According to ESPN it's Michael Dyer's Show At Auburn

can't link to the post, but basically the true freshman is getting an elevated role in the offense this week, which is to be expected considering he easily looked like the best runningback for the Tigers.

Dyer a Tiger, not a shocker, but still rad.

so it's official (at least the verbal, "i'm coming to your school" part) that the nation's #1 or #3 runningback in the nation, Michael Dyer (depending on whose guru ratings you hold as most true) is going to be an Auburn Tiger next season. obviously this is the biggest get on the recruiting trail that Auburn has landed since....well honestly i can't think of an Auburn player is highly rated as Dyer in recent memory.

he's 5 foot 8 and 201...built kinda like a taller version of Maurice Jones-Drew (rivals compares him to Joe Morris), so a bowling ball of muscle and power that should be exciting to watch over the next few seasons. to everyone who has been paying attention to Auburn's recruiting efforts this isn't a big surprise...but it is something that might get other targets excited about coming to play for the Tigers.

3rd and 5th best runningbacks? more like 1st and 2nd

ESPN's SEC blogger Chris Low did some RB rankings in the league and Ben Tate comes in 3rd and Onterio McCalebb as 5th.

Welcome Back, Running Back U

Ben Tate as Thunderbolt!


Onterio McCalebb as Lightfoot!


hey anybody bother to check the SEC stat leaders after the 1st two weeks? well if you did you'd notice that Ben Tate (with 274 yards) and McCalebb (with 262 yards) are number 1 and 2 in the league(#6 & 8 nationally!)...not to mention that Kodi Burns leads the SEC in rushing touchdowns with 4. yeah it's just two weeks and vs. overmatched defenses, but i have visions of both of these guys going over 1,000 yards and making 1st and 2nd team ALL-SEC.

also congrats to Antonio Coleman who was named the defensive linemen of the week.

Auburn Will Still Be Runningback U...i think

Smart Football has an interesting post about Gus Malzahn/Auburn's running game...or what it should be like. this should help ease the minds of some of the fans who think this whole crazy spread thing isn't gonna work this time either. honestly when i was watching the Spring game the running game looked like it might be pretty fucking awesome (even if it was against 2nd and 3rd string defenders).

The Future Of Auburn Football....i hope

via Auburntron. someone has compiled together the hopeful future of the Auburn Tigers running game with this mix of Seastruck, Lattimore, & Dyer highlights. enjoy.

Top 3 Runningbacks In The Nation Are All High On The Tigers

Auburn By Beaver (best Auburnblog name) is saying that the Top 3 Runningback recruits in the nation (Marcus Lattimore, Lache Seastrunk, & Michael Dyer) ALL have Auburn as their number 1 school. now it seems unlikely that three 5 Star runningbacks will all pick the Tigers but it's hard to believe at least 1 of these kids won't be calling the Plains their home next season. Lattimore and Seastrunk apparently were comparing notes on their trips to Auburn and i think a lot of us out there have visions of a Cadillac Williams/Ronnie Brown part 2 if we can land them both.

i've posted Seastrunk's highlights before. here's some video on Dyer and Lattimore.

Marcus Lattimore


Michael Dyer

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!

2010 Recruiting Wishlist: Lache Seastrunk

this is Lache Seastrunk. he's the #1 runningback in the nation and he's at the top of Auburn's 2010 recruiting class wishlist. he vistited Auburn and called it "The best visit he's had his entire life"....so YAY!!! he likes Auburn....which means he's probably gonna play for LSU, or Florida, or Ole Miss, or Arkansas.

oh you know i was gonna drop his youtube mixtape on your ass. WARNING: this is soundtracked by one of the worst rap songs i have ever heard in my entire life. it rips off "I Ran" by Flock Of Seagulls.

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.

Worship The Runningback

I've been watching college football pretty religiously now for about 25 years. granted there have been stretches where i paid little or no attention to the sport outside of what Auburn was doing (especially the years when i was too busy being grunge and discovering teen aged girls), but in general i watched enough games and kept up with enough sportscenter highlights to know who was who, what was what, and what the fuck was going on.

now growing up in the South with the long shadow of SEC football looming over everything i have learned two important rules.
1) You Must Run The Football!
2) You Must Run The Football!
Steve Spurrier be damned, but SEC football is all about the runningback. The following list are my top 10 all time favorite college runningbacks of my lifetime.

1. BO JACKSON- probably the entire reason i grew up an Auburn fan instead of Alabama or Georgia.


2. Herschel Walker- when i moved to Georgia as a kid all i knew was the greatest athlete in college history was some guy named Herschel. it's kinda hard to argue with that logic.


3. Reggie Bush- if he ever becomes a great pro or not is irrelevant. if he got paid by an agent while at school also doesn't matter. all you need to know is that Reggie Bush put up over 500 all purpose yards in a game against Fresno State and it was fucking awesome. it's the single greatest performance by an athlete i have ever seen. and it gave us this play.


4. Barry Sanders- so fucking sick. the original Reggie Bush. too bad he played for a shitty team that i never got to watch.


5. Adrian Peterson- seriously, how the fuck did he not win a Heisman? oh yeah, he got hurt too damn much.


6. Marshall Faulk- i couldn't find any good college highlights of him on youtube, but he was fucking sick. another crime against the Heisman trophy is that he never won one.


7. Darren McFadden- i don't think i have ever wished a player had gone to Auburn more than Run DMC. probably the greatest SEC runningback since Bo. a fucking demon. i still can't belive Auburn was able to shut him down this year. it's a shame he's gonna end up in Oakland.


8. Cadillac Williams- my second favorite Auburn runningback ever. if he'd ever stay healthy he could be an all-pro. i'd like to see him end up with the Falcons some day. the leader of the greatest Auburn team of my lifetime. War Fucking Eagle.


9. Lawrence Phillips- when i think about wasted talent i immediately think of Phillips. he was so fucking sick at Nebraska. too bad he was a fucking idiot in life.


10. Garrison Hearst- whenever i hear Georgia fans talk about how fucking awesome Knowshon Moreno is and how he's the best Georgia back since Walker i get pissed and remind them of Garrison Hearst (who unfortunately is more remembered for starting the Madden curse and less for being an awesome college back). i couldn't find any youtube highlights of him either. but take my word for it, he was amazing.


and just for the hell of it. a video of Emmitt Smith crying after never beating Auburn during his college career.