Auburn football signee Shon Coleman, an offensive lineman from Olive Branch, Miss., received some good news in his battle against leukemia.

Coleman, who has undergone chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia at St. Jude's Medical Research Center in Memphis, Tenn., is cancer free, according to a Friday Internet post by his mother, DeKeisha Tunstall.

"We are cancer-free!!!" Tunstall wrote. "Shon had a bone marrow aspiration today and 0% cancer cells were detected in his marrow. When he entered the hospital 15 days ago he was at 60%. Blood is clear and marrow is clear. We're in remission on Day 15. Excellent news. God is so GOOD!!!!"

The message continued: "He still has to follow his treatment plan, but this is an amazing feat!!! We're celebrating tonight."

Coleman, a 6-foot-7, 285-pound tackle, is a five-star recruit and considered one of the jewels of Auburn's 2010 recruiting class.

“We have no concern about what his football status is, whatsoever,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said late last month. “We want the young man to be healthy, and our thoughts and prayers are out to the family in terms of recovery."

AUBURN, Ala. — After watching LSU strike big in the first inning Friday night, Auburn turned the tables Saturday.

The Tigers used a four-run first inning to jumpstart an 11-7 win against No. 3 LSU at Plainsman Park in a game that was extremely similar to the one the night before.

The heart of Auburn’s lineup — Trent Mummey, Brian Fletcher, Hunter Morris and Tony Caldwell — combined to go 9-for-14 with nine RBIs, as the Tigers (21-11, 6-5 SEC) built an 11-4 lead before holding off a furious LSU rally in an error-plagued ninth.

“This win was huge,” Mummey said. “Looking back, last night we got down early and came back late. Last night we were talking trying to build some confidence ... and it definitely carried over.”

It was Auburn’s first win against LSU (26-5, 8-3) since 2007. The teams will meet in the series finale today at 2 p.m. ET.

LSU, which has won 16 of its last 17 SEC series, sends Joey Bourgeois (3-1, 5.50 ERA) to the mound. Auburn matches with Grant Dayton (4-1, 4.86 ERA), who finished serving a four-game suspension after being ejected last weekend for hitting an Alabama batter when both teams had been warned.

“Grant gets out of the penalty box, so he’ll be ready to go,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “The hard thing is he hasn’t been able to be here. He’s had to watch on TV or listen on the radio, so I know he’s anxious to get back here.”

Auburn, which trailed 6-0 before it stepped to the plate Friday night, jumped to a 4-0 lead Saturday off LSU starter Chris Matulis (5-1).

“I felt like (Friday) night, coming back a little bit and scoring a few runs, kept our confidence up,” said Fletcher, who had four singles and three RBIs. “Coming into today and scoring those four in the first was definitely big.”

Mummey, who is in his fourth game back from an ankle injury that cost him the first half of the season, added a two-run home run in the fourth that made it 6-1. He has three homers this week.

“Such a long time off, I was a little worried about recognizing pitches,” he said. “It’s just really come back to me a lot quicker than I thought it would.”

Matulis, who entered the game with a 2.57 ERA, gave up six runs and walked five in five innings.

“He pitched very similar to how he pitches normally,” LSU head coach Paul Mainieri said. “He just pitched against a better team today.”

Auburn got a boost out of its bullpen from reliever Sean Ray. Jon Luke Jacobs got the start but had to leave after an inning with a tender shoulder.

Ray picked him up by pitching 4 2/3 solid innings, his longest outing of the year. He kept LSU off-balance with a healthy dose of off-speed pitches, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out four.

“What a gutsy performance by our pitching staff today,” Pawlowski said. “We pieced it together and found a way to win.”

Auburn led 11-4 before three errors in the ninth helped LSU push three runs across the plate. They were Auburn’s first errors in nearly five games, but Austin Hubbard closed the door in his only inning of work, striking out Tyler Hanover with two runners on to end the game.

“I told our guys, every play, every swing, every runner left on base is so important,” Pawlowski said. “Against a good team, we were fortunate we had enough today.”

All right, I've had time to sift through some quotes. Here's what Auburn's coaches and players had to say after Saturday's scrimmage at Jordan-Hare Stadium:

• The news on the quarterbacks Saturday was that there was no news. All four continued to rotated. Coaches said when a quarterback went in, he stayed with the unit for the entire drive. "First glance it appears most of them were really high percentage today in terms of completion," head coach Gene Chizik said. "It just seemed like the percentage today was terrific."

• Cam Newton had a solid day, throwing a screen pass to Darvin Adams that went for a touchdown. "Darvin made my life easy," Newton said. "It was just a little screen pass, and he did the rest."

• Newton showed off his legs, running for a score on a draw play. "I think Cameron is just a big, physical guy," Chizik said. "Whenever he decides to bring the football down and run it, whether it be long-yardage or short-yardage, you have your hands full trying to tackle him. Certainly if it's on the goal line and he decides to stretch out with the ball, that's definitely going to be tough on defenses."

• Linebacker Craig Stevens on Newton: "He's a major threat when he comes in. He can run. You don't really know what to expect from him. You have to stay on your P's and Q's and be ready. He can beat you in a lot of ways. He was working it today."

• Newton said he's gaining confident with every scrimmage. "It’s a day-to-day process," he said. "I feel like I’m getting more comfortable. I’m just getting the timing down with different receivers. That’s really the most important thing to me right now: Getting comfortable, getting my feet in and knowing where I’m supposed to me going with the ball each and every play."

• As for the quarterback decision, it's still a work in progress. "We're getting closer," offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. "We found out more today but like I've said before, you've always got to go back and see the film. Certain things you may think is somebody's fault, you find out it's really not until you actually see the whole picture. All are capable of moving our offense. That's the positive. The hard part and the challenge part, which is the good thing, is they're all quality quarterbacks."

• Cornerback Demond Washington had a couple of picks. Neil Caudle was to blame for at least one. "I helped make Demond’s highlight film today," he said.

• Malzahn wasn't pleased with the picks. There were three. Washington had two. Woody Parramore had the third. Malzahn declined to say who threw all of them. "We've got to correct the mistakes," he said. "We've got to be able to execute. That's what I've told the guys. It's great we had some plays but the thing that stands out in my mind is we've got to correct the mistakes and not put the ball in jeopardy."

• Chizik has been pleased with Washington's development at corner. "I think he's learning," Chizik said. "You got to remember he came in last year, last spring. To a certain degree, he's played a year, but this is the first time we've really been able to zero in with him and teach him how to play corner with any time to really teach. I think he's picking up the position a lot better. Good to see him make a couple big plays."

• Mario Fannin broke off a 65-yard run. Antoine Carter said the defense blitzed and the offense ran a play to the other side. Byron Isom gave a block to spring Fannin, who jukedMike McNeil before getting into the end zone. "Those are the type of things we expect from our tailbacks," Chizik said. "Those plays have to happen in our offense. There were times when more than one guy made that happen today. The tailbacks, their vision was really, really good and they were able to make some of those slicing routes back against the grain, and that's usually when you're big runs occur."

• Some view Fannin as a place-holder until highly-touted freshman Michael Dyer gets to campus. Fannin isn't concerned about it. "Really, you know, I don't go into the hype," he said. "I had a lot of hype when I came in and that's something that's going to happen. He's a freshman guy, he's young and a lot of people are going to be excited about him. I'm excited about him. The hype's going to be there, but it's more me just trying to stay focused and learn the position well and become the best person for that job. I'm just trying to stay focused and press forward."

• From the sounds of it, Emory Blake and DeAngelo Benton had a solid scrimmage. Both are making a push for more playing time this year as a third receiver. "Those younger guys, it's not always about catching the football, that's the easy part," Malzahn said. "Doing all the dirty stuff, the little things, the blocking, understanding when to run people off, both those guys are starting to understand better. The more confidence that coach Taylor and myself have in those guys in those situations will help us. We talked about depth last year, trying to find a third or fourth guy. Those two guys right here we really need to step up. The good thing is you can see them getting better."

• Blake seems to have embraced doing the dirty work. "My job is to block well in the perimeter and make plays as a receiver," he said. "Whatever I can do to do that, whether it's catching balls on screens and making plays in open space or going deep and going over the top, I'm going to do it."

Auburn held a (mostly) closed scrimmage Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. I say mostly because someone in the football office was tweeting away supposedly top-secret information from the scrimmage, much to the ire of the media that was barred from attending.

Nevertheless, here are some quick notes:

• Not a whole lot of news on the quarterback front. All four quarterbacks rotated in, the coaches are gathering information, decision is coming. Blah, blah, blah. We've heard it before. Apparently, there's nothing new on this front. I did not get the impression that any kind of announcement regarding a starter or even a narrowing of the field was coming soon.
  

• We did glean some information. There were two touchdown passes on the day. Cam Newton threw for a score to Darvin Adams (Newton also ran for another). Barrett Trotter and Neil Caudle didn't throw any. By process of elimination, that means Clint Moseley did.

• Demond Washington picked off two passes in zone coverage. Coaches and players refused to divulge who threw them, although Caudle appears to be responsible for at least one. He noted that he'll probably make Washington's highlight clip.

• Gus Malzahn, in true coordinator fashion, brought up the turnovers before anything Saturday. His players could throw eight touchdowns and he would harp on the one pick.

• Mario Fannin reeled off a 65-yard touchdown run. He said he was a little nicked up earlier this spring just from some regular bumps and bruises, but not he feels like he's really been able to showcase his skills.

AUBURN, Ala. — Cole Nelson’s debut as Auburn’s No. 1 starter is one he’d rather soon forget.

Defending national champion LSU scored six runs in a 12-batter, 31-minute first inning, chasing Nelson before he even recorded an out in a 14-10 win against Auburn at Plainsman Park Friday.

“They jumped us very early in the game and put us on our heels,” Auburn head coach John Pawlowski said. “It was obvious that it was not going to be one of his nights.”

Nelson, a 6-foot-7, 248-pound left-hander who transferred from Des Moines (Iowa) Area Community College, replaced Cory Luckie at the front of Auburn’s weekend rotation after establishing himself as the Tigers’ most effective pitcher through the first half of the season.

But Friday, by all measures, was an unmitigated disaster. Nelson (4-2) faced eight batters, allowing seven hits and six runs. He was pulled after only 35 pitches, trailing 6-0.

LSU (26-4, 8-2 SEC), which has won 12 of its last 13 games, did its damage with a mixture of solid hitting and good luck in its first turn at bat.

A single by Tyler Hanover narrowly missed hitting leadoff man Mikie Mahtook as it bounced into left field. Pawlowski argued the call to no avail, setting the stage for a big inning.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Blake Dean and Micah Gibbs made it 2-0. Matt Gaudet followed by lofting a fly ball to shallow right field that Auburn’s fielders lost in the sky, letting it drop for a single to load the bases.

After Leon Landry beat out a chopper to first for an RBI infield single, Austin Nola ripped a two-run double to right-center to make it 5-0.

Mason Katz finished the scoring with an RBI single up the middle that ended Nelson’s night.

“We felt like we just needed to change it up at that point, maybe change up our luck,” Pawlowski said. “Unfortunately we didn’t pitch it very well in that part of the game.”

Nelson, who had allowed only six earned runs in his first three SEC starts, watched his league ERA jump from 2.79 to 5.59.

When reliever Slade Smith got No. 9 hitter Grant Dozar to ground out to first for the first out of the inning, the season-high crowd of 3,751 responded with a Bronx cheer.

Auburn (20-11, 5-5 SEC) rallied late, but it wasn’t enough. Designated hitter Trent Mummey, in his third game back from a severe ankle sprain that kept him out the season’s first six weeks, hit a grand slam to right-center during a five-run eighth.

The Tigers added two more in the ninth and had two runners reach base before reliever Chris Cotton closed things out, getting Justin Hargett and Mummey to fly out to end the game.

LSU starter Anthony Ranaudo (1-0) earned the win, giving up three runs on five hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked three.

The visiting Tigers finished with 17 hits. Gibbs went 4-for-5. Landry and Nola drove in three runs apiece.

The teams meet in the second game of the series today at 3 p.m. ET. LSU sends left-hander Chris Matulis (5-0, 2.57 ERA) to the mound. Auburn has not named a starter.

Auburn hosts defending national champion LSU in a three-game series at Plainsman Park starting tonight. Read all about it in today's series preview. It touches on Trent Mummey's return from an ankle injury and Justin Bryant's recent hand injury.

• LSU: Anthony Ranaudo (Jr. RHP) 0-0, 0.90 ERA, 10.0 IP, 4 BB, 11 K
• Auburn: Cole Nelson (So. LHP) 4-1, 3.29 ERA, 41.0 IP, 13 BB, 38 K

I wrote a story on LT Lee Ziemba for today's newspaper. Here's how it starts:

AUBURN, Ala. — By the time Lee Ziemba’s Auburn career is over, he’ll have accomplished what few, if any, offensive linemen have in the program’s storied history.

Barring injury, he’ll have started more games than anybody in school history, a streak that began when he was a wide-eyed freshman, persisted despite an injury-plagued sophomore year and continued through an All-SEC junior season.

Yet it seems fans are just as quick to point out the left tackle’s penalties as they are to applaud his accomplishments.

Does he hear it?

“Heck yeah,” he said. “I hear it going to have supper with my girlfriend. Somebody stops me. It’s ridiculous.

“Whatever. You get in this position, you’re going to hear stuff like that. We’re trying to get it fixed. I’m always trying to improve. I come here every day and work my tail end off to try and improve myself. That’s my job.”

Here's a video from interviews after today's practice. It's got Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn talking about the quarterbacks, left tackle Lee Ziemba speaking honestly about his perceived penalty problems, defensive coordinator Ted Roof saying good things about Ikeem Means and linebacker Craig Stevens talking about quarterback Cam Newton.

Enjoy.

AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen has resumed participating in practice after landing awkwardly on his head following a hit earlier this spring.

Lutzenkirchen, the presumptive frontrunner to replace Tommy Trott as the team’s starting tight end, missed three or four practices as a precautionary measure after being catapulted into the air by a hit from Drew Cole and Eltoro Freeman.

He’s back to 100 percent now and hoping to improve on a freshman campaign during which he caught five passes for 66 yards and two touchdowns in limited playing time.

“You can see him getting confidence and getting more physical,” Tigers offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said. “We know he can catch the football, but we’re asking him to do more dirty work and he’s starting to really get confidence and do a better job each practice.”

Lutzenkirchen, a highly-rated member of Auburn’s 2009 recruiting class, spent almost all of his time at Lassiter High in Marietta, Ga., playing in the slot or out of the backfield. He was used to playing in space, not in coming off the line powerfully.

“I think one of the reasons I didn’t play a lot last year is because I wasn’t comfortable playing on the ground,” he said. “All this spring we’ve been working with my hand on the ground a whole lot more and I feel a lot more comfortable with that. I feel pretty even with both of them.”

The 6-foot-4, 246-pound sophomore is working at a tight end/H-back position along with junior Eric Smith and redshirt freshman Robert Cooper.

“I’m kind of fighting for a position right now to play a lot more,” he said. “It’s sparking me to get better overall.”

Some other notes and quotes:

• Auburn’s coaches continued to rotate reps among the four quarterbacks vying for the job — Cam Newton, Neil Caudle, Barrett Trotter and Clint Moseley. Malzahn and head coach Gene Chizik have said repeatedly that they would like to narrow the field, but they remain in no rush to do so. “We’re not in a hurry,” Malzahn said. “Just like last year, we want to be 110 percent for sure not only when we name the starter but when we really narrow things down. “Common sense would tell you you’d like to do that as soon as you can just for your team’s sake, but at the same time we have the luxury of the spring and I just want to make sure and coach Chiz just wants to make sure that we get the right guy and give everybody equal chance.”

• The reps haven’t been split evenly in every case. Newton and Trotter got a greater share during last Saturday’s scrimmage, although Malzahn said he switched things up Wednesday during the closed portion of practice. “I’m just trying to really figure out the information I need to figure out from each one of them,” he said. “I know all four of them are good for certain areas. We’re doing a whole lot of blitz pickup and hot reads and all that. We’re just trying to put those guys in the situation that we need.”

• Mario Fannin got an extended look as the primary ballcarrier during Wednesday’s practice. Malzahn liked what he saw from the senior, who played H-back last year. Asked if he has emerged as the No. 1 running back among a group that includes Smith, sophomore Onterio McCalebb and redshirt freshman Dontae Aycock, Malzahn seemed to say so. “We definitely would like him to,” Malzahn said. “He was kind of battling some injuries coming up to spring, so now he’s getting healthy enough to really show what he can do.”

• Malzahn on Smith, who seems to be this year's Fannin, a guy who can play multiple positions: "He's doing a little bit of both. He's a smart guy. He knows the offense very well. That H-back, probably second to the quarterback, you've got to really be aware of everything. We ask him to do a lot, but he's a smart kid. He's a tough kid and he's also capable of playing tailback."

• Wide receiver Philip Pierre-Louis (knee) and left guard Bart Eddins (knee) were not at practice Wednesday. There was no update on their status.

• T'Sharvan Bell, who had two interceptions in the Outback Bowl, has worked at corner this spring. He worked at both last year.

• Auburn entertained Under Armour All-American quarterback Christian LeMay of Matthews, N.C., one of the top recruits in the Southeast for 2011. The Tigers, along with more than a dozen prominent schools, have already offered the high school junior. Carver High’s Gabe Wright, a 6-foot-3, 273-pound defensive tackle, also made a visit to Auburn’s football complex.

• There seems to be a lot of players working as Auburn's third linebacker this spring. Seems like Freeman, who has worked some as Bynes' backup in the middle, isn't necessarily a lock to be a starter at one outside spot. Jessel Curry and Jonathan Evans have worked out on the weak side, while Craig Stevens and Ashton Richardson have worked at the strong side. Harris Gaston is injured and hasn't participated. And who knows how Daren Bates will fit into the mix.

• Here is defensive coordinator Ted Roof's answer about if anyone has stepped up to be the third linebacker starting with Bynes and Stevens: "We're rolling a lot of guys through there as well. Once again, to provide different guys different opportunities with certain groups because the qualities of reps that you should get when you run with the first team is different than the quality of reps you get when you're running with other units. So to try to roll a bunch of guys through there and have our system interchange enough where we can put the next best guy in there and not get bogged down by just pigeonholing guys at this position, but to be able to put the best linebacker in there. But as far as anybody jumping out at this point, the answer is no."

• Stevens remained upbeat about Freeman's progress (we're resorting to quoting other players because Eltoro, despite repeated media requests, is always crossed off the list by the coaches): "Toro's been doing good. He's just ... every now and then he gets caught up in the play. Overall he's been doing good. He's kind of calmed down a little bit and trying to actually get into the playbook a little bit more. I think we're going to see that by the time the season comes around and see his change in play. He's still runs around and gets after it."

• Stevens on Newton: "He's probably right up there at the top of the list. He's a pretty big guy, both strong and fast, so that's a lot to deal with in a quarterback. And he can throw so you have to be aware of everything. He kind of reminds me of the guy from West Virginia (Jarrett Brown) with his elusiveness, but he has a good arm too, so he's up there near the top."

• Finally talked to Ikeem Means. Very nice kid. I should be doing his story for a little later. The Lee Ziemba stuff jumped him to the top of the story chart. I plan to have a full Ziemba story for Friday's newspaper, but you can read about his comments about penalties in this blog post. I'll have some video up shortly.