AU FOOTBALL: Carr stands out in big day
Mr. Carr goes to the endzone.
Quindarius Carr caught two passes all of last season.
Saturday, during A-Day, he caught four for 152 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown catch and run.
Not a bad way to state your case for playing time next season, especially when Auburn’s looking for a third wide receiver who can take some pressure off Darvin Adams and Terrell Zachery.
It’s also not a bad way to earn the Lionel James Offensive MVP Award, which he also snagged Saturday.
“I finally had the opportunity to showcase my skills and have fun with my teammates,” Carr said.
And no group was having more fun Saturday than the Auburn wide receivers — a group that head coach Gene Chizik called one of the most improved this spring.
“I think our receivers have made a lot of strides,” Chizik said. “We’re trying to build some depth there. We’ve had some guys stepping up. I think that position is really coming around.”
Saturday, 18 different players caught passes for a total of 488 yards — something you’d expect in a spring game. Of those 18 players, 11 were wideouts. Six had three or more catches, with Jay Wisner leading the way with five for 75 yards.
But it was Carr pulling off the biggest highlight of the day — a one-play, 70-yard “let’s see that again” catch and sprint.
Carr caught a pass from quarterback Neil Caudle out in the flat, stuck his foot in the ground, juked to the sideline and ran really fast for the end zone 70 yards away, outrunning the entire Blue defense in the process.
“That’s kind of what happened,” he said when asked about being faster than everyone else.
It was just one more instance of an Auburn receiver picking up big chunks of yardage after a catch. Something Zachery did very well last year, and did a little bit of Saturday on a 44-yard touchdown.
“We stress so much to our receivers yards after catch,” Chizik said. “Our passing game, obviously, we’ll take our shots down the field, but a lot of our passing game is a controlled passing game. In order for us to get explosive plays, a lot of the passing game is going to be after the catch. That was pleasing to see.”
For Carr, he hopes Saturday’s performance, along with a “pretty good” spring, will result in more playing time during the regular season.
He said he’s felt he’s earned that right, getting better with every practice.
“Hard work,” Carr said. “That’s the best way I can put it. Hard work and determination to get on the field a make plays.”
But, as Chizik warned, there’s a lot more to it than just one play in one scrimmage.
“A couple of the plays he made out there today, I thought, we very impressive,” the head coach said. “But, again, we don’t live and die by one play or two. He’s got to do that day-in and day-out for him to impress us all. But we’re obviously happy to see him make, or anybody make, big plays like he did today. Really, that’s what this offense is all about — guys making explosive plays.”
mszvetitz@oanow.com | 737-2513
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.