AU NOTEBOOK: Benton adjusting to college life

Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor hasn’t found many opportunities to put freshman DeAngelo Benton in position to make a catch this season.

The few balls that have come Benton’s way — a handful of them coming with gobs of space all around him — have fallen to the turf.

Still, Taylor remains just as high on the gem of Auburn’s 2009 signing class as he did when he plucked the Bastrop, La. native away from signing with LSU for a third consecutive year.

“I promise you he will light the record books up,” Taylor said. “You can write that down, before he gets out of here, because he has that type of ability.”

Benton was heralded as a player who could make an immediate impact throughout the preseason and even cracked Taylor’s starting rotation at one point. But his playing time has been sparse as the result of two factors, Taylor said: The emergence and stability of starters Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery and the two-year break from football Benton had while he was ruled ineligible.

“Those things take a little time,” Taylor said. “What you don’t want to do is put him out there and him get overwhelmed and think he can’t play. The physical tools are there. Now we just have to get the mental side of it and the temperament part of it back.”

Taylor said the academic side of being a student-athlete hasn’t troubled Benton at all. He apparently scored a 92 on a recent exam and was bragging to his teammates about it at Wednesday’s practice, Taylor said.

“I’m going to be ecstatic about having DeAngelo Benton on this football team because he has that type of ability,” Taylor said. “It’s just putting all the things together.”

A new promotion
Taylor held an impromptu pep rally at Auburn’s new student union Thursday, encouraging students to embrace Saturday’s 11:21 a.m. kickoff instead of showing up late, which is typical among SEC schools.

Taylor signed autographs and passed out signs and stickers covered with the new slogan “11:21: Be the difference.”

“We need to get there early, stay late and be loud to show our team we are behind them no matter what,” Student Government Association President Jacob Watkins wrote in an open letter to the student body.

Costumes OK, props not
Fans are permitted to wear Halloween costumes to Saturday’s game, but will not be allowed to bring props into Jordan-Hare Stadium, according to an Auburn University release.

Those who don’t wear costumes are still encouraged to wear navy as part of Auburn’s “Navy Nightmare” promotion.

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