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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Late night notes: No decision yet at right tackle between John Sullen, Brandon Mosley

Auburn still hasn’t made a final decision of which right tackle will start in place of an injured A.J. Greene against South Carolina.

Tigers coaches wouldn’t even give an indication on if they would rotate the two candidates, sophomore John Sullen and junior college tackle Brandon Mosley.

“We’ll see,” offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said.

Head coach Gene Chizik would prefer to go with one.

“You’d like to get some continuity in there between the right guard and right tackle, and that’s the important part,” he said.

Sullen and Mosley have both taken reps this week. They’ve also both had game experience.

Sullen entered the game Saturday against Clemson after Greene broke his ankle in the fourth quarter. Mosley played for two and a half quarters at Mississippi State at left tackle as an injury replacement for Lee Ziemba.

Grimes thinks the experience helps but only to a certain point.

“Stepping out there as the full-time starter, that’s a little different,” he said. “There’s a little bit different weight, a little bit different responsibility on you. Sometimes when a guy gets pulled off the bench, he doesn’t have time to think about it and get nervous.”

As for Greene, Grimes said he is in good spirits.

“I’m real proud of what he was able to do for us this year and how far he’s come,” Grimes said. “And the good news is he’s not done. He’s got some more football still in front of him.”

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More news and notes from Wednesday's interviews:
  • Chizik called out his team Tuesday, wanting it to be more physical. He thinks the message got through. "I know when you challenge our group, they try to respond," he said. "I thought they responded yesterday. They just have to understand that as we move into SEC play, it’s just a whole different ballgame. There’s no way we could continue to play like we’ve played up front, on both sides of the ball, and except to win these physical games in this league. That’s what my message was yesterday."
  • Grimes agreed. "When we don’t play as well as we should, it doesn’t bother anybody more than me. And I hope it doesn’t bother anybody more than our offensive line. So far I think they’ve responded the right way. But the challenge I put out to them is to see if they’re willing to do that every day. Anybody can come and work out hard for one day or two days or one week or two weeks. The question is can that become who you are, and can you do that on a consistent basis?"
  • Chizik said Trovon Reed’s knee injury “hasn’t really changed much.” Reed, a freshman wide receiver/Wildcat quarterback, got his first action against Clemson, running twice out of the Wildcat for eight yards. He said earlier this week his knee is “80 percent” healthy.
  • Freshman fullback Ladarious Phillips’ ankle injury remains “status quo,” Chizik said. He hasn’t played this year.
  • Offensive tackle Roszell Gayden was seen on the sideline at Saturday’s game with his right arm in a sling. The junior college transfer has also had knee issues since signing with Auburn last winter. Still, Chizik hasn’t ruled him certain to redshirt. “We’re going to take that one day-by-day,” he said. “We’re not going to put that label on anybody yet in terms of that’s what we know we want to do. That’s certainly a possibility.”
  • Questions have persisted about Auburn not spreading the ball to enough receivers. Against Clemson, Darvin Adams had five receptions, but nobody else had more than one. Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor isn’t concerned. “My deal is about winning,” Taylor said. “If Darvin catches one ball and we win, or he catches 10 and we win, I’m happy. In that room, we don’t talk about being teammates, we talk about being family. As far as their concerned, their brother just caught a pass.”
  • Taylor said he hasn’t heard any complaints from players about not getting the ball enough. “Do they all want the football? Yes. If they don’t I don’t want them in that room,” he said. “I want every kid in my room to want the football. If you don’t prove it in practice, you don’t get a chance to prove it in that game."
  • Interesting comment on Taylor about Adams, who he doesn't put in the same category of Alabama's Julio Jones and Georgia's A.J. Green. “No, I don’t know that he’s on the same level as Julio and A.J., not ability wise, but I know his heart is," he said. "And I can’t say that they work harder than them or not, because I haven’t coached them, but I know this: for what he's got, he maximizes his ability. He’s not 6-5, and runs 4.4 but he’s going to play fast and be where he’s supposed to be. And if you he gets an opportunity to make a play, nine times out of 10 he’s going to do that. You know what you’re going to get from him."
  • Taylor said DeAngelo Benton was in his doghouse against Clemson. "DeAngelo missed a block and he didn't go back in the game. He went too deep in that first game, and he didn't go back. It's hard to come back from those things."
  • I'll have more on in a story I'm working on for Friday, but South Carolina has some pretty big receivers. Safeties coach Tommy Thigpen called Gamecocks sophomore Alshon Jeffery "the next A.J. Green," before saying he's like Terrell Owens. "They create problems for us because of their size. When the ball’s thrown up, all of them have the ability to go and get the ball."
  • Thigpen thinks Auburn's safeties will have to be a major help against Marcus Lattimore and South Carolina's running game. "It’s to the point now where he’s running the ball 40 times a game, which is kind of unorthodox for -- when you think Steve Spurrier, you think air attacks," Thigpen said. "But they’ve got a guy back there that can really tote the ball. You see him against Georgia, and one guy can’t bring him down. We’re going to need all guys on board trying to get him down. It’s going to be create some down-field shots for them just because of how aggressive you need to play your safeties. Our game is to make sure we stop the run first and we’ll respond back to the pass."
  • Cornerbacks coach Phillip Lolley isn't concerned that the secondary doesn't have an interception this year. "No, absolutely not because of the schemes that we are running now and what we're asking them to do," he said. "All that will come. The last several games, the schemes people are running the football with, they're forcing them guys to have to come up and makes plays. ... Sometimes if that means I'm giving another 60 or 70 yards of throwing the ball underneath to try to take away some of the teams of what they do and try to get some extra guys in the box, we'll live with."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does AJ Greene get to redshirt, or did he burn it already?

Re: Darvin Adams

all he does is get open and catch the football.

Andy Bitter said...

He redshirted in 2007. Next year would be his fifth and probably final year.

The NCAA rarely grants a sixth year of eligiblity unless a player has missed two compete seasons for injury reasons (ie. Savage).