You know the news by now: Barrett Trotter is Auburn's backup quarterback, A.J. Greene the starting right tackle. Here's what folks had to say about both after practice tonight, plus a few more notes after that.

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• Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn gave the impression that Trotter wasn't that far back of Cam Newton for the starting gig last spring. "He was in the mix until the very end when we named Cam the starter,” he said. "He came back in fall camp and has not missed a lick. We feel very good about him. We know what we’re going to get. He’s a tough guy. Throws the ball with great touch. Understands protections. Very solid quarterback.”

• Trotter missed last year after tearing his ACL in the spring of 2009 but said he's come back better than he thought he would. "I thought when I got out there in the spring, I thought it was going to hinder me and I'd be thinking about it," he said. "But really, when you've been playing football since fourth grade, when you get on the field, it's just football and back to doing what you know how to do. So it's been no transition."

• Despite entering his third year at Auburn, Trotter has not played in a game. “You want to get in every game you can and I haven’t been able to yet,” he said. “It’s definitely something I’ve been looking for.”

• Malzahn, especially, had good things to say about Trotter: "Barrett’s a competitor. Last year was very good for him. He stood on the sidelines. He got to see the game and see our offense from a different standpoint, working our board and seeing how things go on the sideline. I know that’s really helped him. Our players have a lot of respect for him."

• Auburn did not designate a backup between Neil Caudle and Clint Moseley. “I’ve said this all along, we’ve got four guys that can move the football and know our offense,” Malzahn said. “Quarterback is one of our deepest positions, and that’s a very good thing.”

• Caudle, a fifth-year senior, said he had a sense that Trotter had moved ahead of him. Caudle is still in line to be the starting holder, though. "Anyway I can get on the field to help the team is good with me," he said. "Whether that's doing whatever, whether it's holding, whether it's doing certain plays, I'm excited to do whatever I can do."

• Now for Greene, who came out of nowhere to win the right tackle job. (Props to Jay G. Tate of the HABOTN for the photo at the top.) How much of a long shot was he? Well, he came to Auburn as a defensive lineman. He had played in only three games in three years. And he was one of the few veterans who did not have his own page in the media guide. “I wouldn’t say a long shot,” offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said. “Maybe a dark horse. ... What happens with offensive linemen … those guys, they just kind of come on at different times in their careers. You can't give up on a lineman too soon. You never know when the light's going to turn on for that kid."

• Grimes said he noticed Greene make a leap this summer, when the 6-foot-5, 291-pound junior committed himself in the weight room. It carried over to the field, and the rest of the coaches began to think he had a shot at the right tackle job a few weeks ago, when he started taking first-team reps. "He’s really flipped the switch,” Malzahn said. “He’s a different person.”

• Greene took his promotion humbly. “I know not a lot of people expected me to win the starting spot, but I just used that as motivation and pushed myself even harder,” he said. “It does make me feel proud, knowing how hard I worked, but I have to remind myself that I still have a lot of room for improvement.”

• Right guard Byron Isom doesn't think it will take long for Greene to mesh with the four returning starters. "He pretty much had a good grasp of the offense from the tackle perspective, which is pretty much the same on both sides," he said. "So I think he's going to fit in well."

• Sullen, who has dealt with an undisclosed injury recently, will continue to work at different spots along the line. He’ll enter the season as the No. 2 right tackle and right guard. “I just told him that we’re still going to need him,” Grimes said. “He’s a young guy who’s really come on. ... He’s a guy that could play either spot and that makes his role even more valuable to the team.”

• Things don't sound as good for junior college transfer Roszell Gayden, another right tackle candidate who has been slowed by a knee injury. "There's no question that he's been held back," Grimes said. "We're still hopeful that he'll be able to get better and get to the point where he can do more."

• Here's the official offensive line two-deep, per Grimes:

• LT -- Lee Ziemba, Brandon Mosley
• LG -- Mike Berry, Bart Eddins
• C -- Ryan Pugh, Blake Burgess
• RG -- Isom, Sullen
• RT -- Green, Sullen, Chad Slade (Slade will stay with the varsity group)
  

• Pugh was named to the watch list for the Rimington Award, given annually to the nation's top center. "It means a lot to me personally," he said. "But first and foremost, it's all about wins and losses for a team, because if the team succeeds more, the awards tend to go more to players on those teams. ... But I am very honored to be named to the watch list."

• Freshman wide receiver Trovon Reed (knee) did not practice Thursday, although wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor expects him to be ready for the opener. “I tell him, I’ve going to get Seabiscuit to the track,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to leave him in the trailer. I'm going to make sure he’ll be able to run the race. It’s probably more so me than him. He wanted to go today. For me, I’m going to trust the trainers and the doctors. If they tell me give him a break, I’m going to give him a break." (Note: this seems to fly in the face of the "can't make the club in the tub" mantra Trooper has held all along.)

• Case in point: DeAngelo Benton, who has missed three weeks with a broken bone in his hand. "They’re calling him 'Fresh Legs,’" Taylor said. "I was calling him Haynesworth because he held out for so long, missing practice." (That's a reference to Redskins tackle Albert Haynesworth, who held out for part of the summer.)

• Trooper did have some positive things to say about Benton, saying the receiver had no setbacks at all. He even went to the ground on one play on his wrist and bounced back up no problem.
  

• But Trooper also kind of issued a challenge to Benton to prove his worth. "What he’s got to do is work his way on some special teams," Taylor said. "If he can do that, he’ll get on that field and be able to help us. If he doesn’t, he’ll redshirt and stay home. His value to the football team will be as a backup wide receiver and as a special teams guy."

• He went on: "I’m not carrying a guy just to eat and back up a guy up," he said. "He’s not getting on that plane with me to back somebody up. We’re not held hostage anymore. Last year, we couldn’t get 70 on a trip. This year, we’re having a hard time figuring out which 70 we want to take. That makes a big difference on this football team."

• Trooper has a different feeling heading into this season. "Feeling like a guy who had just gotten Christmas presents seeing if the toys were going to work," he said. "Now that I’ve had these guys for awhile, I already know which ones work and which ones don’t. It’s more of a confident deal now, rather than, 'I wonder.’ It’s just confidence."

• Defensive coordinator Ted Roof (yes, despite what this post would imply, Auburn does have a defense), said he expects Eltoro Freeman to play this year, despite another injury setback in August. "He's done a good job and picked up," Roof said. "He's approaching the game in a much more detailed and focused manner and as a result is playing better. Being much more accountable. Still got a ways to go but I'm pleased with how far he's come."

• Freeman can play weak-side linebacker or strong side. "They're interchangeable," Roof said.
  

• Similarly, T'Sharvan Bell sounds like the No. 1 backup at both cornerback spots. "He's done a great job so far," Roof said. "He's improved a lot, he's become more physical. He's had a good camp and I've been real pleased with him. He understands the game and therefore gives us some flexibility and versatility where we can put him."

• There's still an ongoing competition for the fourth cornerback spot, presumably between freshmen Jonathon Mincy and Chris Davis.

• Roof seemed pleased with the progress of Harris Gaston as well. "For the first time I felt he really cut it loose (Saturday)," Roof said. "He cut it loose. As a result that increased contact speed and that was a good thing. Now with him, he basically missed last season when he got hurt. He was redshirting and he didn't have spring practice because he was still injured. It's kind of like starting back over for Harris. He's done some good things but he has to keep coming on because I look at him like I look at a freshman. Those guys have to keep coming and provide us some depth so we don't get to a point like we did last year."

• Ideally, Roof would like to have at least one backup to play in a game at every position, so 22 total. "I don't know if we're ready to do that or not right now," he said. "Last year, I would have said we would loved to have played 16 or 14. I think we're getting better but games dictate that. I know this to be true is that in order to have fresh guys in the fourth quarter, you've got to sub guys early. You can't put backups in the game once things have been decided one way or the other. You can't be afraid to put them in and let them play. When you do that there's going to be some growing pains."