Rozelle Gayden leaving

[JR4AU]

Phillip Marshall reporting on TOS, no other info available to this non-paying member. 

[eagleair89]

basically said he has been battling injuries all season (since August), had been redshirted and that he left the team 2-3 weeks ago & would finish the semester and transfer.

said something along the lines that it was not a good "fit" or something like that.

WAR EAGLE

[Townhallsavoy]

Does he suck? 

Cause that's what I had heard from the skreets at the beginning of the season. 

[JR4AU]

Does he suck? 

Cause that's what I had heard from the skreets at the beginning of the season.

All I heard was injuries. 

[Townhallsavoy]

All I heard was injuries.

I thought there was some talk that Rozell didn't live up to his four star rating.  And that he pretty much sucked. 

Could be wrong.  Oh well.  Good luck to the kid. 

[JR4AU]

I thought there was some talk that Rozell didn't live up to his four star rating.  And that he pretty much sucked. 

Could be wrong.  Oh well.  Good luck to the kid.

If he was unhappy, he probably didn't perform.  If they were unhappy with him, probably because he didn't perform.  At any rate, that's now a 5 star, and 4 star OL gone from the 2010 signing class.  Not good considering we lose 4 Sr. OL off a pretty good OL this year. 

[djsimp]

List of OL returning next year:

Eric Mack, Chad Slade, Ed Christian, AJ Greene, Andre Harris, Brandon Moseley, John Sullen, Tunde Fariyike, Blake Burgess, Jared Cooper and whoever we sign in this years class. Lets not forget that there still is a possibility that Shon Coleman will be suiting up next year too.

[War Eagle!!!]

List of OL returning next year:

Eric Mack, Chad Slade, Ed Christian, AJ Greene, Andre Harris, Brandon Moseley, John Sullen, Tunde Fariyike, Blake Burgess, Jared Cooper and whoever we sign in this years class. Lets not forget that there still is a possibility that Shon Coleman will be suiting up next year too.

Everything I have seen is saying that Shon will probably not be ready until at least 2012.

[Snaggletiger]

List of OL returning next year:

Eric Mack, Chad Slade, Ed Christian, AJ Greene, Andre Harris, Brandon Moseley, John Sullen, Tunde Fariyike, Blake Burgess, Jared Cooper and whoever we sign in this years class. Lets not forget that there still is a possibility that Shon Coleman will be suiting up next year too.

We had better make the best of this year.

[djsimp]

Everything I have seen is saying that Shon will probably not be ready until at least 2012.

Well, that seems more realistic but I'm not going to put it past this kid.

[JR4AU]

List of OL returning next year:

Eric Mack, Chad Slade, Ed Christian, AJ Greene, Andre Harris, Brandon Moseley, John Sullen, Tunde Fariyike, Blake Burgess, Jared Cooper and whoever we sign in this years class. Lets not forget that there still is a possibility that Shon Coleman will be suiting up next year too.

Wish Shon all the best, but I personally will believe he'll play football again, and for Auburn, when I see it.

The bad thing about having a Sr. laden OL with tons of starts and experience under their belts like we have this year, is that you don't have anyone with any experience behind them.  Unlike DL, the starting 5 OL play ALL the meaningful snaps in a game, with a few exceptions.  They are not spelled or rotated like the DL.  Some of those listed may be talented.  Clearly we lost potential talent in Gayden and Coleman.  Mosley will likely move to LT next year, and Sullen will probably move to RT or RG.  Burgess was an invited walkon, but may have earned a scholarship by now, however lacks size listed at under 280lbs.  Centers don't have to be huge, but that's a small center, and from what he's gained since HS, I'd say he'd topped out, or more weight would be detrimental to his play.  We all saw AJ Greene the first three games...nothing stellar, but not horrible either.  I've watched Mosley...whatever his shortcomings were that caused him to not win the job, they seemed to have been fixed, as he's done a nice job so far. 

Anyway...even in the best of times, seems attrition happens.

[djsimp]

Yeah, we're gonna lose some valuable experience at the OL. This may very well help us keep the OL recruits we have and grab a couple more. I think we have like 3 committed so far and all are highly touted. You can't replace experience that's for sure. Grimes will be earning his dollar bills next year.

[eagleair89]

excerpts from an article on Blake Burgess (August 2010):

Blake arrived at Auburn went to work. He started to gain weight and, by the time preseason practice started earlier this month, he weighed 284 pounds. He had gotten the attention of coaches and teammates with his relentless work ethic and his loyalty to his school and his teammates.

Starting with spring practice, Blake began to climb the depth chart. He’s had virtually all the second-team snaps behind Pugh in the preseason. Grimes says his growth has been inspiring to watch.

“He’s done a tremendous job,” Grimes says. “Sometimes people don’t realize that, for a kid like him, it takes as much discipline if not more to gain that kind of weight as it does for a guy that’s overweight to lose it. It takes a lot of discipline. You can’t go more than two or three hours without eating or you’re just not putting any weight on.”

Even before Blake gained weight, Grimes saw a player who would not rest until he became as good as he could be.

“He has a couple of things going for him that a lot of guys don’t,” Grimes says. “He’s really, really intelligent and coachable and responsible and really tries to do things the way you coach him to do it. He just goes really hard, plays hard, has a physical nature about him. I think he has all the intangibles you are looking for in an offensive lineman.”

Senior offensive guard Bart Eddins, a mentor as well as a teammate for Auburn’s younger offensive linemen, has seen the same things.

“The kid is just a hard worker,” Eddins says. “He’s just an Auburn guy. He works real hard. He does what Coach Grimes tells him. He’s just a good all-around person on and off the field.”

For Blake, playing where his grandfather played half a century ago, has special meaning. And he says it’s been everything he hoped it would be.

“It’s been really great,” Blake says. “After my first season here of being a walk-on, I really got in the groove of things. Now I’m really starting to come into my own. Having great teammates and really making connections on the team is awesome.

“Eating all day, it becomes a pain sometimes. Sometimes you don’t want to eat, but it’s worth it.”

[JR4AU]

excerpts from an article on Blake Burgess (August 2010):

Burgess comes from good football stock, and played for Buddy Anderson at Vestavia.  He's been well coached his whole life, and I've heard good things about him from all around the Vestavia Hills program.  Still, he didn't garner a scholarship offer from Auburn initially, probably because of size.  He's currently listed at between 6-2 and 6-4, and under 280lbs on every site I see, including Auburn's "official" sites.  Pugh played most of his career under 290.  If he can get up to 285ish...and not be carrying too much...then he may be very good.  I know he'll give effort.   

[djsimp]

Centers are usually the most cerebral of the OL. Burgess has the goodness upstairs. I say Coach Yox does his thang and gets Burgess right where he needs to be.

[Snaggletiger]

Centers are usually the most cerebral of the OL. Burgess has the goodness upstairs. I say Coach Yox does his thang and gets Burgess right where he needs to be.

Nope. There's somethin' wrong with that boy's medulla oblongata.

Seriously though, I hope this guy turns into the bomb as a center or whatever, but don't we have one of the top centers in the nation coming in with Dismukes?  Pugh came in and started right away and although he bounced around the line his first couple of years, he finally got back to his natural position at center.

[djsimp]

Nope. There's somethin' wrong with that boy's medulla oblongata.

Seriously though, I hope this guy turns into the bomb as a center or whatever, but don't we have one of the top centers in the nation coming in with Dismukes?  Pugh came in and started right away and although he bounced around the line his first couple of years, he finally got back to his natural position at center.

You are correct sir and personally I don't really know the answer to that except the best man will win the job. Who knows, if Dismukes is good enough, we may see him play other positions as well.

[War Eagle!!!]

Nope. There's somethin' wrong with that boy's medulla oblongata.

Seriously though, I hope this guy turns into the bomb as a center or whatever, but don't we have one of the top centers in the nation coming in with Dismukes?  Pugh came in and started right away and although he bounced around the line his first couple of years, he finally got back to his natural position at center.

I will be a nervous mf'er if we have a true freshman starting at center next year.

[Ranger12]

Burgess initially had "preferred" walk on status because of his size. The coaches saw what he did at Vestavia despite his small size for an OL, but knowing his family, good head, and hard work ethic, they bet he could put on the weight and work hard enough to eventually contribute.

Being the second string center and also starting on the punt team this year, my guess would be that Burgess is the starter next year if he keeps working as hard.

Also, whether you like his pop's show or not, you have to admit that the publicity that the program gets from it sure does not hurt recruiting at all.

[jmar]

Fairyike was recruited as a center too.