Hit the Houston County Auburn Club shindig tonight for Gus Malzahn and Tiger Trek. Not as much coach speak as usual but basically the same talk I'm sure he's given the past few days in Decatur, Montgomery, B'ham, Mobile.... Had a video slide show with pics of corches, players with a short talk on each. Let me preface this by saying I normally come away from these things thinking AU can only lose this upcoming season to an average or better NFL team. While Gus was very upbeat and clearly excited about this club, it was a departure from the glowing rhetoric we heard last year. Take the following positive bullet points with this grain of salt from Corch GM. He said this year's motto, bracelets, t-shirt is "Earn it". Getting back to the 2013 attitude of back to basics and earning everything you get. He said "I am NOT saying we will win a national championship. I am NOT saying we will win the SEC. All I can tell you is you will get our best every Saturday". Refreshing. With that said:
***What you will not see on aldotkums (My words) is Auburn's APR is top 10 in the nation and just points behind Vanderbilt.
***QB: Clifford Franklin is in fact shitcherpants fast. Got a long way to go. Had little to say about JJ other than he was more accurate in the Spring. Said White has put on about 15 pounds and is supremely confident.
***RB: He didn't name Jovon the starter....but he pretty much named Jovon the starter. Said he had an awesome spring, especially improving in his protections. Said Carry-On had beefed up about 15 pounds as well.
***H-Back & Tight Ends: Really high on both Cox and Pettway. Both at about 240 and predicts both will play on Sundays. Said both TE's are about 260 and they WILL use the TE more this Fall.
***WR: Didn't get the warm fuzzies here. Said Tony Steven has to step up. Marcus Davis a team leader. Great freshmen coming in, including Kyle Davis. Just a matter of how soon the light comes on.
***O-line: Pumped. Happy about Golson moving back to tackle. Played that at Ole Piss. Braden Smith is incredible athlete. Doesn't talk. He grunts.
***D-line: Deepest at any point since he's been at AU. Sang usual praises of unblockable Lawson. Devaroe Lawrence is 300 pounds and ran a 4.65 40 the other day. Really high on Marlon Davidson's future. Rare that a true freshman comes in and performs the way he has.
LB: Fast, athletic and he says Deshaun Davis will take your head off. Snags posed his usual dumbass question in asking Malzahn if he thought TJ Neal, as confident as he's sounded in interviews, would be able to step right in and make that unit better. Snags was told by the Corch that he can't comment on players who aren't officially enrolled and on campus...BUT, he followed up by saying, "Let's just say there are some players enrolling this summer who he is certain will be VERY good right off the bat."
DB: Experienced, physical, fast. Really pulling for Josh Holsey after the injury problems.
In General: Players love Kevin Steele. It's clear they're having fun playing for him. When he announced T-Will as LB Coach, cheers erupted. Gus is focusing his efforts on offense but he was surprisingly candid in saying we're going to get the offense back on track but the success of this program is 100% dependent on the defense. You cannot win consistently in this league without a great defense. Even referred to the "rollercoaster" that is AU football. Fix the D and you play for championships. Have to get back to old school Auburn D.
Made no bones about the fact that he firmly believes in keeping it in the family. He came back. Rodney Garner came back. Kodi Burns came back. Jonathon Wallace came back. He'll be signaling in plays. Craig Sanders (Mmmm...shower pics) is a GA. T-Will is back. Overall, I got the impression that he knows how warm his seat is. He's put his stock in Auburn people and getting back to what made them great in 2013. He said he made the statement about the best is yet to come because of those things and because he's had 4 straight top 10 recruiting classes. The players are there. The coaches are there. Time to get after that ass.
Oh...and he said they WILL name a starter at QB the first week of Fall practice. (Think Sean White)
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