More Spring Pracitce Notes

[AUChizad]

Chizik running a tight ship at Auburn so far
Friday, March 27, 2009
By EVAN WOODBERY
Times Auburn Writer evan.woodbery@htimes.com

Tigers observing plenty of rules under new coach

AUBURN - Auburn football players have discovered this week that new head coach Gene Chizik is a stickler for details.

Lockers must be tidy. Cleats can't be worn in the building. Caps and jewelry are out.

"It's very strict," junior offensive tackle Lee Ziemba said. "We run a tight ship here. When Coach Chizik came here, his goal was to make no gray area on anything, so we're not guessing. He lays out the expectations for us, and when those expectations are implemented, we follow them."

Safeties coach Tommy Thigpen said the rules start from the top.

"That's all Chiz," Thigpen said. "He's big into tradition. You can feel the passion he has for this place."

A large circle has been painted on a grass corner of the practice fields. Inside the circle is the interlocking AU logo.

Players meet by position before practice at the circle and then run out to their first drill. After practice, they have to run until they reach the circle before they're allowed to walk the rest of the way to the locker room, Ziemba said.

Rocker's worries

Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker was so disappointed by his first day on the practice field with his new players this spring that his wife picked up the negative vibes.

"I woke up the next morning and I had that look on my face, that frown," Rocker said. "My wife said, 'Hey, remember it was the first day.' You can't build a house in a day. It takes work. I understand that process, but every day we've got to get better and approach practice with the right state of mind."

Rocker was an All-American football player for Auburn in the late 1980s. After years as a coach at Troy, Arkansas and Ole Miss, he stepped on the field Tuesday for his first official practice as a coach at his alma mater.

"It's something you really can't believe," Rocker said. "I walk out there that first day and I'm like, 'I'm back out here as a coach. We used to have fundamentals over there on that field.' ... I could remember what we did at every place on that field. That's the uniqueness of it. There's a sense of pride when I walk out there. It's a sense of tradition and history of all the people that came through here and left a lot on that practice field."

Next up

Auburn dodged most of the rain to practice on a soggy Thursday afternoon. The Tigers will have their first full-pads practice Saturday morning.

"Saturday will be a fun day for them to get a chance to get back into the contact and build on being physical," Chizik said. "It will be good to see everybody out there getting a chance to run around and have some contact. I think they've all been waiting for it."

Chizik said he would review film from Thursday before deciding whether to scrimmage Saturday.

"We've got to see how far along we are," Chizik said. "Obviously, if we scrimmage, we don't want it to be a sloppy situation. We have to be ready to do that."