Auburn Football 2011: Tidbits from Spring Practice

With spring practice coming to a close, there are several tidbits that need to be disclosed and discussed. It has been an interesting spring season where news has covered the entire gambit of college football.

One interesting piece of news is that both players involved in the reported recruitment investigation in Louisiana are now officially on the Auburn roster. The official Auburn spring roster includes Trovon Reed and Gregory Robinson.

While Reed was on the roster last season, it is doubtful the NCAA clearing house would have cleared Robinson, or that Auburn would have included him on the roster, if there were any pending issues. Keihl Frazier and Michael Dyer also are on the roster after rumors that the NCAA was looking into their recruitment in Arkansas.

The NCAA clearing house does not usually green light players if there are any questions that remain about their recruitment. Universities do not usually add recruits to the roster until the NCAA clearing house has given them the green light.

It would appear that if there ever was any investigation into the recruitment of these players, it has concluded to the satisfaction of the NCAA at this point.

Discredited Auburn blogger Jeffrey Lee has been at least partially redeemed as some of the information he passed along about the recruitment of Brent Calloway has evidentially been confirmed. While some of the activities he reported may not be against NCAA rules, it seems that most, if not all, of them did occur as he reported. Stand by for more on this story that continues to grow legs.

The college football world was shocked on Saturday as they witnessed an Auburn team that has risen from the ashes after losing 30 players from last season’s BCS Championship roster. If A-Day performance is any gauge of the progress a team has made, the 2011 Auburn Tigers are at least as far along as their 2010 counterparts.

Reasons for Hope

1. The Auburn defensive secondary looked absolutely solid and much stronger and more capable than it has been in years.
2. The Auburn defensive line looked absolutely scary at times. It looks as if the era of the Auburn sack masters has returned to the plains.
3. The linebackers looked solid and deep. It appears their pass protection fundamentals have improved dramatically.
4. The first team offensive line looks solid and the two deep at guard and center appear to be in good shape.
5. There appears to be a third option at running back with the coming out of Anthony Morgan. He looked solid on Saturday.
6. Speed, Speed, Speed! Unless eyes are deceiving those of us who watch, this is the fastest Auburn team in memory. There is abundant speed at the skilled positions on both offense and defense.

Holes That Still Need Filling

1. The punting is still inconsistent and needs to be shored up
2. The depth at offensive tackle must be developed more.
3. The receivers must be more consistent in blocking assignments.
4. The receivers must eliminate dropped passes.

Still up in the Air

1. There is still no named quarterback even though it appears that Barrett Trotter has clearly taken the position. It could be that the staff is holding the job over to get a look at true freshman Keihl Frazier in August before announcing the pecking order. Do not expect the starting position to be in question.
2. There is still no named starting center. Blake Burgess has valiantly held off a frantic charge from true freshman Reese Dismukes so far. Both players have given it their all this spring. Expect Dismukes to continue to pick up ground with his advantages in size. It will be surprising if Dismukes is not starting come August.
3. There is still no named punt returner although it is quite evident that Trovon Reed leads in that area.

What to Expect

Something that no Auburn fan was expecting—Auburn moves on toward fall practice as a team that has worked themselves into a position where hard work could find them in SEC contention once again. No SEC team on the schedule looked any more advanced at this point than the Tigers.

With so much youth on the team, it is hard to see an undefeated Auburn team in 2011. One thing that is easy to see is that this young team has the potential to enter every game on the schedule expecting to win. They can and likely will compete well with any team in the SEC.

The Auburn defense will be improved in 2011. Both pass defense and tackles for a loss should see big improvements. Third down defense should see quite a boost. More sacks will come off the sides than from the middle.

The Auburn offensive line has size strength and quick feet not seen on the plains for quite some time. This unit will be young and green, but they will have abilities that put them toward the top of the SEC.

Teams will have a real problem matching up with the size and speed of the Auburn offense in the defensive backfield. This is the fastest group of receivers in the SEC.

Look for Philip Lutzenkirchen to move over to a receiver position and allow Ladarious Philips to fill the H-back at times. With Philips and Lutzenkirchen both being very large and powerful, this set gives some great options in the running game.

It appears that Auburn is preparing to rotate and use multiple offensive guards in the coming season. They can use a rotation at this position to pound and wear down the opponents interior defensive line.

This will be a very fun and entertaining season for Auburn fans. They can expect the 2011 Tigers to over achieve experts expectations. There is a very good, solid team on the plains that could be great with enough hard work and effort.