They GET it. coppasta al.cum
AUBURN, Alabama -- Beyond the push to National Signing Day, public appearances and everything else that fills the space during the college football offseason, Auburn's new coaching staff has kept one thing in mind. Developing players will ultimately be the key to the Tigers' fortunes in 2013. Between the new strength and conditioning program, eight winter workouts and team meetings, Auburn has spent much of the past two months laying the groundwork for the opening of spring practice on Wednesday.
"Coaching is taking a kid to a place maybe he couldn't go on his own," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Bottom line, as we go into spring ball, that's the bulk of the guys you know are your team, and you have to develop them and get them as good as they can possibly be."
Developing players has been a problem in recent years for the Tigers, a team that routinely pulled in top-10 recruiting classes under former head coach Gene Chizik but failed to turn that talent into long-term success after the national championship in 2010, one of the reasons athletic director Jay Jacobs cited for firing Chizik back in November. And when Gus Malzahn began building his staff, Auburn's new head coach repeatedly made one thing clear about the coaches he wanted. Malzahn wants assistants who can coach as well as they recruit.
"We have a lot of guys who have great recruiting ability with coaching wisdom," offensive line coach J.B. Grimes said. "You've got guys who can go out there on the grass, right out there and coach them to their knees."
The bulk of Auburn's 23-member recruiting class will not arrive until the summer, meaning that the cast of characters hitting the practice field on Wednesday for Malzahn's first spring practices as head coach will be returning players. Out of that roster, plenty carried high recruiting rankings and big-time expectations coming out of high school. Tapping into that talent will be key to Auburn's ability to bounce back from a disastrous 2012 when the 2013 season kicks off against Washington State.
"You know, you can't put them on the waiver wire, you've got to coach up the ones that you've got," Grimes said. "You know as well as I do, of the 22 guys that start when we open up against Washington State, the vast majority that will start are on our campus right now."
Both Lashlee and defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson have promised to adapt their schemes slightly to take advantage of Auburn's strengths, meaning a key goal for the spring is identifying those strengths heading into the offseason. From there, Auburn's coaches can adjust accordingly to get the most out of players desperate to put the disappointment of 2012 in the rearview mirror.
"Growth is all about, to me, chasing yourself," cornerbacks coach Melvin Smith said. "I try to study my players, and I fit instruction to fit them."
Beyond those little tweaks to take advantage of a player's skill set, though, Auburn's coaching staff is likely going to demand strict adherence to the details of the scheme -- everything from where a player lines up to how precise he runs a route -- an example set by Malzahn's coaching style. On the practice field, Malzahn is a perfectionist, asking his players to live up to high expectations set by the coaching staff.
"At the end of the day, that's our job," Lashlee said. "That's why they call us 'Coach.' We got to, obviously, install the system and the offense and all that, but we've got to make them better football players." Auburn's coaching staff believes it's already started that process.
Now it's time to kick it into high gear.
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