Auburn Football: April 10 Scrimmage Was Explosive

The key word out of the April 10 scrimmage was "explosive." It was a word used by Head Coach Gene Chizik to describe the offense and defense.

This was a day for effort to show and talent to shine.

Plays That Shined

Mario Fannin burned the defense for a 65-yard run when the defense let him escape into the secondary on a blitz package. He juked two defensive backs out of their shoes and ran to the end zone.

It was the type of play only the best running backs make.

Darvin Adams took a short screen pass, and turned it into a touchdown with some exceptional vision and running. It is the type of play that has become a trademark for Adams.

Cameron Newton ran a touchdown on a quarterback sneak. It is a sign that he is being turned loose more to use his feet.

Demond Washington had two interceptions in zone coverage. They were the type of plays that got a lot of praise from Chizik.

Woody Parramore also had an interception in today’s action.

Plays We Want Back

Neil Caudle said he added to the highlight reel for Demond Washington.

Clint Moseley was not available for interview, but could have had a better day.

Praise

Cameron Newton said Darvin Adams made life easy for him.

Chizik praised the receiving corps for blocking and yards after reception.

Chizik praised the quarterbacks on the high completion rate.

Coach Malzhan praised Emory Blake and DeAngelo Benton for grasping the dirty stuff better. He said they are learning and pushing for playing time.

Scorn

Coach Malzhan frowned on the interceptions.

Quotes of the Day

Gene Chizik: “We had explosive plays on both sides of the ball, meaning some turnovers and some big plays both in the running game and in the passing game. We covered a lot of different situations out there today, and it was good for our football team. Overall, we accomplished what we needed to get on film to evaluate guys better this weekend.”

“The thing that I liked is our yards after catch, wide receivers were really making some guys miss. The defense was tracking the ball hard, and obviously offensively you want to make guys miss in space, and some of that went on today. That is good to see because yards after catch are going to be huge.”

“Today, our backs did a nice job hitting some seams, my suspicion is it was probably 50-50 today. Our defensive line did a really nice job at times of controlling the line of scrimmage, and there were other times when backs hit some creases and gained some yards.”

Emory Blake: “I think I did well, I made plays and blocked well on the perimeter.”

Mario Fannin: “I think I did well, In the offense as a whole, we made good blocks and the quarterbacks did a great job throwing the ball down field.”

Cameron Newton: “I did all right. There are some thing I did that I have to make better, and there are some bad things that I have to go in and watch film and get better on them as well.”

Antoine Carter: “We made big strides toward becoming great. This is the time of year where guys are beat up and tired. We are trying to get the guys to keep going. This isn’t the time to slow down. It’s time to crank it up and keep going.”

Craig Stevens: ”The offense is being very productive right now. The defense is getting better. By the time the season gets here, we will be hitting on all cylinders. It’s coming on a lot faster. We are light years ahead of where we were at this time last year. A lot of guys are picking up on things a lot easier. I feel like that’s going to show later down the road.”

Demond Washington: “Everybody knows what job they have to do. This is the time of year you want to go out an impress the coaches – make big plays. The defense did that today.”

Web Tour (for those that want other opinions and sources)

Andy Bitter saw things this way.

Bryan Matthews on the big win by the baseball team and football scrimmage notes.

Andrew Gribble with more information on today’s scrimmage.

Charles Goldberg with video interviews of coaches and players.

Opinion

It is easy to spin information coming out of the practices and scrimmages in any respect you want.

There is no way to spin the confidence and character-building in this team. They are moving from “I think I can,” to “I know I can,” to “I already did and can do so again.”

The quarterback race is still legitimate and close. I think for the No. 2 position though, the starter is a forgone conclusion now.

The defensive line doesn’t resemble last year’s version, and that is very good.

The linebackers can play ball this year. They will take it to the competition.

There are going to be a lot of quarterbacks that will taste turf when playing Auburn.

If a quarterback reacts slowly against the Auburn defense, bad things will happen to him.

This has the potential to be a very good team. The players and coaches know this well.