It's once again time for TIGER TALK on the radio waves throughout the Southeastern United States!
LIST OF AFFILIATES AND LINKS
PREDICTION: Great week of reflection, learned a lot from self-scouting.
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(They're at Baumhauer's tonight.)
NOT ANDY wants talk about the bye week. "It's that tine of year where you're trying to ... the guys who are playing a lot of snaps ... you want them to have a week to ... somehow get as healthy as they can. Then you have another list of: We've got improve these things in order for us to try to win some football games. So you try to pinpoint those thigns and have a plan to work on them with the guys that have to do it. The third thing would be to get younger guys more reps. We did accomplish all that."
ANDY wants to know about the quarterback position. "Tomorrow and Wednesday will tell a lot. We don't throw a lot on Monday. He'll have to turn it loose on Tuesday and Wednesday for us to feel good. He thinks he's going to be OK."
(It's Thorne's throwing shoulder.)
NOT ANDY wants to know if it's easier to talk with young guys already here to hang through these tough seasons. "It's too early to tell. We would be very, very foolish to think their phones aren't ringing. I don't like it. I don't know any coach that does. Everybody thinks they're an agent now. I don't run from it; we have open dialogue and ... depend upon a lot on your On To Victory people and our personnel department to handle some of those conversations. It helps me some to stay out of those right now."
(He says he spoke to a head coach today, a friend of his, who said he's heard about one of his own players planning to get in the portal to come to Auburn.) "It tests your friendship a little bit there. (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND) It's awkward. It's uncomfortable. Can we please get some regulations around it? There's got to be some equal buy-in on both sides."
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
HERB is in the house. He wants to talk about how the offense can gain some confidence. "I've been really proud of the fight, but I can't put my finger on it. Defensively, there's an air about our team right now. They've got an edge to them. Offensively, I don't sense that same edge all the time. I don't know exactly why. I do think there's a missing edge."
NOT ANDY wants to talk about how Freeze's past teams have played with that air. "It starts at the top with me, so I'll own it. At some point, somebody's got to be the play-maker. In this offense, it doesn't work unless that happens sometimes. We're due for some breaks."
BUSTER is in the house. He wants to talk about the unlimited official visits for recruits. "It's another rule that they just passed and I don't think they think of all the repercussions that come with it. You've already given them unlimited visits. Now you're giving schools unlimited visits to continue to entertain young me and they families and everyone that comes with them. These hotels, they're not cheap. The food is not cheap. I don't understand who sits in the room and makes these decisions. It's certainly not football coaches."
"They need to do away with this redshirt nonsense. Everybody should have five years to play, period."
"Even if a kid is not serious (about you), they enjoy taking these trips. Now you're going to think ... we're all foolish enough to believe if you get your shot at them, we've got a chance. Here we go; let's trip some more."
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
ANDY wants to talk about how this last off week differed from the first one. (Freeze notes that the first one happened during fall break.) "We had a pretty good scrimmage for the young guys on the second one. That was fun to watch."
NOT ANDY thinks they could win three games and maybe get into a bowl. "I don't think we're ready to even discuss 'Let's win three.' We'd better worry about running this play right, execting this scenario right and this game situation right. Hopefully that results in a win on Saturday and then we'll move on from there."
NOT ANDY wants to talk about run defense. They've been better lately. "It starts up front. We've rotated a bunch of guys. DJ (Durkin) does a good job of calling things. He's got a lot of moving parts, but you've got to be gap-sound. That's why we're stopping the run."
ANDY wants to talk about Vontrell King-Williams, who coaches the DL. "I've gone outside of my three a few times and it hasn't usually worked. I just had a comfort level with (King-Williams). He's doing a great job with that room."
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
NOT ANDY notes that today is Veterans Day. "The freedoms that we all enjoy ... there are so many men and women to sacrificed for that. I always like the different outfits we get to wear. Those are some of my favorites."
NOT ANDY wants to talk about ULM's defense. "They're active. A lot of field pressures. Mix it up between the four-down and the 'mint' structure. We've seen a lot of that. They play very, very very hard. The secondary is athletic, which is typical for Louisiana teams."
ANDY asks about how Freeze watches film. "I just know numbers. I don't know a lot of names."
ANDY asks about how they will hold their recruiting class together. "Just convincing them that the future can be what we've all described. You are key to it. You've got to decide that you believe it. There's so many voice clamoring for their attention and their services. Now that we're not having immediate success, those voices get a little louder probably."
NOT ANDY wants to know how often defenses do what they expect as opposed to new stuff. "Their identity is what it is. They're going to have their base structures that they play. They've gotten smarter on the other side. Cheaters." GUFFAWS ALL AROUND
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
ANDY wants to talk about Towns McGough and Alex McPherson. "(Alex) ... they changed some treatments on him last week to try to get things back under control. He went back down on weight and issues that he was having. It's a little early for me to know. I hate it for him. I hate it for our team. Towns is going to be very, very good. He's just young."
ANDY wonders if they'll call the game differently with Towns struggling. "We've got to be prudent but aggressive. Probably we'll listen more to what the analytics say. Typically I don't pay much attention that until we get across the 40. Now you've got to be thinking way ahead."
NOT ANDY asks what would make Freeze happy on Saturday. "Score some points and create some confidence on the offense. We need to get some confidence offensively."
Freeze ends with a steely: "War Eagle. Thanks, guys."
BE GOOD. BE YOU.
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