind of kids I like. He really believes that. Confidence is something he absolutely does not lack. He believes he can play any position on this team and that's good and I like that and he's very confident football player."

• Lolley didn't give a specific number of players he'd like to have. "You need as many as you can get in this league because you never know," he said. ".Last year is a year I never want to go through again as far as that many reps for my guys. It's really unheard of. I've just never seen too many kids that can play that many reps in this league. We were fortunate we had some kids last year with a lot of intestinal fortitude."

• He's switching players at right and left corner daily to get them used to both sides to build some artificial depth. "I want them to learn it all," he said. "If you come with just a field corner and a boundary corner or a passing strength corner and an away from the passing strength corner, then you're gearing guys to specific responsibilities.