AU NOTEBOOK: Smith to play vs. Mississippi State

Eric Smith isn’t just going to be watching from the Auburn sidelines Saturday.

About three weeks from the day he was arrested outside a local hotel, Smith is going to play, coach Gene Chizik said Wednesday.

“I’m really proud of the way he’s responded to the things we’ve asked him to do,” Chizik said. “I think he’s ready to play.”

Smith could play at either the H-back behind Mario Fannin or at the prototypical tailback position behind Ben Tate and Onterio McCalebb.

His presence will certainly be welcome, running backs coach Curtis Luper said, as Tate and McCalebb combined for 42 carries last week. That’s too many, especially for McCalebb, Luper said.

“(Smith) has some experience, he’s played and he’s a dual threat,” Luper said. “It helps us and it gives us a few more options on offense.”

Smith carried the ball 21 times for 83 yards in 2008, his true freshman season.

He has not been made available for comment since his Aug. 21 arrest. Smith is due in court Nov. 5, when he could face up to six months in prison and a $6,000 fine for the 3rd-degree assault allegations he currently has posed against him.

His return to the lineup doesn’t make it a certainty that freshman Dontae Aycock will be able to redshirt this season, but it makes it more of a possibility, Luper said.

“We’ll make those decisions in a couple weeks, but with Eric back that gives us the luxury to have another tailback, so now, essentially we have four,” Luper said. “It would be really nice if we could redshirt Dontae but we don’t know yet.”

Pumping the brakes
McCalebb’s breakout performance Saturday, when he broke Bo Jackson’s AU record for most rushing yards by a freshman in a season opener, hasn’t exactly impressed Chizik as much as might be imagined.

Chizik said he won’t be confident in McCalebb’s ability to be a feature back until he proves it after “six or seven games.”

“People can jump to a lot of conclusions with one football game,” Chizik said in the weekly SEC teleconference. “We don’t know what he is yet. He had one good football game and there was a lot of other people responsible for his success other than him. We’ve blinked and moved on.

“As the season goes on, whether he has earned the right to handle the ball more remains to be seen. If he does earn that right, can he do it? Well, that remains to be seen, too.”

Luper said he plans to lessen McCalebb’s load a bit Saturday, but wants to make his touches more versatile.

“It won’t always be running downhill between the tackles,” Luper said. “He’ll be on the perimeter some, catching the ball some and in the return game.”

Tryouts, take 2
It’s uncertain who will be catching punts for Auburn on Saturday, but it’s looking less and less like Fannin.

Wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor, who supervises the punt returners, listed a bunch of contenders for the job, including Fannin, but said Fannin’s workload on offense might be too taxing for him to join the punt team.

“Trust me, he’s back there wanting to do it,” Taylor said. “But I also have to be smart about it and understand how many times we’re going to have that happen for us and make sure we’re putting guys back there that can be productive offensively and back there at the same time.”

Fannin muffed his first punt Saturday before misplaying his second. He was hooked for freshman Anthony Gulley, who fielded the final four of the game.

Taylor said Gulley, Quindarius Carr, Demond Washington, Emory Blake, Zac Etheridge and Walt McFadden are in the running for the job.

Same crew
Chizik said the “same crew” would be back for Saturday’s game, without going into specifics about certain players who did not play in the season opener.

Linebacker Eltoro Freeman (hand/hamstring) “looked better” at Wednesday’s practice, Chizik said.

“I don’t want to be premature on saying that,” Chizik said. “We’re hoping he’s able to play Saturday.”

Money talk
Chizik said he was extremely pleased that he was able to get all of his assistant coaches at least two years on their contracts.

“I think it’s great for our administration to have been able to provide that for all our guys,” Chizik said. “I think it’s very important. I think everybody that coaches college football would appreciate that. I’m very, very happy that our administration provided that for our guys. It means a lot.”

All Auburn coaches’ contracts were released to the media Monday. With the exception of Gus Malzahn, Ted Roof and Trooper Taylor, whose contracts run through 2012, all of Chizik’s assistants have two-year deals.

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