Gene Chizik saw the nasty red spots on the radar and opted to cancel practice today.
We didn’t get the memo.
Up top, we’ve got converted offensive lineman Vance Smith. In the middle there, Mike “Don’t call me Big Snacks anymore” Berry. And all that text? Just another meaty batch of notes.
Feast on.
Smith’s switch to O-Line a heavy ordeal
Most of Auburn’s offensive linemen are gaining weight to increase the power they already have.
Vance Smith, meanwhile, is and will continue to put on the pounds out of necessity.
Smith, who was shifted from tight end to offensive tackle before spring, wants to weigh in between 290-295 pounds by the start of fall camp. And he’s made good progress, having already gained 10 pounds since the move was made official.
There’s just one problem that makes Smith’s weight-gain story a little more arduous than the rest.
He’s still at 262 pounds.
“I haven’t hit the wall,” Smith said, “yet.”
Smith said he and assistant strength and conditioning coach Joseph Walker have devised a diet/workout plan that will put the pounds on gradually, as to not shock his body. The goal is two pounds per week, which puts him right on schedule to meet his mark by August.
“Obviously, he’s a little light in the pants right now, but I really like that kid’s mentality,” offensive line coach Jeff Grimes said. “He’s got a grittiness about him and a real coachability and a real desire to please and work hard.”
Smith, who played sparingly at tight end but was active on special teams last season, said he approached offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn with the idea to shift to the line. With a lack of bodies on the offensive line and plenty of depth at tight end, Smith likely has a better chance of seeing meaningful playing time at his new position.
He said he considers the move to be permanent.
“At first it was tough,” Smith said. “But now I’ve just accepted it and work hard at it and try to be a good player.”
Practice canceled
Auburn canceled its practice Tuesday in anticipation of a storm cell that passed through the area in the late evening.
The Tigers will practice today to make up for the cancelation.
Berry holding steady Mike Berry stands alone among Auburn’s offensive linemen as the only maintainer of his current weight.
Berry, who was nicknamed “Big Snacks” by a number of graduated Auburn linemen, said he’s trying to stay within his standard playing weight of 310-315 pounds.
As for the nickname, Berry said it’s a thing of the past.
“All the vets are gone,” Berry said. “They’re the ones who used to call me that.”
‘The Nall way’
In highlighting the differences between former offensive line coach Hugh Nall and Grimes, Berry was prompted about how the coaches reacted when a player totally screwed up.
“Nall was going to get after you. That’s just the type of guy he was. You gotta love that,” Berry said. “Grimes, I would say, is more balanced. He’s a pretty easy-going guy. He’s going to coach you hard but he knows how far to go.”
But can he truly put a scare into the linemen?
“Not for real,” Berry said. “Not the Nall way.”
Number up
After a little more than a week of practice, it has already become clear that fans and reporters alike will have to learn the lingo of Malzahn’s offense if they want to know what he or the players are talking about.
Each position is designated a number, a la basketball, where a small forward can also be known as the “three.”
Here’s what we know so far:
- The “three” is similar to an H-back, currently Mario Fannin’s position.
- The “four” is the closest thing to an everyday tailback.
- The “five” is an inside receiver, the “Y.”
- The “two” and “nine” are the two split wideouts, the “X” and “Z.”
When prompted about the “one,” wide receiver Quindarius Carr could not confirm nor deny if it was, in fact, the quarterback.
So I don’t know if you guys have been keeping up with Opelika/Auburn/Surrounding Areas high school sports over the past eight months or so, but if you have, you know that the serious-looking gentleman at the top of the page is Loachapoka’s Tommy White Jr..
If you didn’t, pay better attention, because the guy has been freakin’ everywhere.
He was the News’ pick for Defensive Player of the Year after football season. He was the ASWA’s pick for Class 1A boys Player of the Year in basketball. And now, with the unveiling of the O-A News’ All-Area boys basketball team, he is the paper’s boys Player of the Year.
And he hit the game-winning home run in Poka’s win over Bullock County last night, its first home game in three years.
No word yet on his progress with world hunger. But I’ll keep you posted…
White’s coach Terry Murph joined him as the News’ boys Coach of the Year for guiding the Indians to their first state title since 1997. So, yeah. If you picked up our sports page today, you saw a heckuva lot of red and white.
I guess it fits in with the paper’s new motto: “The Opelika-Auburn News - All Poka, All the Time.“ (Editor’s Note: This man does not represent the editorial direction of the paper and/or any past, pending, or future changes to the motto. Please disregard everything he says.)
Here’s the rest of the All-Area boys team. Pick up the paper and see it, too. Lots of pictures. Good ones. Ones not taken by me:
Player of the Year: Tommy White Jr., Sr., F, 6-1, Loachapoka. Coach of the Year: Terry Murph, Loachapoka.
Small School First Team (2A-ICSGA)
Justin Minor, Sr., G, 6-0, Lyman Ward. Averaged 23.0 points for the 7-13 Rangers. Second-team All-State in the AISA. Damien Carr, Jr., G, 5-10, Edward Bell. Averaged 19.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 steals for the 16-6 Bears. Honorable mention All-State in 1A. White. Averaged 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds for the state champion Indians. 1A boys player of the year; O-A News boys Player of the Year. Jontavius Willis, Sr., G/F, 6-0, Loachapoka. Averaged 15.0 points, 4.0 assists and 4.0 steals for the state champion Indians. Second-team All-State in 1A. Tank Huguley, Sr., F/C, 6-6, Lanett. Averaged 11.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks for the 18-11 Panthers.
Large School First Team (6A-3A)
Dominique Wilkerson, Sr., G, 5-9, Dadeville. Averaged 18.2 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the 13-14 Tigers. Honorable mention All-State in 3A. Jason Webb, So., G, 6-3, Auburn. Averaged 15.2 points for the 16-14 Tigers. Tay Calloway, Jr., G/F, 6-3, Opelika. Averaged 12.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists for the 19-9 Bulldogs. Darren Daniel, Jr., G/F, 6-4, Central. Averaged 13.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists for the state semifinalist Red Devils. Joseph Thompson, Sr., F, 6-4, Central. Averaged 16.0 points, 10.7 rebounds and 3.0 blocks for the state semifinalist Red Devils. Second-team All-State in 6A.
And, because I always give the people more than they asked for, want and can even tolerate, here is how the team would have looked if we hadn’t broken it into large and small.
First Team
Calloway, Opelika.
Thompson, Central.
White, Loachapoka.
Wilkerson, Dadeville.
Willis, Loachapoka.
Second Team
Carr, Edward Bell.
Daniel, Central.
Minor, Lyman Ward.
Ray, LaFayette.
Webb, Auburn.
Third Team
Burton, LaFayette.
Huguley, Lanett.
Turner, Edward Bell.
Williams, Smiths Station.
Willis, Auburn.
So that should do us for basketball for this season. Unless Andrew Gribble and I can finally find a time to throw down at the rec center. We’re charging admission. It’ll be great.
We haven’t heard of any other schools lobbying interest toward Auburn’s coach, who just wrapped up his fifth year with the Tigers. Lebo, in his 11 years of coaching, has not made the NCAA Tournament, but put forth arguably his best season this year, leading the Tigers to the NIT quarterfinals.
Tate doesn’t look like the fastest back on the field, but he claims his speed is deceiving because of his long strides. So far, Auburn’c coaches haven’t been deceived, as Tate’s name has popped up with the top performers on an almost daily basis. Running backs Curtis Luper even went as far as saying Tate would gain 1,000 yards this season, his last at Auburn.
First, though, Tate has to win the starting job, which it looks like he’s on his way to doing at the moment.
And that’s for the whole area, not just a neighborhood or two.
That smiling Warrior at the top is Lee-Scott’s Jessie Washington, perhaps the most frequent sight at the top of my page since I’ve been here.
So, the OA News’ All-Area girls basketball team came out in today’s paper, and the aforementioned Washignton was Player of the Year. It was kind of a no-brainer: she was the best player on the state champion Warriors and earned AISA girls Player of the Year by the ASWA. (Enough abbreviations for you? I could probably throw some more in there if you want…)
Her coach, Chad Prewett won AISA girls Coach of the Year and the OA News’ girls Coach of the Year award as well, which I’m sure was the one he was really going for. He won it because he worked 1800 hours a week during basketball season coaching the Warriors’ boys and girls to a 51-8 combined record and two appearances in the state Final Four. The boys bowed out in the semifinals, but the girls won the state title, if you haven’t heard.
Read my story about him here. C’mon, you’ll like it. And it’ll only take like 5 minutes.
Here are the rest of the players that joined Washington and Prewett on the team. We decided to split the team into small (AISA-2A) and large (3A-6A) school teams this year, so we could honor more players. And everyone loves pictures, right?
So here is the OA News’ first- and second-team All-Area selections for this year:
Player of the Year: Jessie Washington, Sr., G, 5-3, Lee-Scott. Coach of the Year: Chad Prewett, Lee-Scott
Small School First Team
Washington. Averaged 20.7 points, and made 127 3s, for the state champion Warriors. AISA girls Player of the Year; O-A News girls Player of the Year. Melissa Maddox, Jr., G, 5-4, Lee-Scott. Averaged 15.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.2 steals for the state champion Warriors. First-team All-State in the AISA. Mercedes Scott, Sr., G, 5-6, Reeltown. Averaged 15.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals for the Rebels. Chantal Hall, Jr., F, 5-9, Loachapoka. Averaged 23.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 6.0 steals for the 15-12 Indians. Honorable mention All-State in 1A. Cortney Sims, Jr., F, 6-0, Lanett. Averaged 12.0 points and 16.7 rebounds for the 22-8 Panthers. Honorable mention All-State in 2A.
Large School First Team
Amilia Boone, Jr., G, 5-6, Dadeville. Averaged 16.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 steals for the 16-12 Tigers. Honorable mention All-State in 3A. Valeeta Bellamy, So., F, 5-7, Beauregard. Averaged 14.3 points, 10.7 rebounds and 8.0 assists for the 13-11 Hornets. Honorable mention All-State in 5A. Carman Freeman, Jr., G, 5-7, BTW. Averaged 17.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 9.0 assists for the 16-7 Golden Eagles. Honorable mention All-State in 5A. DeJah Heard, Sr., G, 5-7, Smiths Station. Averaged 15.0 points, 7.4 assists and 3.0 steals for the state semifinalist Panthers. Erika Jones, Jr., C, 6-2, Smiths Station. Averaged 13.0 points, 17.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks for the state semifinalist Panthers. Second-team All-State in 6A.
For those who care, this would have been the All-Area team had we considered all classes together: (Yeah, I did it. It’s almost like I have a lot of time on my hands or something…)
First Team
Bellamy, Beauregard Hall, Loachapoka Jones, Smiths Station M. Maddox, Lee-Scott Washington, Lee-Scott
Second Team
Boone, Dadeville Freeman, BTW Heard, Smiths Station Sims, Lanett Stephens, Auburn
Third Team
Cannon, Opelika Hicks, Lanett Jackson, Central O. Maddox, Lee-Scott Scott, Reeltown
So there you have it. Hope it is acceptable to all and pleasing to some. Look out for the boys team in tomorrow’s paper. Here’s a hint: there’s a couple of Loachpoka guys on it.
