Auburn Football Spring Practice Schedule: Preview, Questions & Position Battles

The 2011 college football season may have just ended, but that doesn't mean that the players and coaches go sit on the couch for seven months. No, first it was the recruiting process, and now it's time to begin preparing for spring practices.

These practices are extremely important, as they will help the coaches answer questions and help them put together their depth chart for the upcoming season. This is also a chance for the younger players to prove themselves and earn more playing time than they probably would have normally received.

The Tigers spring game takes place April 14th. Here are a few position battles and questions to pay attention to heading into the events.

Who's Going to Play Quarterback?

Auburn was one of the worst passing teams in the country last year. They were ranked 105th in the country with only 155 yards in the air a game. It didn't take long to notice that Barrett Trotter can't be the quarterback for the Tigers to get where they are trying to go. And even if he was, he's no longer on the team anyway.

That now leaves things down to either Clint Moseley—who replaced Trotter last season and completed 61 percent of his passes for for five touchdowns—or athletic quarterback Kiehl Frazier, who many expect to be the future of this program and who is already being compared to Cam Newton.

Both of these quarterbacks have the potential to play at a high level, and it'll be interesting to see who ends up becoming the starter. But there's one thing we know, and that's that whoever the quarterback is, he will have to produce if Auburn wants to be a force in the SEC this season.

Need Someone to Throw the Ball to

While the Tigers are trying to figure out who's going to throw the ball, they also need to provide him with weapons.

Receivers like Emory Blake and even tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen will be back next season, but that's not nearly enough to get this offense rolling. That's where a receiver like Jaquay Williams, who has terrific size at 6'4", may step in. He'll compete with receivers like Trovon Reed and Travante Stallworth for playing time.

Don't be surprised if the freshman wideout makes a huge impact this season and quickly becomes a face for this offense.

Defense, Please Play Defense

If there was anything that shocked us the most with this Auburn team last year, it was without question the defense. Sure, they deserve a bit of a pass, as they had to replace nearly every starter from 2010, but some of this unit's performances were beyond brutal.

The Tigers gave up more than 30 points seven times last year and ranked 11th or worst in the SEC in passing defense, rushing defense and scoring defense. The good news is that Auburn is returning 10 starters on that side of the ball and should play better, as the youngsters have another year under their belt.

The talent is there, but several players on this unit must step up to improve on their 8-5 season last year.

Backup RB

I'm interested to see who the backup running back is going to be, considering that the Tigers had one of the best one-two punches in the country a year ago. Now that Michael Dyer has left for Arkansas State, that leaves Onterio McCalebb the starter and questions at the backup position.

Sophomore Tre Mason will likely fill in this role, as he averaged nearly six yards a carry last year and has fantastic speed to complement McCalebb. Other players such as Quan Bray and even new recruit Jovon Robinson could compete for touches as well. 

With so many questions surrounding this offense, the Tigers need a solid running game that they can rely on to help them win football games.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].