Our columnist, Troy Johnson, spoke with DeRon Furr Sr. today about his son's decision to transfer to Memphis. I'm glad to see that's sorted out and that he's excited about playing football again. It was a shame the way things ended up here for him because, as I said on here before, I liked DeRon in the handful of times I dealt with him. A fresh start is exactly what he needs. Good luck to him.

Auburn announced today that the Aug. 30 against Louisiana-Monroe will air on cable pay-per-view in Alabama and Louisiana and will be available on PPV for DirecTV and Dish Network subscribers.

It's a 7 p.m. game here in the Eastern time zone. Potential home cable and commercial PPV purchasers can call 1-800-TV-STARS for more information or to order the game.

I'd imagine you're going to read a lot more about practice fights in the near future, because of the participants in today's scrape. It started out between Ryan Pugh and Antonio Coleman in pass-rush drills, but Lee Ziemba ran up in there as it continued and I don't believe it was to break it up. There were a lot of people trying to end it, including players, coaches and trainers, but it turned into a big mess and they crashed over a water cooler. When they cleared it out, Coleman was initially lying face down on the ground and was attended to by trainers. After a minute or so, he rolled over and eventually got up and was fine. He was back out practicing soon afterwards, but I know everyone watching was thinking back to the spring, when an after-the-whistle fight between Ziemba and Coleman left Coleman with a sprained neck.

Tommy Tuberville was flippant when asked about it after practice, saying he wants them ornery every day. That's not the attitude he or the coaches showed immediately after the fight cleared, though. Like Paul Rhoads said after practice, there's a good kind of aggression -- and fights sometimes happen because of that -- and then there's going over the line. I guess that's the fine line they walk every time one of these things happens. Eight times out of 10, nothing comes of it. But then you occasionally run into the broken leg or the nearly broken neck and you have to answer questions about it. What's the proper reaction to it? I'm not sure.

* Talked with Harry Adams today. He didn't get his wind knocked out the other day. He had a bruised lung and was spitting up blood -- lots of it -- after taking a hit from Antoine Carter in a tackling drill. After his ride in the ambulance, he said, he spent about five hours in the hospital, but he's OK now. He came back out to practice today after it had started and rode the stationary bike and did some light running. He expects to be back at practice soon.

* Jason Bosley was back at practice today. He did most everything except pass-rush drill, so he had a ringside seat for the brawl. Bosley, by the way, said he doesn't think there's any animosity between the offensive and defensive line and didn't think the brawl was a big deal. He said he doesn't think the back problem he had will be a continuing thing.

* Ben Tate came out after taking a big hit from Chris Evans while catching a screen pass in 11-on-11. Tate was kind of hung out to dry on that play. Evans gave him a good thud, but if he was going full-bore, he'd have taken Tate's head off. Tate and Bosley rode back to the football building in a university van after practice -- which has to be one of the top benefits of being injured.

* Robert Dunn and Mario Fannin, both with shoulder injuries, wore non-contact jerseys in practice.

* I thought Carter, Jomarcus Savage and Zach Clayton had some good reps in pass-rush drill before the brawl. Clayton's a big bull. He's been extremely impressive in those one-on-one matchups.

* This just in, Cameron Henderson is fast. Can't see him playing this year because he's way too skinny, but he's gonna be good.

* Somebody asked Tony Franklin which freshmen he sees playing this year, and he actually rattled off a couple. His responses: Eric Smith (probably), Philip Pierre-Louis (probably), Derek Winter (question mark), Darvin Adams (probably).

I've barely interacted with him, but I like Tony Franklin. You always appreciate a coach, especially a coordinator, who gets it and he does. Same thing with Paul Rhoads. Both of them spoke with the pack after practice. I think I'll probably post the Q/A with Franklin later.

Glenn Eller, who was a student at Auburn a few years back, won a gold medal in double trap shotgun an hour or so ago and set a couple of Olympic records. Eller is a member of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, which is based here at Fort Benning.

Here's a story on Eller that ran before the Olympics in his hometown Houston Chronicle.

The story I just posted for the Ledger.

Auburn linebackers coach James Willis talked to a group of reporters after Monday evening's practice for about five minutes. Here's what he had to say:

Thoughts on the scrimmage?
It’s a good starting point. Our guys came out and they competed. The biggest thing we were looking for in that first scrimmage is how guys respond under pressure. Alignments, understanding formations, understanding coverages and just overall effort getting to the ball and I think our guys came out and did a pretty good job of that. It’s just a starting point. We’ve got a long way to go.

And today?
Here’s what I feel about a feel of the defense. I feel like our guys are right now in the whole swing of training camp, getting hot, getting tired and sore and all that stuff, but they come out every morning and they compete. They understand what’s ahead of ‘em, they come out and they attack the task at hand. So that’s what we’re really proud of.

Anybody really improve since spring practice?
I think a lot of guys have. I’m very proud of Adam Herring. He’s really come out and paid great attention to detail. His assignments, his technique, his fundamentals, everything is right on track with where he should be right now. I really take hats off to him. Also Josh Bynes is coming with a tremendous job also.

Bynes and Herring still at (middle linebacker)?
Yes sir.

On the importance of Bynes following a strong spring with a strong fall:
The key word is consistency. That’s one thing we’ve challenged Josh with from day one is being consistent. He’ll come out one day and be all over the place and the next day you might not even hear his name being called. That’s what we kinda gave him a challenge as, as far as coming out to this training camp and seeing if he can improve in that area, and I think he has.

On the competition between Evans and Johnson for the starting job:
It’s a great problem to have. Right now, again, if you gave me a starting roster, they’d both be on the first team. That’s a great problem to have.

On the play of Stevens and Blackmon:
They haven’t missed a day. They’ve both come out with some nagging injuries here or there, but they both come out, they line up and they perform every snap, so I’m very proud about that.

On how many guys he needs to be game-ready:
You’d rather have six, but right now we have seven. That’s a good thing. I mean, Pybus has really stepped up and he’s one that I’m gonna keep my eye on. If he’ll keep pushing and keep pushing, he may have a chance to help us this season.

On who would be the seven:
Of course, Craig Stevens and Courtney Harden. Tray and Merrill. You’ve also got … Chris and Evans. And now Adam Herring and Pybus both are giving a push for that seventh spot. … and Bynes also. So we’ve got some depth now and that’s a great thing for us right now because for the last few years we haven’t had that at linebacker, so right now we’re pretty strong in the depth category.

On what he saw in Pybus, who wasn’t especially highly recruited:
That’s the thing. He came to camp for two strong years and he came and competed. Every year I saw him get better and better. The kid can run fast, he can jump high and he can cover. Things like that kinda show up, plus he loves Auburn. He’s one that every year he came back, he was loyal, he came to camp every time we had a camp. And that’s one thing that means a lot to us.

Is he making plays?
He’s making plays. If you go back and watch the scrimmage, his name was called several times – a lot of times in one series. So that’s outstanding.

When did you start seeing the light come on as far as doing that?
I think the second day of pads. The first day of course everybody looks good in shorts. The first day the pads came on, I think he kinda hit a wall. Coach Tub (?) put some more defenses in and we gave him a challenge as far as coming out and seeing if you can push past that wall, and he did. He came out when the bullets were live just making plays, so that was very good to see.

Is he still gonna redshirt?
Hard to say. Hard to say. I mean he’s doing some good things out there. We don’t recruit guys to redshirt. He came in and he has a chance to play if he can come out and keep getting better.

On Craig Stevens:
Here’s what we gave him. Craig is the kind of guy for us at linebacker that he does all the right things. He’s always in the right spot, always doing the right thing in his assignments. Our challenge to Craig was doing something special. Making that special play, that tremendous play. And I think he’s done some of those things in camp now, so he’s definitely improved in that area.

On the changes he’s seen in Tray Blackmon:
Every year, he gets better and better. You see maturity. He matures right in front of your face. This year he came out and again, Tray’s been the kind of guy where maybe every day he doesn’t show up. Well he’s been showing up every day in practice, fighting through some soreness. He’s one of those tight-muscle guys and he gets sore pretty fast, but he’s been pushing right through, and I’m proud of that.

On whether this could be Tray’s breakout year if he stays healthy:
I think he can and he deserves it. He’s been through a lot and he’s put in the hard work and a lot of sacrifice, so we’ve got high hopes for him.

On whether he’s been around another linebacker with such a special collection of tools:
Myself, none. I was here as a graduate assistant when Dontarrious was here and Karlos Dansby and those guys were special. Tray’s got that potential to be special.

Just got home from Auburn. Auburn's Kirsty Coventry and Margaret Hoelzer took silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's 100-meter backstroke about an hour ago. America's Natalie Coughlin, whose world record in the event Coventry broke yesterday, took the gold.

That's pretty cool for Coventry and Hoelzer, who were roommates at Auburn. They're also probably the top two contenders for the 200m backstroke. Both set a world record in the event this year, Coventry first and then Hoelzer broke it at the U.S. Olympic Trials. They'll compete in that one in a couple days.

Coventry continues to tear it up in these Olympics. A few minutes ago, she set an Olympic record in the 200m individual medley semifinals with a time of 2:09.53. She'll compete in the finals Tuesday night. Coventry won bronze in 200 IM in 2004. She's already medaled twice in Beijing, taking silver in 400 IM and 100m back.

Schedule

Missed a good bit, but here are a couple of quick things from this evening's practice.
* The defense had completely dominated the last couple of 11-on-11s I watched, but I thought the offense fared a little better just now. I might have scored that one a draw.
* The biggest news from the press conference was that Marcus Jemison had surgery today to repair a broken leg. In my professional medical opinion, I'd say he's probably redshirting this season.
* Sen'Derrick Marks had a nice pass breakup at the line.
* One of the QBs threw a screen right into Raven Gray's stomach, but he dropped it.
* The players and Tommy Tuberville were available after the morning practice, so nothing new there. But LB coach James Willis and OL coach Hugh Nall spoke with reporters after the evening workout. Got a couple interesting things out of that, including that Willis thinks Tray Blackmon has the most special combination of skills of any LB he's worked with. I assume that's only as a coach, but he didn't specify. He brought up Dontarrius Thomas and Karlos Dansby and said Tray has the ability to be that kind of special player.

Obviously most of us agree with that assessment. It's a matter of him staying healthy and out of trouble. When I covered high schools several years ago, I knew some coaches whose team was in the same region with LaGrange (Blackmon's school). When their team was coming to the line for a running play, the QB was supposed to come to the line and then audible into a run in the opposite direction of wherever Blackmon was lined up. Of course that meant running toward Wesley Woodyard, who went on to be one of the top LBs in the SEC for the last couple years, but they looked at that as a preferable option. In other words, Tray's pretty good.

Auburn released a transcript from Tommy Tuberville's preseason press conference today. I intended to just post a link to their official site so you could read it there, but it doesn't appear to be up. So here it is:

Opening statement:
“You would hope to be farther along than what we are. You always think that. After watching all the practice film over the last few days and our scrimmage, I think we’ve made a lot of progress. There is a good possibility we could have a good football team but a lot of things have to fall in place. You need to stay away from the injury bug as we found out pretty early losing a guy like Aairon Savage. It throws you in a tailspin trying to find who can play and who will step up. That’s probably thrown in into a situation where we’ll have to look a little harder at some of the true freshmen coming in. That will work itself out. I remember a few years ago we moved Tre Smith from running back to the secondary just trying to find someone we felt had some experience. We won’t do that. We won’t move anybody over. We feel like the freshmen are moving along pretty well and as a group we can fill that void. It’s hard to fill a void when you lose experience like that.

“Overall, our camp has gone well. The weather has cooperated. We’ve gotten a lot more done since the weather has been nice, other than the first couple of days where it was almost unbearable. I think the guys came in in good shape and with a good frame of mind. We’ve got good leadership. It really takes good leadership in a long camp like this one. Overall the guys have worked hard and we’ve got a chance to
get better if we keep working hard and are able to have guys out there consistently. We’ve even cut practices back in length. We looked at last year and practices were about 25 minutes longer but we’ve been getting more reps because of the tempo we are going at. We haven’t lost anything and knowing that is the reason we cut a little time out.


“Let’s talk about the offense first. Kodi (Burns) and Chris (Todd) both are a little tired. They are hanging in there. You need your quarterbacks to step up and show the players around them that they can withstand anything. You need good camaraderie and leadership out of your quarterbacks. Both these guys are good friends. They are competing well. We’re going to have to wait a little longer and see how they do
in the scrimmage coming up. I thought practice has been a pretty good indicator that both of them are going to be fine quarterbacks. They are able to do different things. They have different strengths but I love their frames of mind out there. They are team players and that’s what you have got to have at quarterback.

“Barrett Trotter and Neil Caudle are fighting it out to be No. 3 and I thought Neil played the best in practice since he’s been here. He’s throwing the ball better. I don’t have any preference there as I told Trotter. The best player is going to be No. 3 and be the guy that travels. We’ll continue to work all four of those guys.

“The area that we need to work to get more consistency is in the offensive line. The offensive line is the focal point of anything you do on offense. All it takes is one missed block from one of the five guys and you’ve got problems. We’ve looked at different scenarios. We want to have three centers. We’re moving people around just trying to find the right combination of the first two groups. We don’t have
many numbers there. We didn’t bring anyone in in terms of a signee. All the guys that are there now have been there and have played the positions they are playing so we’ve got a little experience coming out of spring practice with most of the guys. It looks good. Again, it’s hard to tell in two-a-days about your offensive line. Those are the guys who fatigue pretty quick, especially with the tempo of this
offense. The thing we want to make sure we do is have two healthy offensive lines so we can play a lot of players in the first few games of the season. As we go through the season you won’t see as much substitution because the tempo really takes something out of those guys.

“I like what Tyronne Green has done. He might be one of the better and quicker athletes we’ve had on the offensive line in a while. He doesn’t say a lot but he’s probably one of the most improved players we’ve had here over the last four or five years.

“Mike Berry will be a utility player for us. Could be a starter or could be a backup at a lot of positions. He has really performed for us.

“Of course, (Lee) Ziemba is Ziemba. He doesn’t know how good he could be. He’s a tough guy and he wants to learn. Sometimes he gets out of control but I’ve noticed in two-a-days he is much more patient in his technique.

“The offensive line is coming along. It’s harder on them probably than anybody with what they have to do mentally and physically.

“Tommy Trott has made some catches in these two-a-days that he wouldn’t have made these last couple of years. He made one of those today. He’s going to be a tremendous force in this offense. Gabe McKensie is much improved. Those guys have to be factors for you in this offense where they catch the ball, block and move around in the backfield. We’ll use both of those guys in several situations.

“The wide receiver position – wow! We’ve never had so many guys with opportunities to play. Greg Knox and Steve Ensminger are going to have some decisions to make as we go through this last scrimmage and are getting ready for game time. Darvin Adams has come out, he’s learning, he doesn’t say a lot but he’s been a factor in most
practices we’ve had in terms of running routes like they need to be run. It’s good to see young guys perform that well early. There are a lot of guys at the top that have a lot of experience playing in this league. When it all comes down to it, we’re going to have to have two groups that can get out there a make very few mental mistakes. It’s very important that wide receivers run the right routes, the correct
routes, the distance, the speed and be able to understand coverage. It’s going to be fun watching these receivers. We’re going to have a few playmakers. I think more and more of them are going to step up as we go along.

“Last week, Brad Lester and Ben Tate got some playing time like any scrimmage in the fall for guys who have been with us. You all know me. We’re not going to run the running backs too much. They are going to get all they need during the season. We did look at Eric Smith. He had a good day and made some yards. They call him ‘Little Rudi.’ He’s a guy the looks just like Rudi Johnson running the ball. He
slashes. He can run inside and out. I think the guy who is going to be our ace in the hole, if he can continue to stay healthy, is Tristan Davis. He’s really having a good fall camp so far. We just need to get enough practices out of him to where he can get back into playing shape. I’m proud of what he’s done and how he’s done it.

“We didn’t tackle very well in the scrimmage but that’s normal when you play an offense like we play in terms of having to make a lot of open-field tackles. It’s going to be fun to watch our front seven. I think this could be one of our better ones if we continue to stay healthy. We’re starting to build some depth. We’ve got some young linebackers, even some first- and second-year guys like Adam Herring,
that have a chance to play. They are starting to learn and understand this defense. We haven’t changed a whole lot. That’s helped all the younger players that redshirted last year.

“Our kicking game is up in the air. There’s going to be a lot of competition at the punting position. I think that’s an area where every day could make a difference. You love competition at that area because it forces you to work on the little things that could make a difference in the conference.

“It’s been a good camp. We’ve still got a dozen practices to go. We’re going to get one more scrimmage in a few days after Saturday depending on if our offense or defense feels like they need it. We’ll also have some kind of full speed kicking night inside the stadium to try and get some looks at some younger guys to try and get them on special teams.”

Q: At this point in camp, guys start talking about hitting a wall. How are you trying to prevent that?

Tuberville: Well, you change it up. Sometimes in the past we have changed it up and done team drills early and do individual last. I think that is the biggest thing that has happened, especially now because you get bored a little bit. We are not going to be a fancy team on offense or on defense. We never have been in terms of what you do in a certain play, you might look different in formation or in personnel on the
field. It is a lot of carry-over with what you do. As a head coach and with the coordinators, one thing that you do not want to set in is boredom. I have had teams where we have run sprints at the beginning and so you let them know that we will be running early and working on teamwork and drills after that. It is not rocket science, you just have to get in their heads and know where they are at and figure out what will motivate them so they will put out a little more in practice and
you get can a little more execution out of them.

Q: What were some of the most noticeable differences with the new clock rules during the scrimmage?

Tuberville: There really were not any. I think the officials had to adjust a couple of times and we brought our guy in. A paid official does not come from the SEC to run a 40-second clock. That comes from your school. You have to hire that person, but an alternate official does run the game clock, so we brought in our guy, someone who has done it for us for years. I think he lives in south Georgia, but he has had to come up and as I talked to him, it is very different. You have to learn hand signals, understand what you are doing, so he is kind of like an official on the field. But that is not going to bother us much because on offense, we are on the line of scrimmage as the ball is getting ready for play. You can see some definite differences for teams that huddle and take their time because you can obviously run a lot of time off the clock. I think the biggest rule change is going to be when the ball goes out of bounds and being brought back in, starting the clock. I think
that will be the biggest change in terms of cutting five or six plays out of the game and maybe more than that.

Q: Neil Caudle has done some holding in practice. Is he the kind of guy
you like in that kind of position?

Tuberville: What we are going to do is that (Clayton) Crofoot will be our holder .We are trying to work a scenario where we do not have to take another person in the kicking area that is holding so we wanted Neil to be our backup holder, and he will travel. Especially when you play as many freshmen as we will this year. And special teams really cut into your roster especially when you only have seventy people
travelling.

Q: How tough is it to rely on young freshman cornerbacks?

Tuberville: They are not freshman after a few games. If they have got enough ability to be here and to get a scholarship, then they can play. And most of them, that is an athletic position, and we have looked and talked about it where we have met a couple of these freshmen who did not do anything right in terms of alignment, footwork or turning, but they make the play. Now, once they learn then all the techniques are going to make them that much better. But the number one thing at corner is that
you have got to be able to play there. You have got to have speed, you have got to have quickness, and you have got to be able to break on the ball. And I really like all three guys that we are working right now and the young guys in terms of being able to get that done because we are going to have to play most of them.

Q: How conditioned will the defense be just from having to practice against an offense running spread all the time?

Tuberville: We do not even have to condition much anymore because for the hour and a half that we are out there they are constantly running, especially when you get to the team drills when there is not much standing around. I think it is going to help us, but you also have to watch it. You have to watch for when they start dragging and get tired because when you get fatigued, that is when you start picking up the
hamstrings, the quads and the ankles. When people do not move their feet that is when you get rolled up on. It is a concern and I have not let them run them much after practice except for maybe a couple of times. After watching this offense and the tempo on both sides of the ball, we are not going to have any problem being in shape.

Q: How has Tyronne Green changed since his move from defensive tackle?

Tuberville: When you look at most of the guys who we have had, a lot of the time it is the defensive players that are defensive players who have not played much offense who turn into great offensive linemen. Tyronne Green probably could’ve played defense, but he was borderline because of his weight and he really struggled with that. Because of that, he has got the natural ability to move across the line and move laterally and that really benefits him. He has got a bright future ahead of him, but we did not know whether he would make it so we made the decision to take
him from being a good defensive lineman and making him into a great offensive lineman. It really has benefitted him and he is a very physical player who plays low to the ground and has really good leverage and is flexible and he has really done well for us.

Q: How do you prepare the defense for a running offense after they’ve gone up against this passing offense?

Tuberville: Once we get past Saturday, we will probably start going for thirty minutes a day versus two back. We have chartered all of the games from last year and only about twenty percent of the time are you going to see two back. Most people are one back running zone play or about what we are running. They might have the quarterback right up under the center, but very few people will be running two back: us and Georgia. Georgia is a lot of one back, a lot of shotgun. Sometimes you think that football is a lot of two back, but it is not anymore. You are going to have a lot of change but it is not going to hurt us at all. I like the way we practice and how our offensive line comes off the line. The plays that we are running are basically the plays that we will be seeing a lot of this season whether they are a one or a two back.

Q: Do you think that the fullback will disappear completely or will it come back?

Tuberville: No, I think that there will be a place for it. It might not be a fullback. It might be a big tight end like we are doing. We are going to have Tommy Trott and Gabe McKenzie in the background. We have moved John Douglas, who was our fullback, to our slot position and we are going to move him around and throw the ball to him. I think that what you have probably seen over the years is that every fullback or small tight end is going to have to be more athletic because you are
going to ask more of him. But there is a place for a fullback in goal line. If you go back and look at what we have done in the past few years, our fullbacks usually played between twelve and sixteen plays a game, otherwise it was two tailbacks in the game or one back.

Didn't make it to Auburn's practice this morning, but I'll have post-practice updates after this evening's workout. I'm in the process of selling my house in Columbus and had to stay around to let the appraiser in to do his thing. Will be glad to get this over with and move closer to where I'm working. A lot of different things -- not the least of which is commuting back and forth every day while trying to get this house sale done AND trying to find somewhere new to live -- have combined to make this a really stressful experience thus far. If I got snippy with you in an e-mail or a response to a comment, sorry about that. I'm kinda having a tough time right now.

Look back here tonight and I'll have some stuff from practice and some quotes on the proceedings.

NoleDigest.com spoke with former Auburn safety DeRon Furr about where he may eventually land after leaving Auburn last week. Furr says he wants to go to Florida State and play safety, but the hangup is he's waiting for a scholarship to come open -- which it sounds like may happen in the near future.

He says Memphis would be the next choice. Either way, there would be a Columbus connection. His former Carver teammate and friend Jarmon Fortson of course de-committed from Auburn and eventually signed with Florida State. The defensive coordinator at Memphis is Tim Walton, who is from Columbus and went to Carver before playing at Ohio State.