AU FOOTBALL: Five answers from spring practice

One month ago, the Opelika-Auburn News suggested five storylines to keep an eye on for Auburn’s spring practice. Now that 15 practices are in the books, let’s revisit them and see if any answers were gathered.

1) The New Guys
Linebacker Eltoro Freeman and speedy running back Onterio McCalebb were the two fresh faces in camp this spring.

Both left a lasting impression.

It took just two weeks for Freeman to go from backup at a position he’d never played (strongside linebacker) to the starter at his original position (weakside). His excessive excitability — at times — appears to be bottled up enough to function in Ted Roof’s defense, and he should be considered a front-runner to start the season opener.

“He’s another guy I thought improved as the spring went on,” Roof said. “Once he became more comfortable with the new terminology and new words and new ways of doing things, once he got into a groove, I really saw him get better.”

McCalebb, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be a full-fledged member of the first-team yet, but his burning speed has left almost everyone impressed. He showed that off in Saturday’s A-Day game, when he burst through a hole at the line of scrimmage and ran untouched for a 70-yard touchdown run.

His role is undefined at the moment, as he sits behind Ben Tate at tailback. But if McCalebb proves he can be versatile, there will be a place on the field for him in Gus Malzahn’s offense.

“He’s probably the fastest guy on the team,” running backs coach Curtis Luper said. “We’re expecting big things from him.”

2) Line ‘em up
Auburn’s offensive line, while totally deprived of depth, appears set heading into fall.

Lee Ziemba and Andrew McCain are the two starting tackles, Mike Berry and Byron Isom the guards and Ryan Pugh is the center.

From there, well, no one can go down with an injury.

“That’s just one of those things we’re going to have to deal with,” McCain said. “I don’t know the exact numbers of the signing class, but it’s not like we’ve got a ton of guys coming in either.”

For the record, Auburn has two (Andre Harris and Auburn High standout John Sullen), but don’t expect either to make a run at the starting lineup.

Though thin on men, Auburn’s O-Line will be bigger in size, as all of the starters except Berry put on at least 15 pounds. Pugh and Ziemba each added in the neighborhood of 30 pounds.

“I missed the power,” Ziemba said.

Auburn’s defensive line was short on bodies near the end of camp, as a number of players went down with injuries. All should be back and ready for the fall.

The only person set at his position is defensive end Antonio Coleman, who, in a change from last year, will play on both sides of the line.
Michael Goggans and Antoine Carter will battle it out for the side opposite Coleman.

Jake Ricks, Mike Blanc and Zach Clayton will be battling for two starting jobs at defensive tackle, but all three should be on the field plenty in 2009.

“What we got,” defensive line coach Tracy Rocker said, “we’ve got to make it work.”

3) Kick it
Judging from A-Day, Wes Byrum appears to have won the starting kicking job coming out of spring practice.

But that could easily change if he falters early in the fall.

Byrum handled all the kickoffs and attempted the only two field goals at A-Day, making a 46-yarder and missing a 51-yarder. He wasn’t exactly in special teams coordinator Jay Boulware’s good graces in the early goings-on, but something clicked during the final two weeks.

“Right now,” Boulware said, “he’s back on top.”

Clinton Durst took all three punts at A-Day and has appeared to have a lock on the starting job from start to finish.

“Durst, right now, he’s a better punter,” Boulware said.

4) The boss in action
Gene Chizik made it clear in his interviews this spring that the juicy information won’t be a-flowin’ under his regime.

As for his on-field regimen, it appears Chizik favors the hands-on style of head coaching rather than the CEO-type approach Tommy Tuberville undertook.

Chizik was on the field for every snap of Saturday’s A-Day game, lined up about 10 yards behind the quarterback with a whistle in his mouth. During the three open portions of spring practice, Chizik was everywhere, but tended to favor his old stomping grounds with the
secondary.

“He definitely comes over there,” safety Mike Slade said. “He’s definitely a perfectionist with fundamentals.”

5) Quarterback Challenge
Oh yeah, the quarterbacks.

Has there been any discussion about Neil Caudle and Kodi Burns at all this spring, outside of every day?

Caudle and Burns are right where they started the spring — neck and neck heading into the fall. Barrett Trotter is out of the race with an ACL injury and Chris Todd is way behind after a full spring without throwing much.

The two incoming freshmen? Forget about it. Not this year.

Malzahn guaranteed Sunday the race won’t end in a standstill at the end of fall camp.

“You definitely don’t want that scenario,” Malzahn said. “In fairness to the guys, we’re going to have to name a guy as soon as possible as you can so you can let your teammates know and go into that first game. I would really hope it wouldn’t be late in the process.”

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