The Positives...
No. 1 Despite his look, Chandler Cox 'plays' SEC ready. To me, his play was the story of the day for me. Made a great catch that led to a touchdown drive on a wheel route and executed a key block on cornerback Kamryn Melton from his H-back position earlier in the drive. He outshined Pettway. He will be a star.
No. 2 Roc Thomas looks like the starter to be at tailback. Showed flashes of brilliance. Nice moves, good combination of power and speed.
No. 3 Sean White is the real deal. Don't know why the Auburn staff handicapped him with personnel (no starters at receiver) and play calling (how you gone call an option play on second and long with a quarterback who is wearing a non-contact jersey? Dumbest call of the day). On the surface, it looked as though the play-calling was done to inflate the first-team defensive stats, but White put up excellent numbers with Butron and walk-on Gary King. (On the subject of King, the second dumbest play call I saw was faking the jet sweep to him. That really fooled everyone.) White reminds me of Bryce Petty.
No. 4 Andrew Williams will be a play-maker. He did really well on assignments from what I could tell from the stands. Always in position. He should have been credited with a sack on Johnson's deep ball to Louis.
No. 5 Jeremy Johnson will put up big numbers with all the play-makers around him. He looked polished, especially on film. His O-line was tremendously better than White's, and he took full advantage of it.
No. 6 Tyler McQueen looked to have control of the offense. He has a nice touch on the throws and looks like a cross between Jared Lorenzen and Tim Tebow.
No. 7 Our front line secondary guys will be really, really good when they get a better grasp of the coverage concepts. Holsey was off the chain at cornerback in Cover 2 assignments. Johnathan Ford possesses NFL recovery speed. Tray Matthews reminds me of former UGA standout Thomas Davis.
No. 8 Marcus Davis showed excellent moves to get yards after the catch and should be an asset as a punt returner. Burton stood out as well. We didn't have an answer for him, defensively.
No. 9 Top to bottom, the offensive line did a phenomenal job. Jeff Grimes is a wonderful recruiter and J.B. Grimes is a top-notch position coach. This unit has the be the deepest and most talented on our team and all the credit goes to the Grimeses. Robert Leff, playing in place of Shon Coleman, really stood out. He is a fundamentally sound football player. Braden Smith is a beast. Austin Golson made some good plays.
No. 10 Daniel Carlson is a weapon. He drilled that 50-yard field goal.
The Negatives...
No. 1 We absolutely, positively do not have a punter. Granted we had walk-ons punting, but Phillips is/was a serious candidate for the job. He has a long way to go. I am thankful we placed Ian Shannon on immediate scholarship instead of greyshirting him.
No. 2 We do not have a true deep threat. Ricardo Lewis is not it. Neither is Burton, who appears to lack in-line vertical speed. I *hope* Tony Stevens can fill this role. If not, we will have to look at one of the incoming freshmen, Darius Slayton (if he can run) or Javarius Davis (if he can catch). In fact, the WR corps as a whole were underwhelming. Jason Smith and Melvin Ray did not stand out. Duke did a Sammie Coates impression. Staton Truitt, who I am very high on, did not play. The halftime dogs made better catches than our guys. We not have elite speed at the WR position.
No. 3 Javon Robinson was underwhelming, but early on, we tried him on edge runs. He couldn't get it. He needs to be tailback in the offset I. Barber didn't stand out, either.
No. 4 The nickles did not stand out to me, but I didn't see us run enough jet sweeps to get a true gauge of their abilities to set the edge. Moncrief did technically force a fumble on a lateral.
No. 5 We desperately need a No. 2 boundary corner. Jeremiah Denson or Carlton Davis are the likely candidates, although Denson looks more like a field corner. Walk-on Michael Sherwood got ran out of the park. Melton got Moss'ed on twice.
No. 6 Too many missed tackles by the secondary. On one play in particular, Stephen Roberts tried to shoulder tackle Ray without even bringing his arms. He also lost containment on Roc's first touchdown run. On another play, Melton missed a tackle for loss at cornerback. Against Texas A&M, it could have been 6.
No. 7 Although the D line did "get after it," it was apparent that we will not have an effective, consistent pass rush until we get some combination of Carl Lawson, Raashed Kennion, Bryon Cowart, and possibly Jeffery Holland on the field. Truthfully, we need to convert a couple of O linemen, who are buried on the depth chart, into D linemen, Deon Mix and even incoming freshman Michael Horton would be good candidates.
No. 8 Just like in 2013, we fumbled the ball a lot, but it seemed to bounce our way. Surrendering only one turnover in that many plays is good coaching, but we have to protect the football. Jonathan Wallace made the most memorable play of the day when he saved a turnover by intercepting King's fumble.
No. 9 Did we play an entire game without a tight end? Do not recall seeing one on the field.
No. 10 We missed Bryan VanGorder's son on our third team defense. He had a year of eligibility left. He would have taken Tucker Tuberville to the woodshed.
This post was edited on 4/19 10:44 PM by AuburnLegacy
No. 1 Despite his look, Chandler Cox 'plays' SEC ready. To me, his play was the story of the day for me. Made a great catch that led to a touchdown drive on a wheel route and executed a key block on cornerback Kamryn Melton from his H-back position earlier in the drive. He outshined Pettway. He will be a star.
No. 2 Roc Thomas looks like the starter to be at tailback. Showed flashes of brilliance. Nice moves, good combination of power and speed.
No. 3 Sean White is the real deal. Don't know why the Auburn staff handicapped him with personnel (no starters at receiver) and play calling (how you gone call an option play on second and long with a quarterback who is wearing a non-contact jersey? Dumbest call of the day). On the surface, it looked as though the play-calling was done to inflate the first-team defensive stats, but White put up excellent numbers with Butron and walk-on Gary King. (On the subject of King, the second dumbest play call I saw was faking the jet sweep to him. That really fooled everyone.) White reminds me of Bryce Petty.
No. 4 Andrew Williams will be a play-maker. He did really well on assignments from what I could tell from the stands. Always in position. He should have been credited with a sack on Johnson's deep ball to Louis.
No. 5 Jeremy Johnson will put up big numbers with all the play-makers around him. He looked polished, especially on film. His O-line was tremendously better than White's, and he took full advantage of it.
No. 6 Tyler McQueen looked to have control of the offense. He has a nice touch on the throws and looks like a cross between Jared Lorenzen and Tim Tebow.
No. 7 Our front line secondary guys will be really, really good when they get a better grasp of the coverage concepts. Holsey was off the chain at cornerback in Cover 2 assignments. Johnathan Ford possesses NFL recovery speed. Tray Matthews reminds me of former UGA standout Thomas Davis.
No. 8 Marcus Davis showed excellent moves to get yards after the catch and should be an asset as a punt returner. Burton stood out as well. We didn't have an answer for him, defensively.
No. 9 Top to bottom, the offensive line did a phenomenal job. Jeff Grimes is a wonderful recruiter and J.B. Grimes is a top-notch position coach. This unit has the be the deepest and most talented on our team and all the credit goes to the Grimeses. Robert Leff, playing in place of Shon Coleman, really stood out. He is a fundamentally sound football player. Braden Smith is a beast. Austin Golson made some good plays.
No. 10 Daniel Carlson is a weapon. He drilled that 50-yard field goal.
The Negatives...
No. 1 We absolutely, positively do not have a punter. Granted we had walk-ons punting, but Phillips is/was a serious candidate for the job. He has a long way to go. I am thankful we placed Ian Shannon on immediate scholarship instead of greyshirting him.
No. 2 We do not have a true deep threat. Ricardo Lewis is not it. Neither is Burton, who appears to lack in-line vertical speed. I *hope* Tony Stevens can fill this role. If not, we will have to look at one of the incoming freshmen, Darius Slayton (if he can run) or Javarius Davis (if he can catch). In fact, the WR corps as a whole were underwhelming. Jason Smith and Melvin Ray did not stand out. Duke did a Sammie Coates impression. Staton Truitt, who I am very high on, did not play. The halftime dogs made better catches than our guys. We not have elite speed at the WR position.
No. 3 Javon Robinson was underwhelming, but early on, we tried him on edge runs. He couldn't get it. He needs to be tailback in the offset I. Barber didn't stand out, either.
No. 4 The nickles did not stand out to me, but I didn't see us run enough jet sweeps to get a true gauge of their abilities to set the edge. Moncrief did technically force a fumble on a lateral.
No. 5 We desperately need a No. 2 boundary corner. Jeremiah Denson or Carlton Davis are the likely candidates, although Denson looks more like a field corner. Walk-on Michael Sherwood got ran out of the park. Melton got Moss'ed on twice.
No. 6 Too many missed tackles by the secondary. On one play in particular, Stephen Roberts tried to shoulder tackle Ray without even bringing his arms. He also lost containment on Roc's first touchdown run. On another play, Melton missed a tackle for loss at cornerback. Against Texas A&M, it could have been 6.
No. 7 Although the D line did "get after it," it was apparent that we will not have an effective, consistent pass rush until we get some combination of Carl Lawson, Raashed Kennion, Bryon Cowart, and possibly Jeffery Holland on the field. Truthfully, we need to convert a couple of O linemen, who are buried on the depth chart, into D linemen, Deon Mix and even incoming freshman Michael Horton would be good candidates.
No. 8 Just like in 2013, we fumbled the ball a lot, but it seemed to bounce our way. Surrendering only one turnover in that many plays is good coaching, but we have to protect the football. Jonathan Wallace made the most memorable play of the day when he saved a turnover by intercepting King's fumble.
No. 9 Did we play an entire game without a tight end? Do not recall seeing one on the field.
No. 10 We missed Bryan VanGorder's son on our third team defense. He had a year of eligibility left. He would have taken Tucker Tuberville to the woodshed.
This post was edited on 4/19 10:44 PM by AuburnLegacy
