Spring Game 2010

so i attended Auburn's 2010 A-Day game last weekend and it was probably my most pleasant experience ever for an Auburn Spring game. fist of all, the weather was absolutely perfect in Auburn which may or may not have contributed to the record crowd. And the atmosphere (at least in the 1st half) was pretty electric...as far as Spring games go. there's definitely a since of anticipation surrounding these 2010 Tigers that you wouldn't have guessed would be possible last summer. the star of the game was Cam Newton, who received the loudest ovation of any player on the team and showed everyone that there is little doubt he's going to be the team's starting QB. Mario Fannin also seemed to solidify himself as Auburn's number 1 tailback for next season.

the A Day was basically a QB expo with the real show being a dual between Neil Caudle and Barrett Trotter for the backup behind Newton. both QBs looked sharp...with the slight edge, in my opinion, going to Trotter. he seems a little more athletic and has a slightly stronger arm. either way i feel a lot better about Auburn's QB situation in 2010 than i have since Brandon Cox's junior season.

also we got a treat at half time when members of the Auburn All Decade like Jason Campbell, Cadillac and Ronnie, Marcus McNeil, Ben Grubbs, Courtney Taylor, and several other stars of the Tuberville era were honored.

all in all it was the sort of Spring game that makes you proud of your team and gives you hope for the future.

special bonus was after the game i got to go inside and check out the brand new Auburn Basketball Arena. shit looks fucking sweet! camera phone pics to follow...

A Day 2010 2morrow

War Eagle, fuckers.

TIGER VS TIGER.

just remember....


i'll be there at Jordan-Hare taking notes, checking out co-eds, take crappy pics, complaining about how everyone wears too much orange and is too fat to pull it off, eating lots of overpriced stadium food, and eventually falling asleep in the shade because i'm bored to tears by the walk-ons getting all the reps in the 4th quarter. it should be a grand day of fun on the Plains. hopefully the weather is as nice in Auburn as it has been in Athens all week.

Saturday = A Day

i'll be in Auburn this weekend for the 2010 A-Day game with my old man. looking forward to getting an early look at the new QB and hopefully some of the new talent that will be making an impact this year.

A-Day Highlights

a poorly soundtracked game overview.


Ben Tate's long touchdown run


Onterio McCalleb's 70 yarder


Neil Caudle TD drive


and TrackEmTigers has a collection of inteviews collected from other Auburn blogs here.

Some Quick Thoughts following the Auburn Spring Game

The Good:

The runningbacks were the obvious stars of the game with several huge runs and touchdowns. After last years indecisiveness it was refreshing to watch the backs hitting the holes and bursting through the line. Ben Tate set the tone for the day with his 40+ TD run on the 1st drive and Onterio McCalleb stole the show with his 70 yard touchdown run. If Auburn is planning on using Tate as their everydown back to pound it out and then throw in Lil' O (yeah I'm calling it now...that's my uncreative nickname) to melt people's faces off with his supersonic speed then 2009 could be a happy time for Auburn fans who heart the running game. It's hard to imagine potential runningback recruits not being excited by what they saw.

Also i'd like to think anyone who had their doubts about a run first spread offense might hold their tongue til the season actually gets started. Fannin also looked good running and catching the ball, I know we all wanna see him become Auburn's feature back, but if he's a more dangerous weapon at H Back then I'm ok with it. I just wanna see him making plays somewhere.

The other positive from the game was the performance of wideout Darvin Adams. Hopefully he can emerge as the playmaker the Tigers have been missing since Courtney Taylor left town.

The Bad:

I really hope the running game can be as dominant as it looked to day because the passing game looks just as disastrous as it was last year. Outside of Adams, the wideouts were the same useless collection of players that couldn't hold on to the ball or make plays. I'm assuming DeAngelo Benton & Emory Blake should have no trouble coming in and getting immediate playing time. I still think Billings and Hawthorne can be playmakers and I've got hope for Terrell Zachery and Piere-Louis and then of course Fannin is obviously one of the better receivers we have no matter what position he's playing...but everyone else, well wake me up when they are ready to show something...

...then again it's hard to know if we do have any playmakers at receiver when the QBs play like that. Neil Caudle had the far better stats and made much better throws and if you were gonna put me in charge of the decision to name a starter then it's a no brainer, go with Caudle...but I wasn't blown away. Kodi is starting to feel like a lost cause. It makes me sad, there was so much hope for this kid and I've been one of his biggest cheerleaders and during the homecoming & Georgia games last year I felt like Burns was really starting to put it together but when you go out and put up a performance like he did today (3-8 for 48 yards) against a secondary that was filled with backups and walk ons...well it's time to start abandoning the bandwagon. I know that the coaches aren't gonna name a QB until the fall, and I understand based on what we saw today, but I'm finding it increasingly unlikely that Kodi Burns is going to ever become the guy we wish he was.

The scary thing is that Auburn may soon find themselves in some serious trouble at QB if Burns decides he's had enough and transfers if he doesn't get to start because Barrett Trotter is done for the year with a torn ACL & Chris Todd is of course still a 1 armed man. Yeah that was a really fucking smart idea to let the defense hit the QBs in practice!?! So with Trotter done, Todd crippled, & possibly Burns bolting, Auburn could find itself with 2 true freshmen as the backups next season and that's assuming Tyrik Rollison qualifies and Clint Mosely doesn't decide to go play pro baseball if he's drafted high enough. But that's probably just the part of my brain that is obsessed with the worst case scenario talking...I hope.

in Burns defense the running game seemed to score quickly and easily with him at QB so he had less chances to throw the ball and his stats were largely hurt because of drops by receivers. still his passes looked ugly and his only long play was due mostly to Fannin's heads up catch after Kodi's pass was deflected.

The Ugly:

The defense might as well have stayed in bed, I mean I'm grateful for the chance to see how fast our runningbacks could all go...but that was ridiculous. I know injuries were affecting the DBs and the DLine but a lot of those runs were because the backs weren't even being tagged. That coulda been flag football and Lil' O's 70 yarder would've been on the board. I'm gonna assume the the defense will be it's normal lethal self by the time the season rolls around but as of right now I am a little worried.

All in all it was an entertaining game (sure beat the UGA & Bama snorfests) and I think Auburn fans have a few things to feel optimistic about for the 2009 Season. War Eagle!

Have Fun At The A-Day Game Tomorrow Kids

to everyone going to the A-Day game tomorrow...I AM JEALOUS. after sitting through the snorfest last Saturday here in Athens i was really looking forward to checking out my Auburn Tigers in action. instead i'll be stuck here in Athens forced to watch the game on CSS.

the buzzword for this year's Spring Game is INJURY. as in all the players are hurt. QB might be especially effected because apparently Barrett Trotter and Neil Caudle both got hurt in practice yesterday so it might be Kodi Burns getting to play ALL-TIME QB (a position that i ruled at as a kid when forced to play football with my little brother and all his friends. i assume that all my passing records still stand in the Evanston Neighborhood Football League...if anyone can verify this for me then let a brother know). i'd also assume that if Kodi is in fact the only QB that plays in the Spring Game then he's got be able to put some distance between himself at Neil Caudle, but that isn't likely to happen as Coach Chizik has already stated that Auburn doesn't plan to name a starter until the Fall...something that i am reading as: WE ARE WAITING UNTIL TYRIK ROLLISON GETS HERE AND HOPING HE CAN BEAT ALL THESE SCRUBS OUT.

apparently there's some walk-on kid named Brent Poole that might see some time at QB during the A-Day game as well. why not just throw Mario Fannin back there? i mean the kid is already playing everywhere else.

enjoy the game tomorrow if you are going, take some notes and feed me your opinions. you are my eyes and ears. War Eagle!
---------------------------------------
non Auburn related:

i've discovered a new blog to be obsessed with for a few weeks called Look At This Fucking Hipster, i'm also 100% sure that someone is going to post a picture of me on there as well.

and finally someone somewhere is making my dreams into reality.


have a good weekend.

5 quick thoughts about Auburn's Spring Practices

1. if all things are even at the QB position after Saturday's A-Day game then i think they have to go with Kodi, or else he's probably gonna transfer. in the Fall when Rollison gets to campus and assuming Chris Todd still has an arm, then maybe you open it back up...but unless Caudle truly beats Burns out then i say it's Kodi all the way.


2. Mario Fannin needs 1 damn position. i know that Ben Tate and Onterio McCalebb have both had great Springs...so i don't fault the offense for going with those two as Auburn's main backs this season, but if Fannin isn't gonna be in the RB equation then he needs to be made a receiver full time...maybe even a tight end thanks to his added bulk...but i think everyone would rather see him at tailback. or maybe he doesn't...what the fuck do i know?


3. speaking of tailbacks...who the fuck is Justin Albert and why is a walk-on making his way into the runningback rotation?


4. Tim Hawthorne is finally gonna become a playmaker for Auburn. i have a feeling about this based solely on how awesome he is on NCAA Football 2009 (he just pulled in 2000 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns on my last Dynasty season) and not on actual reality.

5. i'm sad i'm not going to the game this weekend.

Auburn Spring Game Scoring System Makes My Head All Hurting

so from the SUPER SECRET AUBURN SPRING PRACTICES OF GENE CHIZIK comes the Auburn Spring Game scoring system.

via the Goldmine.

The offense will get 6 points for a touchdown, 3 points for a field goal, 2 points for an ``explosive play'' (15 yards or more), 2 points for three consecutive first downs; and 1 point for a kick conversion.

The defense will get 7 points for a touchdown, 5 points for a turnover, 4 points for a sack, 3 points for a blocked field goal, 2 points for three-and-outs, 2 points for a tackle-for-a-loss and 1 point for a blocked PAT.

that's more confusing and convoluted than my fucking fantasy league!

so much for the Spring Game

i was planning on going to this years Spring game with my father but apparently the old man has some last second plans and now i've got noone to go with. oh well. i guess i can always just watch it on CSS.

and i was so looking forward to watching the duel of QB ineptitude play it live and in person.

also this is totally random, but someone might wanna tell Greg Paulus that the Greenbay Packers are not in the NBA.

a random collection of thoughts and camera phone pictures from G Day 09

your friendly neighborhood Auburn blogger dressed in yellow because he pussed out and didn't wear Auburn gear. yes i always look like that. yes i always wear sunglasses.


First off it was a beautiful fucking day for some spring football. About 60 degrees, sunny, a little bit of wind, and perfect conditions. I can only hope it's like this next weekend at Auburn.

I really don't understand why ESPN chose to show the UGA spring game this year. It's not like Georgia is being thought of as a contender or anything...my only guess is that they plan on showing as many spring games as possible and the Dawgs were the only good candidates this weekend. Speaking of which, why the fuck does UGA think it's a good idea to have their Spring game during Master's weekend and during the Braves' first home opener? I mean it was an okay crowd, but there would've probably been about 20 thousand more people if they had it next weekend. Plus doing this Easter Weekend meant there were almost zero students at the game.

Thoughts about the actual game itself:
The Georgia QB situation doesn't look that much better than what Auburn has. Joe Cox is a noodle arm having Senior who I can't imagine holding on to the starting spot past the 1st two games. He had 1 good throw to AJ Green to start the game that my friend Jeff attributed to Green's ability to make Cox shitty throw seem like a good play by his superb athletic ability. Logan Gray didn't look any better, but the fact that he can run makes him seem like the lesser of two evils. Both of the true freshman were wildly inaccurate and Aaron Murray threw an ugly pick. So yeah...you can say that Stafford wasn't much of a leader all you want, but the Dawgs are gonna miss his ass.

The offense just looked awful in general...I mean either the defense got 80% better or the offense took a 50% slide down. None of the backs could do anything, the Qbs (like I said) were nothing to speak of, and the recievers were dropping everything. It was just an ugly performance all the way around. I know it's just a practice but all my Georgia loving friends seemed pretty down in the dumps about the Dawgs chances in 09.

the game was a series of turnovers and field goals and boring as hell.

The worst part of the day was when I thought I saw Erin Andrews and then raced down to the field for a better look only to discover it was just Wendy Nix. Booooooooo! Is that all we are good enough for ESPN? I guess if you only check her out from the back then Nix is packing a pretty cute ass...but come on, why can't you send a creepy blogger some Erin Andrews action to brighten up an otherwise dull Spring game? For shame Espn.

And so that was that. Next weekend I'll be in Auburn with my old man bitching and whining about the Tiger's team. holla at a brother if you gunna be there too. And pray it doesn't rain.

G Day live tweeting

I'm going to the UGA spring game tomorrow and I'm gonna attempt to do a lve twitter feed of the game @ http://twitter.com/jrsuicide. Yeah I'm a nerd. Follow me if you like, there will be lots of trash talking of the UGA football team and profanity.

UGA Spring Game...

....is anybody in Athens going?

As a follow up question, is anyone going to the Auburn spring game? I'm planning on making the trip again this year so I can see first hand what a disaster the new offense is going to be...and to get a look at the Chizik. I'll be leaving my gold chains at home.

Gameday Is Coming...Again

people will offer their first born as a snack to Uga in exchange for Georgia beating the Gators.

soooo i'm going to the UGA Spring game on Saturday, being that i live in Athens and the shit is free (i'll do anything that is free) and ESPN is gonna be here...which gives me more chances to see UGA fans with signs like this. (tis true, Corso is a Dutch).

no word yet if Erin Andrews is gonna be here...i'll keep my eyes out.


i like that Georgia is making this bullshit free as noone should have to pay to watch someone practice, but seriously someone should let ESPN know ahead of time not to expect a ton of people, i mean the Masters is going on...white people love some motherfuckin' boring ass golf being played 90 minutes away more than they do UGA spring ball. i should know, i fucking grew up in Disgusta. so don't hold your breath for a huge crowd. just sayin'.

Auburn Spring Practice Images

stolen from Rivals.com

This post is exactly what it says, a random assortment of spring practice pics. No witty comments, no profanity, no halfassed assumptions. Just some pics.

Ben Tate is runnin' this shit

so according to this, Ben Tate really likes the new offense and the coaches have already said he'll be the teams primary carrier. i mean i'm glad they've got confidence in the kid and all but isn't it a little early to just hand him the job? i'd kind of assumed that Mario Fannin (my facebook buddy) and Ontario McCalleb (especially after Antonio Coleman was asked about McCalebb's acceleration and he responded with, "He's fast as shit.") would more than likely beat Tate out this spring and the young man would end up 3rd on the depth chart, but from reading that it seems he has totally embraced the new offense and the coaches like what they see. they are expecting him to put up 1000 yards this season. looks like 09 might be all about some Ben Tate. call me Surprised.

Some Random Spring Football Thoughts

thoughts, predictions, unfounded theories, etc...

1. Kodi Burns is totally awesome in video game form on NCAA 2009, but so far he hasn't exactly lived up to his recruiting hype. Ive been openly rooting for the kid the past 2 years and nothing would make me happier than for him to learn the new offense quickly and finally turn into the star some of us think he could be....that being said i am starting to believe that Neil Caudle is going to beat out Kodi Burns this Spring and become Auburn's next starting QB. Caudle hasn't had any significant playing time since his junior year of Highschool after missing most of his senior season with an injury and then of course he was buried on the depth chart by the previous staff. Caudle was an Elite 11 Qb and a highly rated recruit. if anyone is gonna benefit from a change it's gonna be this kid. i don't know why, but i just have this feeling that Caudle is gonna win the job. this will result in Kodi Burns either switching positions or deciding to transfer.

2. At least one of Auburn's 33 useless wide receivers will take his awesome ability to drop passes and get switched over to the defensive side of the ball and help add some more depth to the dbs.

3. Lee Ziemba is totally gonna kick someone's ass...Again. it could be Antonio Coleman (although methinks he probably got more than he could handle last spring), it could be some unlucky freshman, or it could be me when I make fun of him for looking like Masterblaster from Beyond Thunderdome during the Tiger Walk on the A Day Game. Regardless an ass will be kicked, it's only a matter of time.

4. the kicking and punting jobs will be decided by caged death matches.

5. Chris Todd's useless right arm will be replaced by a machine gun arm and he will begin his career as a merciless bounty hunter.

6. having banned hats and chains and alienated 80% of the football team with pointless and outdated dress codes, the Auburn players will revolt and overthrow the new coaching staff. Mario Fannin, whose facebook updates show him to be a philosopher and leader of men, will become the new coach and transform Auburn into the SEC's crunkest unit. "Knuck if u buck" will replace that stupid "here comes the boom" song as Auburn's new intro music, the team will elect to wear their road whites also season long because they look the freshest, and Auburn will lead the SEC in penalties for excessive celebrations as the Tigers channel the spirit of the 1980s Miami Hurricanes.