The NCAA doesn't allow coaches to have much contact with players during the Summer months. This is unfortunate since Auburn is installing a completely new offense this season. Franklin's solution to this was Chris Todd. Franklin brought the former Texas Tech quarterback to Auburn knowing that Todd was an expert in the spread from Franklin's clinics. Acting as Franklin's proxy coach, Todd has helped Burns turn into a greater threat while giving himself an opportunity to lead the offense. Ironically, while Alabama players have been learning to gain self esteem from the “Pacific Institute”, Todd and the rest of Auburn's offense have been learning techniques on how to destroy the self esteem of others.

Even though Todd is making a push for the starting job, Kodi Burns is still the heir apparent. He didn't put up impressive numbers last year, but he showed signs of clutchness and extreme athleticism.

Running Backs

Simply put, Auburn is loaded at the running back position in 2008. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say 2008? What I meant to say is TWO THOUSAND TATE! Look for Ben Tate to have a breakout season and finally escape big brother Terry's shadow.

Tristan Davis may be the fastest and most powerful running back on the team. In fact, the world's energy problems could be completely solved simply with a human sized hamster wheel, Tristan Davis and a huge turbine.

Senior Brad Lester has been sidelined for much of his Auburn career for various, and very annoying, reasons so it can be easy to forget that he's probably Auburn's best running back since Williams and Brown. Lester's role as running back will probably be one of the most familiar parts of the new offense.

Mario Fannin will be one of the top running backs in the SEC this year. According to the roster, Fannin is a “Wide Receiver”, this title is just a formality. It's a tax write off or something. Mario Fannin is a Running Back. He just happens to be a running back who frequently catches balls and who lines up in a traditional slot receiver position. Do you think Ronnie Brown was a receiver in 2004? Exactly.

Some people fear Auburn will lose their “Running Back U.” title when moving to the spread. Nonsense. The spread formation allows Auburn to put eight running backs on the field at once. Let's take a look at Auburn's other running backs capable of catching handoffs;

Wide Receivers

Auburn's top receiver from last year, Rodgeriquis Smith, returns for his senior season. The former walk-on is now the world's most famous man named Rodgeriquis. According to Google, every instance of the word 'Rodgeriquis' that appears on the internet is a reference to him. After he explodes this year, he'll be in position to overtake 18th century economist Adam Smith as the most popular Smith on the Google.

Despite being a big-time recruit in 2006, receiver Tim Hawthorne hasn't had much of an impact on the offense thus far. Look for that to change this year. Hawthorne has the ability to be a superstar receiver and the new offense will give him an excellent opportunity to do just that. Fun fact: Tim Hawthorne graduated from the same high school as both Eric Ramsey and the guy who wrote this article. Let's hope Hawthorne will be the first of those three guys to graduate from Auburn without being a huge embarrassment to the university. Hawthorne has the talent and common decency to do this and much more.

Philip Pierre-Louis has been impressing coaches during practices. Pierre-Louis runs a 4.25 forty. That's faster than Darren McFadden (4.33s). Pierre-Louis also happens to be 5'8”. That is incredibly short, but Mr. French also happens to be incredibly good.

It seems like the height thing is the only thing keeping this guy from being a higher rated recruit. If only there were some sort of offense which created more distance between the players on the field... something to spread the players out... anyways, I hope Gran and Franklin can come up with some creative trick plays with Pierre-Louis in mind. We all remember this pretty cool trick play Nutt pulled on Auburn a few years ago. My prediction is that Pierre-Louis will surprise the world this year and perform better than his taller Spaniard counterpart in Tuscaloosa.

Gabe McKenzie has moved from Tight End to Defensive End in recent days. This is a huge surprise since during the off-season, we've probably seen a half-dozen articles which basically go like this;

“Al Borges hated gaining yards. He hated gaining yards so bad that he wouldn't let tight ends catch balls even though Gabe McKenzie is the best tight end in the whole world. Now, Tony Frankin is Offensive Coordinator and will let Gabe rack up 300 yards a game.”

There are two explanations for the unexpected move. Either Gabe McKenzie isn't all that great of a receiver or maybe he's so good that he can contribute on both sides of the ball. I'm going to assume it's the one where he's so awesome that he'll contribute on both sides of the ball. I like this comment from The Press-Register's Evan Woodbery;

“Gabe McKenzie, a 6-foot-4, 254-pound junior, is one of the Tigers' most athletic big men. He has the appearance of someone who could sack a quarterback, catch two passes and then change clothes and grab 15 rebounds in the gymnasium across the street.”

The same article basically says Tommy Trott is a machine and will be an excellent, and gigantic, wide receiver this year.

Offensive Line Auburn's offensive line was one of Auburn's biggest concerns going into the 2007 season. They were high in talent but low in experience. They struggled early but progressed with each game. Near the end of the season, the amazing group of underclassmen had progressed into one of the most dominate offensive lines in the country. The line will be effective, the biggest question is whether or not they can keep from chop blocking anyone this season. I'm sure it won't be a problem with this year's more experienced line. People have accused Tuberville of instructing his players to injure people he doesn't like. These accusations are in poor taste and are irresponsible. We all know Tuberville is the type of coach who delegates work to others but that's not the case here. When he deems it necessary to break someone's kneecaps, he doesn't trust anyone but himself to do it right.

Do not take a loan from this man.

Auburn has an absolutely loaded offense this season. There are no weak links and all positions have proven leaders. Despite this, there aren't any “superstars” on the team. There are no Tebows, no McFaddens (well, not of the Darran variety), no Calvin Johnson receivers either. It seems that teams with superstars still tend to lose just as many games as teams without them. Many people compare Alabama's Julio Jones to Georgia Tech's former WR Calvin Johnson. Johnson never beat Tech's biggest rival either. The talented and balanced team is the most likely to win.

And if the spread is huge failure? No biggie. Auburn's defense alone will probably be good for 28 points a game.

E-mail Mark at mark@theauburner.com
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