AU FOOTBALL: Bowl gives Lutzenkirchen 1st big chance to shine

TAMPA, Fla. — There have been few, if any, YouTube clips to take away from Philip Lutzenkirchen’s freshman season, but the foundation appears to be set for the future.

A few renovations, though, have been required.

The latest will take place in Friday’s Outback Bowl, when the versatile Lutzenkirchen is expected to take a large amount of snaps at H-back as opposed to his traditional role of backing up tight end Tommy Trott.

It’s a decision that has largely been prompted by circumstance, as the Tigers have lost their most reliable H-back, Eric Smith, to academic ineligibility and two others (John Douglas and Jason King) to suspensions following separate DUI arrests.

But it’s one that might stick through his Auburn career.

“We feel like he can do both,” coach Gene Chizik said. “We feel like he’s a versatile enough guy to wear a couple of different hats in this offense.”

Lutzenkirchen came to Auburn as a different type of versatile.

At 6-foot-4 and 264 pounds, Lutzenkirchen brought an odd combination of size, speed and hands to the position. Those qualities basically made him a gigantic wide receiver disguised as a tight end at Lassiter High in Marietta, Ga., where he hauled in 72 passes for 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns in his senior season.

That total doesn’t include the play that made him nationally famous, when he leapt out of the back of the end zone to quickly catch and pass the ball to a wide-open teammate for a touchdown.

Lutzenkirchen actually caught most of those passes out of his high school’s version of the H-back, a role Gus Malzahn considers the most versatile in his multi-faceted offense.

“For that position, we ask a lot — to block, to run different types of routes,” Malzahn said. “He’s got to do a lot of different things, and Philip has that skill set.”

Lutzenkirchen just didn’t have to block much in high school, which presented a few problems early on and prevented him from the making the impact he may have envisioned for his freshman season.

He did make the most of his minimal action, however, as two of his five catches resulted in scores, making him just one of five Auburn players to catch more than one touchdown.

“You’d hope to play a little bit more,” Lutzenkirchen said. “You have those dreams coming out of high school to play a little more but I had Tommy in front of me, a redshirt senior, who kind of put in his time.”

The blocking has improved, coaches say, and so have his chances of becoming an every-down option in Auburn’s offense.

Trott, who held down the tight end position throughout 2009, will play his final game in an Auburn uniform Friday, which makes Lutzenkirchen the odds-on favorite to assume those duties.

Asked if it was his job to lose, Lutzenkirchen shrugged his shoulders and acknowledged the obvious.

“Yeah. I guess I’m kind of the guy in line for next year,” he said. “I’ve just got to keep working and I think I’ll be able to get a lot more playing time.”

His role likely won’t be the same as Trott’s, though, because of the different skill set be brings to the table. It might just be a combination of H-back and tight end or whatever Malzahn concocts during the offseason.

“He didn’t do so much blocking in tight in the core of the offense, so those are the things that we felt like down the road he would grow, those roles would grow,” Chizik said. “As time goes on with him and he gets older and matures and he understands everything, we feel sure he’s going to do that.”

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