Virginia Commonwealth University athletic director Norwood Teague said Monday he does not expect to interview Auburn coach Jeff Lebo for his school’s opening, according to a report in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Lebo has been unavailable for comment since Teague listed him as a candidate Saturday. Athletic director Jay Jacobs said Sunday he has not been contacted by VCU to seek permission to speak with Lebo.
Lebo’s “hefty buyout,“ according to the Times-Dispatch, appears to be the sticking point in halting the interview process.
Lebo made at least $785,000 this season and his contract runs through 2013. If he were to leave for another job, Auburn would be owed $350,000 per year until 2013, which would total a sum slightly less than $1.5 million.
Teague interviewed Texas assistant coach Russell Springmann and Florida assistant coach Shaka Smart on Saturday and Navy head coach Billy Lange on Monday. He is expected to interview VCU assistant coach Tony Pujol today.
VCU is looking to replace Anthony Grant, who was named Alabama’s new head coach Friday.
Teague and Lebo both graduated from the University of North Carolina in the late 80s.
After three days of no luck on our interview requests, Gene Chizik finally allowed the Auburn beat hacks an opportunity to speak with newcomers Eltoro Freeman and Onterio McCalebb.
We made sure to bring our camera.
Our conclusion after interviews? The two couldn’t be more opposite, but both moved to the top of our list of favorite interviews so far this spring.
First up is Freeman. Ever since we read Freeman shout “WAR EAGLE!!!“ in an AuburnSports.com article, we’ve been excited to hear from the enthusiastic outside linebacker. Freeman wasn’t as loud and crazy as he likely was the day he announced his commitment to Auburn, but he was definitely enjoyable and cordial. You can tell he’s absolutely geeked to be playing football on the Plain.
And here’s McCalebb. The Hargrave transfer speaks softly but says some powerful stuff. McCalebb came from a rough area in Fort Meade, Fla. and is playing football so he can someday help his four brothers and sisters and his mother, who continues to move from place to place. We’ll be working on something much larger with McCalebb in the near future, but for now, enjoy the video.
McCain came to Auburn clean-cut with cropped hair and was billed as a highly touted tight end. When it was clear that Tommy Trott and Gabe McKenzie would be Auburn’s tight ends of the future, McCain was moved to defensive tackle. Then he was told to gain some weight and be ready to play on the O-line. So he redshirted the 2006 season to bulk up. Then he didn’t play much in 2007. Ditto for 2008.
Now, with a new coaching staff, McCain has a brand new outlook in his final year at Auburn. He’s vying for the open spot at right tackle and appears to be the front-runner.
Got another TNT sandwich for you today, and these videos should add a bit more context to two of the notes here.
Up top we’ve got offensive lineman Byron Isom. Down low we’ve got OC Gus Malzahn. Plenty more video to come tomorrow.
Enjoy.
Isom yet another lineman to beef up Byron Isom continued through the rotating door of beefed-up offensive linemen Sunday, as the junior guard said he added about 15 pounds to his 6-foot-3 frame.
Isom said he now weighs in at 300 pounds and hopes to gain five more by the end of the season.
“It’s just a lot more power coming off (the ball),” Isom said. “I feel a lot better. It hasn’t really slowed me down or anything like that.”
Isom is one of just nine offensive linemen in camp this spring. Gus Malzahn has preached that he wants his linemen to be conditioned, yet big enough to push defensive linemen around in his run-heavy offense.
“It makes it a lot tougher,” Isom said. “I think the tackles—we get four reps every team period—they were getting about six or eight. They’re pretty tired today, but it gets them ready.
Isom said he thinks all of Auburn’s offensive linemen have put on some kind of weight except Mike Berry, who is “already big enough.”
“We want a physical, hard, downhill edge, so we definitely don’t want our guys losing weight who don’t need to lose weight,” Malzahn said. “We want them to be as big and strong as they can, and keep their athleticism.”
Fannin hurt Mario Fannin “turned” his right ankle during practice Saturday and did not practice Sunday.
Fannin, who was wearing a boot up to his knee Sunday, said the injury wasn’t anything serious and planned to be back in two to three days.
What’s in a number?
Junior-college transfer Eltoro Freeman has had his eyes on No. 21 ever since he signed with Auburn in 2007.
Freeman has worn the peculiar number – for a linebacker – ever since the ninth grade. His cousin, Onterio Harrell, wore the number before he died of cancer at the age of 24.
“It means a lot to me,” Freeman said. “Everywhere I go I’ve been having it. So that’s been a blessing for me.”
Malzahn OK with highs and lows – for now
Malzahn said he has been patient to a degree with the growing pains that come with installing his offense, but the deadline for sympathy is the end of next week.
By then, “we’ll have the majority of our base stuff in and we ought to executing a lot better,” Malzahn said.
Auburn went through 11-on-11 drills for the second day Sunday. Though frustrated by a number of sloppy turnovers, Malzahn pointed out wide receiver Tim Hawthorne and running back Ben Tate as the standout players of the day.
“We made some really good plays and we really looked bad,” Malzahn said. “The focus going into next week is eliminating those bad plays. We’re really conscious with ball security and protecting the football. There were a number of instances where we didn’t do that today.”
Stevens continues to impress
Linebacker Craig Stevens, for the second consecutive day, received praise from defensive coordinator Ted Roof.
“Funny how it keeps happening, huh?” Roof said. “He’s very coachable. He’s a salty veteran, is what he is. He’s becoming more physical each and every day.”
Stevens, a junior, played in all 12 games last season and recorded 54 tackles. Along with Josh Bynes and Spencer Pybus, Stevens is running with the first-team defense on the strong side, Roof said Saturday.
“I’m glad to be behind a guy like that,” Freeman said. “He just seems to do everything right. So when he’s in, I just sit back and get mental reps from him and when I go in and I come back to the sideline, he tells me what I did wrong.”
OK, we may be going a bit overboard with this here video, but we’re not going to stop until someone tells us to.
Here are a couple leftovers from Saturday. We’ll be talking to coordinators and a handful of players in the coming hours.
First, here’s center Ryan Pugh. He talks about beefing up to 290 pounds.
And secondly and finally, here’s Philip Pierre-Louis. He talks about the road to recovery from the torn ACL he sustained on the opening kickoff to the 2008 season.
