AU FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Adams back at home as receiver

Harry Adams and his 4.37-second 40 are headed back to the offensive side of the ball.

Adams, a sophomore, played wide receiver in high school but was switched to cornerback for the 2008 season when depth was running short. Now, as of Thursday, Adams is back at wide receiver.

Back home as far as he’s concerned, and back in a place where he has a realistic chance of making his presence felt.

“With the offense we run,” Adams said, “speed kills.”

Adams, at 5-foot-11, is lining up at the X receiver position behind Tim Hawthorne.

“I feel comfortable there,” Adams said. “That’s where I came out of high school.”

By the time Adams digests Gus Malzahn’s playbook, spring will be over, so an immediate impact is not expected from Auburn coaches.

It’s a whole lot different than what he did at Dillard High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where Adams ran with a more traditional, huddled-up offense.

“You’re not going to just walk in the SEC and switch over,” wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said. “The good thing about it is he’s smart enough to do it, he’s talented enough to do it and now it’s going to be about whether he’s willing to do it.

“I’m going to find that out pretty quickly. The first day, I was impressed.”

Those expectations, however, didn’t translate to an easy first day on the job.

“Coach Troop has been on me since I moved yesterday,” Adams said. “(Taylor’s) on my tail following me around keeping me right.”

Injury update
Defensive end Antoine Carter, who was carted off during Sunday’s practice with an apparent foot injury is in “good spirits,” defensive line coach Tracy Rocker said, but there is no timetable for a return to practice.

“He’s getting that rehab,” Rocker said, “That’s all he’s doing.”

Redshirt freshman end Cameron Henderson has also been sidelined from practice with a high ankle sprain.

“With a bum ankle it’s hard to get a whole lot out of him,” Rocker said. “He’s trying to play hard, but with a high ankle sprain, it’s just like playing with ten out there when he’s out there.”

Rocker said no one has been brought in to fill the vacancies because there’s no one left.

“What we got,” Rocker said, “we’ve got to make it work.”

Running back Eric Smith suffered a knee injury during Tuesday’s practice and is likely out for the remainder of spring practice, tailback Ben Tate said.

“Just from seeing it, it didn’t look bad at all,” Tate said. “It’s still not really that bad. I think he has a bone bruise. I think he’ll be out for the rest of the spring, but he’ll be ready to go in a month or two.”

Tate said he, Justin Albert and a “couple walk-ons” are the only healthy bodies remaining in Auburn’s backfield.

“It’s tough on us right now,” Tate said.

Wide receiver Montez Billings, who has missed every spring practice so far with an unknown injury, is not expected to return anytime soon, Taylor said.

“To me, you almost have to be half-dead not to be out there because you only get so many days,” Taylor said.

Auburn to air it out more Saturday
In his team’s second of three scrimmages, Gene Chizik said he plans to throw a bit more than the first, when Auburn ran “66 percent” run plays.

“It’s certainly going to be one of those steps,” Chizik said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

Chizik said it would be “unlikely” that a favorite would emerge after the pass-happy day at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“It depends on how it all unfolds,” Chizik said. “Certainly we would love to ultimately have a guy that we feel like is the solid, first-team guy, but that might be a little bit ambitious at this point. If we’ve got three right now we’re working with then obviously the next step is two.”

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