re: Auburn Fall Camp 2018 Thread

Rivals put out their projected depth chart this morning

LINK

Nothing too surprising

Why are you in this thread. You have work to do.

Quick-hitters from Malzahn yesterday:

On freshmen playing:

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“We’re going to have quite a few young guys that first game out on the field, and I think you’ll see quite a few young guys actually touching the ball,” Malzahn said.

That’s when it ‘hit him,’ it seemed, and Malzahn shook his head.

Stressful.

“Of course, that stresses me, you know, that ball security,” Auburn’s head coach couldn’t help but worry. “We’ve got to do a super job with that when they have the ball in their hands.”

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When asked about freshmen WRs specifically:

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“Boy, I’ll tell you what, you can tell they’re talented,” Malzahn said of those freshmen, after Thursday’s practice at Auburn’s athletics complex. “I’ll say that first. I like them. They got character, they got talent.

“You’re going to see quite a few of those young guys on the field the first game, and they’ll grow as they get more experience, but they’re a very talented group and excited to watch how they progress throughout the year.”

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When asked, "is this the most talented freshmen class [you have] brought in during [your] time at Auburn?"

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“It could be,” Malzahn said Thursday, answering that question. “I’d rather wait a little bit until we see a game or two just to be fair, but it’s one of the best as far as talent up to this point.

“But my experience as far as the freshmen goes is some of them get out there and they’re ready to play — they’re game-ready. Then it takes some a little bit longer to get the jitters out, and that’s just—that’s usually by individual basis.”

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On Chip in the press box:

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“That’s his comfort zone anyway,” Malzahn said on Thursday. “You saw when he got into a rhythm, probably Week 4 on he got into a rhythm, that’s his comfort zone and that’s where he will be.”

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On UW's defense:

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“They are talented, they are experienced and they know their defense,” he noted. “They know their answers and what’s impressed me about them if they ever give up anything, they make an adjustment in a hurry. But up front they are very good, too.

“I know they lost No. 50, which was an impact player but they have some other guys. Most of those guys are back. They were a top 10 defense last year and you can tell they play with confidence, they fly to the football and they are very physical. They are fun to watch on film.”

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Our O line is definitely a concern but I have faith that Grimes will have them more ready than Herb Hand did. Hopefully Grimes is motivating the guys with a lot of the media saying they’re our weakest link.

CBS Sports analysts make their 2018 SEC West predicted order of finish (1st to 4th):

Dennis Dodd (says AU most overrated team in SEC):
Bama, Miss St, AU, LSU

Jerry Palm:
Bama, AU, Miss St, A&M

Tom Fornelli:
Bama, AU, Miss St, A&M

Chip Patterson:
Bama, Miss St, AU, LSU

Barton Simmons:
Bama, Miss St, AU, A&M

Barrett Sallee:
Bama, AU, Ole Miss, A&M

Ben Kercheval:
Bama, AU, Miss St, LSU

LINK

Speaking of Grimes, encouraging excerpt from article about what he learned in his two years away from Auburn, including from coaching with his son who he says helped him to better connect and deal with this generation of players:

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During the team's first scrimmage of spring practices, the offensive line had what Grimes described as 38 "loafs" on 85 snaps -- an unacceptable number for Grimes. That's when Grimes, regarded as a technically sound line coach, realized he had to redefine his players' fundamentals and that, while there was ample talent up front, there was also a lot of work to be done.

"That cost everybody in the room immensely," he said. "Ask them. It did not go well for them, but that's part of that non-negotiation that I'm talking about. We've got to get these guys back to playing with an edge, with a physical, nasty effort, edge and don't -- you don't have to take anything from anybody. Last time I checked, you're an SEC football player too, and you got to start acting like it. That's the attitude I want them to take, and that's the attitude we're going to take."

That has begun to stick with Auburn's linemen, who quickly learned the standard their new position coach is holding them to.

"He makes you understand the importance of details, and we do little things every day," Horton said. "It's like certain steps we have to do, and we do that every day. We really see how important that is in everything, in all aspects of the game."

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Al.com 'The most valuable lessons J.B. Grimes learned in his 2 years away from Auburn' LINK

I just don’t see how MSU is that different from their 49-10 loss to us. 31-3 loss to UGA. 31-28 loss to Ole Miss.

Plus they lost their coach. Granted I don’t know much about the new guy

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No offense to stove and Hastings, but they aren’t our top 2 wr’s. OL concern sure, but doesn’t look like those guys really know much about our team.

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Apparently he doesn’t even know where Auburn is because it doesn’t take 3 damn hours to get to ATL from Auburn either

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UW may win, but not by 18 points while scoring 35. This defense will not give up 25 or more points all year.

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I'll take it a step further. If they score 35 points against our defense I'll stop watching football forever. I need to check the odds again, but it might be time to lay some money down..

I admittedly posted that for a little rustle, though I do expect the majority of folks to pick them to win during game week buildup.

Current line is AU -2.5, moved from -3 last week. Wash +125 | AU -140. O/U 48.5