AU FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Chizik: ESPN won’t affect A-Day plan
Chizik is warning you ESPN.
There promise to be a few more cameras than normal for Saturday’s A-Day game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but Gene Chizik said he won’t let ESPN affect his plan for the fan-friendly scrimmage.
Chizik said Monday he has yet to determine a format for the game, as far as whether he wants the first-team offense and defense to ever be on the field at the same time, and he’s yet to settle on a scoring system.
Regardless, the 1 p.m. kick, which will air live on ESPNU (Charter Cable Channel 302 in Lee County), will be more affected by the health of
Auburn’s personnel than it will by all the other stuff.
“We’re going to just run our offense, run our defense,” Chizik said. “The fact that we’ll have a lot of recruits there and will be on TV, that won’t necessarily change what we’re trying to accomplish.”
Last year, Chizik used an elaborate scoring system that rewarded points to the offense for not only touchdowns and field goals, but achievements such as explosive plays and consecutive first downs. The defense, thusly, was rewarded for sacks, interceptions, consecutive
plays of negative yardage and other landmarks.
It confused some fans, who were given a breakdown of the scoring system upon entrance into the stadium. It even confused some of the players.Auburn’s first-team offense picked apart the second and third defenses in 2009, as it scored all of the points in the offense’s 57-31 victory. The first-team defense barely saw the field, but when it did, it completely bottled up the offense.
Whatever ends up happening this year, Chizik said the Tigers won’t be hiding anything.
“Everyone has really seen us on film. Everybody knows what we do,” Chizik said. “We have just got to do it better than we did last year. We’ll open things up on both sides of the ball and, again, try to have a good scrimmage.”
Tailback Mario Fannin said the stakes for A-Day, which first-teamers such as Fannin typically take with a lighthearted manner as they watch sparsely used second- and third-teamers take the brunt of the snaps, are a “little higher” this year.
“Nobody wants to get embarrassed on national TV,” Fannin said. “I think it will be a lot of fun.”
Who’s your pick?
A handful of players were asked Monday to make their picks for who has the best chance at winning an A-Day MVP honor.
No single player received unanimous top billing, though it was tough for some to count out quarterback Cameron Newton.
“He’s an explosive player,” Fannin said. “He does a lot of things that will help us out in the long run. He’s just a special player.”
Fannin also selected Ontero McCalebb as a potential candidate on offense and cornerbacks T’Sharvan Bell and Demond Washington on defense.
“He’s a guy that’s going to shock a lot of eyes,” Fannin said of Bell. “He has a lot of heart. He plays tremendously well. He’s fast, and he plays passionate.”
Linebacker Josh Bynes went with one of the more bandied-about names of the spring in walk-on safety Ikeem Means.
McCalebb went with himself.
“I go out there and work hard every day, do what I have to do to get things done,” he said.
Not just yet
McCalebb, who served a key role in Auburn’s Wildcat formation last season, said the Tigers have yet to work on the formation this spring.
“It’ll come around later,” he said.
With Kodi Burns serving as the Wildcat triggerman, Auburn saw major success with the formation early in 2009, but regressed when McCalebb went down with an injury and when teams gradually became more hip to it. Chizik said in February that Burns would still contribute to the
formation, but it’s possible that others could emerge as the triggerman.
AU adds 4th commit
Auburn received another commitment from a big offensive lineman Tuesday when Thomas O’Reilly of Marietta, Ga., said he would sign with the Tigers in 2011.
O’Reilly, 6-foot-3 and 315 pounds, told Auburn’s multiple scouting Web sites that he plans to graduate in December and enroll in Auburn next January.
O’Reilly, who plays at Pope High School, had offers from most major Southeastern schools, including Georgia Tech, Florida State, Mississippi State and Maryland.
The Tigers have four commitments for 2011, two of which now say they will enroll early.
Fellow offensive lineman Spencer Regions (Cullman) is the other.
agribble@oanow.com | 737-2561
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