Athlon always gets quotes from coaches around the league about opposing teams. Found some of these interesting and for the most part, spot on with Auburn. One thing I disagree with is missing Chris Davis in our secondary. As a local sports talk guy said this morning, Auburn will probably erect a statue of him for the Kick 6, but in the secondary, he just wasn't that good. Sorry for the bunched up Auburn take. I tried to pick out The Gumps and AU only and not post War & Peace on all 14 teams and that's the way it copied.
Alabama
“Defensively they’ll be OK, probably won’t be up to their great standard. Losing Deion Belue, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Vinnie Sunseri – that’s really going to hurt on the back end. Linebackers, they’ll be slightly above average. Up front on the defensive line they might actually be better. D.J. Pettway is a more disciplined a player than Adrian Hubbard.â€â€¦
“The quarterback, I don’t know who it will be. It’s almost like what they do in the spring really doesn’t matter because they are bringing in (FSU transfer Jacob Coker).â€â€¦
“It’s probably the best receiving core as a whole since Nick’s been there.â€â€¦
“The running backs are really solid, not as good as the 2010 lineup but really good. Kenyon Drake is maturing and Derrick Henry is doing a lot better with protections, assignments, developing the passing game – he could always run the ball.â€â€¦
“Losing Chad Lindsay is going to hurt because they had depth issues at offensive line. I think they wanted to move Ryan Kelly to left tackle. Now they have to rely on some young kids coming in.â€â€¦
As it sits, Alabama might be an eight-win team on paper. Obviously a lot hinges on how well the FSU kid does coming in -- will be make or break the season? The freshman, David Cornwell, is not ready. If they have to go with Blake Sims, their offensive play-calling will be very limited. They would run the ball a lot, wouldn’t be very exotic with the passing game.â€â€¦
“It will be interesting to watch Lane Kiffin run the offense – Doug Nussmeier was really good. Lane can do it but I’m curious to see how strong his running concepts are with this team, because that’s obviously a big strength for them.â€â€¦
Auburn
“Looking at them on defense, they lost Dee Ford and they lost Chris Davis – just a few players, but if you look at the plays they made in the big games, especially Ford, those are significant losses based on Auburn’s body of work. They are going to be missed but they do have a lot of players returning.â€â€¦â€œThe linebackers will be average. A few of them are just guys.â€â€¦â€œThe secondary’s not tremendous with ball skills but they do have a lot of speed and recoverability. That’s their strength.â€â€¦â€œUp front, I think they’ll have the best defensive linemen. Montravius Adams, he’s gonna be the next Glenn Dorsey.â€â€¦â€œLosing the left tackle, Greg Robinson, he was the best in the SEC. I think he’s better than the (Jake) Matthews kid.â€â€¦â€œIf Auburn can develop a passing game, they will be probably the best team in the West.â€â€¦Defensively, they are going to stop a lot of people.â€â€¦â€œThe only time the offensive line matters in Gus’ offense is when they go from tackle to wildcat, to the three-man side.â€â€¦â€œThey’ll miss (Tre) Mason. They were really high on him.â€â€¦â€œCan Nick Marshall develop into a passer? If he doesn’t they’ll have to let their defense keep them in a lot of games. Being one-dimensional can only get you so far.â€â€¦â€œObviously they had a lot of success, but they’ll want to do something new, because Gus will want to grow that thing and be more multiple. If he can do it, they’ll be deadly next year.â€â€¦ - See more at:
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/sec-coaches-talk-anonymously-about-conference-foes-2014#sthash.CZYqiNMn.dpuf