aubiefifty

saturdaydownsouth.com Hugh Freeze explains how Payton Thorne has improved from week-to-week Andrew Peters | 17 hours ago 2–3 minutes Hugh Freeze is still looking for consistency at quarterback, but he believes Payton Thorne is improving every week. Thorne, the passing threat in Auburn’s dual quarterback system, had one of his best games of the season against Mississippi State. He had 230 yards in the air, picking up 3 touchdowns in the Tigers’ win over the Bulldogs. Freeze believes his growth is a testament to Auburn playing better as a whole and everyone understanding the plan more. “I think it’s collective, I think we protected him better, I think our receivers are playing better and I think the plan is better,” Freeze said during the SEC coaches teleconference Wednesday. “The plan is more comfortable, suited to his skillset and the elevation of our receivers playing a little better and us protecting him better, I think it’s a combination of all those things.” Freeze is hoping to get another big game from Thorne this weekend as Auburn takes on Vanderbilt. The Tigers are nearing the mark for bowl eligibility, and a win over Vanderbilt would make the mark much more achievable.

auburnwire.usatoday.com 'Plankton Mentality' catches the eyes of the national media Taylor Jones 2–3 minutes Prior to Auburn’s win over Mississippi State last Saturday, senior safety Jaylin Simpson described the way he motivates himself for every game to the media. He used a unique, but accurate, description of what he uses to fuel his drive. It’s called “plankton mentality” and it comes from a character from the cartoon show Spongebob Squarepants. The question from reporters stemmed from an Instagram post that featured Plankton dreaming of stealing the Krusty Krab’s secret Krabby Patty formula. Simpson provided further context in a humorous manner. “Since I’ve been knowing Plankton, dude just got one goal, man: get that Krabby Patty formula,” Simpson said of “plankton mentality.” “He don’t stop, no matter what. Every episode, he’s on it. We gotta get that Plankton mentality every game. We gotta get that formula every game.” The video of him explaining “plankton mentality” went viral, and became the “Phrase of the Week” in The Athletic’s most recent SEC Superlatives list. Simpson’s quote was not the only superlative that Auburn received this week from The Athletic. Auburn’s “musical road” was listed as this week’s “best show of school spirit” winner. In 2019, an Auburn University engineering alum gifted the University an overlay that will play the first seven notes of the Auburn fight song “War Eagle” for those driving on South Donahue Drive. Auburn’s Jaylin Simpson explains “Plankton mentality” @jaylinsimp #spongebob #plankton #auburntigers #auburnfootball #wareagle #wde video courtesy @NathanKing247 pic.twitter.com/AOrh46Sbf7 — Auburn Tigers | AL.com (@aldotcomTigers) October 24, 2023 Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__

247sports.com Vanderbilt plans to play two quarterbacks against Auburn Nathan King 4–5 minutes Auburn utilization of its two-quarterback system may be dwindling after Payton Thorne’s performance last weekend. But the Tigers’ defense will still have to prepare for two signal-callers this week. Vanderbilt plans to play both Ken Seals and Walter Taylor against Auburn on Saturday afternoon, head coach Clark Lea said Wednesday on the SEC coaches teleconference. The Commodores did so in a 33-7 loss at Ole Miss over the weekend, as starter A.J. Swann continues to recover from an elbow injury that’s forced him to miss the past four games. Seals took over as Vanderbilt’s starter in the three games after Swann’s injury. But against Ole Miss, Lea’s plan was to get Taylor — a redshirt freshman from Jackson, Alabama — involved in the offense with some package work, like Auburn has done with backup Robby Ashford. But midway through the second quarter, Vanderbilt turned to Taylor for more extended work, and he was the primary QB for the rest of the game. Taylor went 4-of-12 for 38 yards, while Seals was 4-of-8 for 22 yards. Both quarterbacks had an interception. Taylor led Vanderbilt with 59 rushing yards. Lea’s explanation of Vanderbilt’s quarterback rotation against Ole Miss is not dissimilar to how Hugh Freeze has shuffled Thorne and Ashford this season. “The plan was to have Ken play the game but insert Walt in certain situations,” Lea said Wednesday. “We’re trying to get him some snap experience, and we also feel like he has a skill set that can help us generate offense. It became about interjecting a spark there in the second quarter, and Walt was able to do that. So coming out of halftime, we wanted to continue to pull on that thread.” Much like Auburn was looking to avoid when it was rotating Thorne and Ashford — a trend that screeched to a halt against Mississippi State, when Ashford took only two snaps — Lea said his biggest concern is getting his quarterbacks out of rhythm when taking them in and out of a game. “We want to control that (against Auburn) and hope the game play allows us to,” Lea said. “Meaning we want to strategically insert the quarterbacks to fit both situations, but also in ways that keep a flow to our game. That’s the one thing you worry about with playing two guys — getting out of sync or out of rhythm, and it impacting or affecting the chemistry on the field.” Earlier this week, Lea called Swann questionable for the Auburn game, so it’s technically a possibility that the Commodores could have their starter back. Swann had been completing 53.8 percent of his passes, with 11 touchdowns and seven picks, while Seals has six touchdowns and three interceptions on 60.8 percent passing across four starts. Auburn’s defense leads the SEC with 14 takeaways this season, including 10 interceptions. The Tigers have picked off the opposing quarterback in all but one game this season (Texas A&M). As a team, the Commodores are second-to-last in the SEC in combined quarterback rating this season, in front of only Auburn. Their 11 interceptions on the season are tied for No. 120 in college football. Another injury of note for Vanderbilt is that of leading receiver Will Sheppard, who exited the Ole Miss loss with an apparent upper-body injury and didn’t return. Sheppard is third in the SEC this season with eight receiving touchdowns, plus 591 yards. Kickoff in Nashville is set for 3 p.m. CDT on SEC Network. Vanderbilt is currently on a seven-game losing streak, as Auburn is favored by 12.5 points in what would be its second straight SEC win after an 0-4 start. *** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more *** *** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***

yes guys i know moo state is awful.

From a new coach to rival colors: Inside John Cohen's first year as Auburn athletic director Updated: Oct. 31, 2023, 7:53 p.m.|Published: Oct. 31, 2023, 6:30 a.m. 16–20 minutes He begins every day at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum at 6:30 a.m. in an Auburn T-shirt, shorts and his running shoes. He walks up to the concourse of the old basketball arena and begins to run laps, listening to a book or a podcast. He’ll check his emails and respond to texts before his real work day begins. But by 7:30 on one cool October Wednesday morning, Auburn athletic director John Cohen finished his run and walked across the street to Neville Arena and into the Courtside Lounge. He joined a group of Auburn Hillel students and men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl as they discussed the onset of the terrorist group Hamas’ attack on Israel. Pearl is an outspoken Jew. Cohen is Jewish, too, but plays his beliefs much closer to his chest. Pearl went around the room for each person to introduce themself. At his turn, Cohen said he is Auburn’s athletic director. He doesn’t have an immediate connection to Israel beyond his faith, but said he hoped to be a resource if the group of Jewish students ever needed to talk. So he gave out his cell phone number. As he began reading off the digits, a student in the back of the room interrupted him. “What’s your name again,” the student asked. “John Cohen,” he responded. Then Cohen pointed to Pearl. “He doesn’t have that problem.” It was a question so harmless, but quite indicative of the new life Cohen leads in his own home state in a different set of colors. On Halloween, Cohen reached the one-year anniversary of his announcement as Auburn’s new athletic director. Cohen came here from Mississippi State — the school where he played baseball, coached baseball and served as the athletic director. At Mississippi State, baseball is king. So there’s a celebrity status that comes with both playing and coaching the sport there. It’s a celebrity Cohen thought he’d lose when he came to Auburn. To be able to quietly slip into a table at Zazu’s Gastropub in Opelika, or go play golf when he feels like it. This John Cohen isn’t the same one who spent 14 years working in Starkville. His one-year anniversary marks the end of a busy first 12 months that included a football coaching search the moment he walked in the door, a stadium renovation and dozens of minor early adjustments to Auburn’s athletics programs. It also was a year of convincing his family to, possibly begrudgingly, wear orange and blue. John Cohen speaks at an all-staff meeting. He reached his one-year anniversary as Auburn's athletic director on Tuesday.Jamie Holt/Auburn Tigers --- There is a certain magic to growing up in an SEC college town, Cohen said. Though for him, that came in a household with crimson, white and houndstooth. Cohen was born in 1966 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. His dad was a law professor at the University of Alabama for nearly 40 years. An intelligent man, Cohen said, but highly illogical when it came to Alabama football. Maybe even conspiratorial. But an SEC college town is quite insular. Tuscaloosa is no different. There’s a world outside of it, but it’s hard to see it until leaving. Cohen didn’t see that until he began playing college baseball at Birmingham-Southern College. And again when he transferred to Mississippi State. Cohen went on to be a successful player at Mississippi State and ended up briefly in the Minnesota Twins’ minor league system. When baseball ended, he began to coach — something he long thought he’d never do growing up. He started as a graduate assistant and Missouri and winded his way through a few jobs before getting an offer to become the head coach at Mississippi State. Mississippi State coach John Cohen, right talks with a game official during the 37 minute interruption in electrical power during the seventh inning of an NCAA Super Regional baseball tournament game in Starkville, Miss., Friday, June 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Jim Lytle)AP He coached at Mississippi State for eight years and toward the end, began to help in the athletics administration departments in Starkville. He would go to football practices long before he was the athletic director at Mississippi State in an attempt to learn the functions of other sports. But his own experience as a student-athlete gave Cohen a unique understanding of how a student-athlete or a coach may be impacted by an administrative decision. “It’s a tough thing to deal with at times because that person is lying awake saying, ‘Hey, this program that we’re competing against has this and we don’t,’” Cohen said. “And they’re literally screaming at themselves in their head and then they get in front of an athletic director and they’re like, ‘We can’t win unless we have this!’” As an athletic director, Cohen can provide those things now. But after 14 years working in Starkville, Cohen said the timing was right for a new challenge. He wasn’t actively searching for a new job, but his attention was certainly open to one. “I want this brand new opportunity one more time in my entire career,” Cohen said. Then the search firm representing Auburn reached out to him. --- Rhett Hobart’s Starkville office overlooked Cohen’s parking spot. There, just as he does here, Cohen would come into the office still early in the morning after his run. But on this morning, just a few days before the news of his Auburn move broke, Cohen didn’t come inside. Hobart, now Auburn’s Deputy AD of External Affairs, looked out his window and saw Cohen on the phone, walking in circles around the parking lot for hours. Hobart got his undergraduate degree from Mississippi State and immediately began working with then-baseball coach John Cohen and eventually athletic director John Cohen. He understood when things weren’t on schedule. “I knew something was up,” Hobart said. Cohen was quietly finalizing his move to Auburn. Auburn excited him because of what he called sporadic periods of success. Auburn has seen the highs of national championships and the lows of NCAA sanctions from various scandals. Athletics Director John Cohen during the game between the Tuskegee Golden Tigers and the Auburn Tigers at Neville Arena in Auburn, AL on Thursday, Nov 3, 2022. Zach Bland/Auburn TigersZach Bland/Auburn Tigers It wasn’t a perfect position, but a place Cohen felt he could mold. And all the while doing so at a school he called a giant in his own home state. Yet while Cohen kept the interviews under wraps, his wife Nelle was confident they were leaving Starkville. “This is the kind of job he’d be crazy not to take it,” Nelle Cohen said. “I have people saying, ‘But you’d have to move. You’re moving and that’s such a hassle and you have this great house that you built and you love it there and you have your friends.’ There’s a part of me that’s like, ‘Do you know us? Do you know my husband?’ He loves a challenge.” Both from Tuscaloosa, it would be more difficult to convince their families to be okay with running the other athletic department in Alabama. “I think they were nervous,” Nelle Cohen said of their families. “They weren’t intimidated by Mississippi State, so they could cheer for Mississippi State and still be Alabama fans. But when they heard Auburn they were like, ‘Okay now I’m scared, because I know how competitive John is.” Cohen joked his dad, who passed away just over a decade ago, might not have taken this news well. It had to be some sort of conspiracy against the Crimson Tide. The wife of a baseball coach, Nelle Cohen is used to moving. The Auburn move all came together quickly. John and Nelle Cohen spent their first six months in Auburn living in a downtown apartment just across the street from campus while they looked for a home. Auburn Athletics Director John Cohen talks after being introduced during a press conference in Auburn, Ala., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Todd Van Emst)AP In their temporary place, Cohen had a busy first week as Auburn fired then-football head coach Bryan Harsin on the same day he was named the new athletic director. The first football game Auburn played under Cohen was against Mississippi State in Starkville. And a few weeks later, Auburn played the Iron Bowl in Cohen’s hometown. John and Nelle Cohen told their families they could come to the game with them, but they couldn’t wear crimson. John Cohen’s mom and sister wore orange. Cohen’s sister bought Auburn earrings. Nelle Cohen’s father, a staunch Alabama fan, even admitted he actually liked the town of Auburn. Or, at least most of them got on board. Family can’t always break the bond of football in this state. “You know I love you,” Nelle Cohen said her 87-year-old aunt Emily told her. “But I cannot cheer against Alabama.” --- John Cohen’s first task will be one that will go on to define his tenure at Auburn. He was immediately thrust into a national coaching search. Before his first month on the job was up, Cohen hired Hugh Freeze from Liberty. Freeze had previous SEC experience at Ole Miss, but a checkered run there that ended in scandal. Cohen said he made over 100 phone calls — including to the police officers who work with Freeze — in hopes of assuring he made the right decision. That answer won’t be known for years. The hire was a decision that kept him up at night. It was a choice he had to get right. But it wasn’t out of fear of hiring the wrong person, Cohen said. Instead, he was nervous instead for what he may have forgotten. He said there were many nights he’d roll over, turn the light back on and get out his notebook to remind him what he’d have to do in the morning. There were some nights, Cohen said, where he’d be up working with other Auburn officials until 3 a.m. in the coaching search for Auburn’s highest exposure job. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze and AD John Cohen pose with a jersey after the Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze intro presser on Tuesday, Nov. 29 2022 in Auburn, Ala. Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics/AU Athletics Cohen said his philosophy can often drive those around him crazy because he keeps revisiting the same issues repeatedly from different angles as he learns more. Those around Cohen and Cohen himself all emphasize he has a love of learning — to a fault. “I love beating it to death until I have a moment of clarity,” Cohen said of his decision process. Part of Cohen’s philosophy is to create a staff of people with vastly different backgrounds. His background is coaching, so he hired others with law backgrounds, and others with marketing. That fits into Hobart’s job which, outside of the Freeze hire, has shown the most tangible results of Cohen’s first year. Hobart has played a key role in the changes to fan experience at Jordan-Hare Stadium this season as well as finalizing plans for the $30 million Plainsman Park renovation plans. A trademark of Cohen’s athletic departments is a push for more premium seating. This is a plan often met with criticism for hurting the average fan’s ability to go to games on a smaller budget. Hobart said Cohen’s desire is to create a reason for people to come to the stadium for games still when sitting at home is cheaper and easier. His idea of doing that is to elevate seating and VIP experiences. At Auburn, part of that drive came when football season tickets sold out in July, Hobart said. The program wasn’t anticipating that type of early excitement from fans to generate into such a massive ticket demand. Auburn sold the most season tickets, 63,500, in program history. Auburn went on to sell out all its home football games for the first time since 2015, Hobart said. So Hobart said Auburn looked to find ways to expand seating capacity. That led to the somewhat controversial on-field suites Auburn has in each corner of Jordan-Hare Stadium. Hobart said since the suites sold out so quickly, he expects them to continue, and possibly with a more permanent structure than this year’s model. Hobart believes Auburn has helped fans by making concessions easier and faster. He installed self-service markets in the stadium that are now Auburn’s highest-grossing concession and have an average transaction time of 17 seconds, Hobart said. But on seemingly any Auburn social media post about stadium changes or improvements, most of the comments are about getting an upgrade from the small, video-less north endzone scoreboard. Cohen said he’s had meetings about a potential future replacement video board there. General view of Jordan-Hare Stadium during the first half of an NCAA football game between Georgia and Auburn on Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)AP There are more facility changes Cohen is looking toward in year two. There are still new light shows at the football game Hobart hasn’t been able to use yet. Beard-Eaves Coliseum may be his running spot, but Cohen knows it’s an antiquated and largely under-utilized space in need of an upgrade. Now whether that upgrade means knocking it down entirely or an interior change is still up for discussion. He has discussed building a separate volleyball practice facility. Cohen said his decision-making process comes to functionality and affordability. In this era, he also has to consider every detail if it will be a benefit for Auburn in recruiting. There has to be a point to everything, Cohen said. “Do kids make decisions based off of chandeliers,” Cohen said. “If they’re making decisions based off chandeliers, do you want that student-athlete in your program?” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze, left, talks with Auburn Athletic Director John Cohen, right, after the second half an NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, in Auburn, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)AP --- Cohen’s Auburn office used to be the football head coach’s office before the newly built Woltosz Football Performance Center opened. One window looks out over the old football practice field and the other over the South Donahue parking deck with the Jordan-Hare Stadium scoreboard looming just beyond. There’s a Taylormade putter and a wedge he can finally feel comfortable using leaning on the wall beneath two hanging road maps of his home state. He didn’t feel like he could take a break in Starkville. There was a different type of pressure put upon him by the fanbase of a program where he’d been such a huge part of such an important team. “I never felt like I could be seen on the golf course,” Cohen said. “I never felt like I could be seen enjoying fishing or enjoy myself because they’d be saying, ‘Holy cow you didn’t win a national championship last year, what are you doing playing golf?’ That’s how my mind works. Until last month, I was just telling someone this, I hadn’t hit a golf ball in 23 years.” The John Cohen at Auburn is looser, still under the weight of a passionate fanbase but free from the ties the former Mississippi State baseball coach can’t pull back in Starkville. “When you have gone from a coach to the athletic director, everybody recognizes you all the time,” Hobart said. “In a role like that, there is some celebrity status to it.” Cohen thought he’d have anonymity here. At most schools, the athletic director could walk into Publix just like the rest of us. And in a way, Cohen was looking forward to that in Auburn. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way. Nelle Cohen pays attention to when her husband is recognized and finds it fun. She’s seen it in Auburn and all the way out west in San Francisco before Auburn’s game against Cal. “And right now, it’s going well,” Nelle Cohen said. “There’s a downside to that if you have a bad day or a bad week.” But the John Cohen who appears freer here hasn’t lost any of the technical focus that characterizes his administration. Cohen’s law background from his father drives his attention to everything said publicly about Auburn. He’s at every football post-game press conference with a strewn look on his face analyzing each word Freeze says. At the SEC Basketball Tip-Off media event in Birmingham, he leaned in close to the ESPN set in the back of the ballroom during the Auburn team’s time on the air so he could hear it all live. Cohen has his athletic director’s box at Jordan-Hare Stadium, but he’s often seen down on the field wearing his large sunhat. He craves to know everything in the moment. Athletics Director John Cohen during the game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers at Rhoads Stadium in Tuscaloosa, AL on Sunday, Apr 23, 2023. Jamie Holt/Auburn TigersJamie Holt/Auburn Tigers Maybe the only time he isn’t so keenly attentive comes on his morning runs. He used to run outside. But then when he got lost in a podcast or listening to an article, Cohen wouldn’t keep track of where he was nor how to get back. And once in Starkville, he was almost hit by a student in their car racing to class. So running in the coliseum is easier. There are no cars to worry about. No one to stop him for a photo. It’s a few moments in his day where he doesn’t have to focus on his plans. He can’t get lost running in a circle. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

that is so wrong salty........this is the very reason no one likes you..............grins

i get by but i sure did not want to crawl out of bed this morning! grins thanx for stopping by!

i had hoped for more depth in your answer mr cat.

i woke up late because my heat is messed up. my three dogs literally kept me warm. anyway slim pickings this morning. it is almost like winning is not as much fun as being critical is. i will check back later for any updates. today is payday so i am going out and getting me some reeces cups!

al.com Auburn-Vanderbilt tickets available; Here’s how to get seats Updated: Oct. 31, 2023, 7:41 p.m.|Published: Oct. 31, 2023, 7:41 p.m. 2–3 minutes Auburn running back Jarquez Hunter carries the football during an SEC game against Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023, at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn.(AP Photo/ Butch Dill) Auburn travels to Nashville to face Vanderbilt on Saturday, Nov. 4. Tickets are available Vivid Seats, StubHub and Seat Geek. Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers got their first SEC win of the season last week with a 27-13 win over Mississippi State. Payton Thorne passed for 230 yards and three first-half touchdowns and Jarquez Hunter ran for a season-high 144 yards to lead Auburn. The Tigers snapped a four-game skid and got their first league win under coach Hugh Freeze after racing to a 24-3 halftime lead, their biggest in an SEC game in four years. Vanderbilt, meanwhile, is coming off a 33-7 loss to Ole Miss. The Commodores (2-7, 0-5) were led by reserve quarterback Walter Taylor, leading a third-quarter scoring drive capped by a 2-yard scoring run. The Commodores managed 229 yards of total offense, including 65 yards on the touchdown drive and 53 on the game’s final series. Check out the available seats: Vivid Seats Vivid Seats has tickets starting at $67. StubHub StubHub has seats for as low as $77 each. Seat Geek Seat Geek is offering seats for as cheap as $98. Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

saturdaydownsouth.com Payton Thorne praises Auburn fans: ‘We have the best atmosphere in the country’ Bryce Lazenby | 1 day ago ~3 minutes Payton Thorne had serious praise for the Auburn faithful on Monday. The crowd was a big factor for the Tigers as they secured a home win against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. “We have an amazing atmosphere, I think it’s one of the best, if not the best, in the country,” declared Thorne. “We love our fans and appreciate their support.” “We have the best atmosphere in the country. We love our fans and appreciate their support.” ? @PaytonThorne joined @SECNetwork this morning ↓ — Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) October 30, 2023 Even with the team entering last Saturday with a 3-4 record, the Tigers had a sell-out crowd of 88,043 at Jordan-Hare Stadium for the matchup with the Bulldogs. The crowd was noticeably raucous and was likely responsible for some of the Bulldogs’ 8 penalties. Thorne had his best game of the season, completing 20 of his 26 passes for 230 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also ran 8 times for 38 yards. Jarquez Hunter also had a big day, rushing 17 times for 144 yards. The Tigers racked up 416 total yards of offense and didn’t turn the ball over once. It will be a couple of weeks before Tigers fans get to show out again. The Tigers’ next 2 games will be on the road, at Vanderbilt and at Arkansas. The team will finish off the regular season with home games against New Mexico State and Alabama.

247sports.com Offensive line depth paying dividends for Tigers Jason Caldwell 3–4 minutes AUBURN, Alabama—Playing perhaps its best game of the season in a win over Mississippi State last week, Auburn’s offensive line continues to come together after being completely rebuilt by Hugh Freeze and Jake Thornton after they took over the job. Even with nagging injuries impacting everyone up front, the Tigers have more than held their own this season, said quarterback Payton Thorne. “Yeah, they've been great,” Thorne said. “Loved working with those guys. A lot of really good human beings. That's always fun when you're working with good guys. They work hard and they work at taking care of their bodies as well. Those are important things. “They show up everyday to work. Nobody is trying to sit out of a practice or anything. Coaches are having to pull our guys out because they want to be playing. Just keep working with those guys and getting on the same page as them. Keep improving as much as we can and I think we'll do that.” Auburn’s line has continued to improve despite starting guards Kameron Stutts and Gunner Britton both dealing with nagging injuries along with right tackle Izavion Miller. Already without starting center Avery Jones against the Bulldogs, Freeze said they were forced to rotate in guys like Jeremiah Wright and Jaden Muskrat while true freshman Connor Lew earned his first career start. “Kam Stutts is a warrior who loves Auburn and is giving everything he can, but he's beat up,” Freeze said. “It's sad to see, because he would love to go every rep, but man, he's one of these veterans that we probably need to not make practice tomorrow — seriously — to try to get through the year with him. And Gunner Britton was beat up some. We've got to rotate those guys to hopefully, I mean, it's a long season. We've got four more games, and we need all those guys to play significant snaps. “So I think rotating them is in the best of us, but to handle all the stuff that State throws at a team the way they did in the first half was really, really remarkable, truthfully. I expected a lot more negative plays than we had. And they protected the quarterback really well, the first half especially.” Rotating offensive linemen isn’t something that is normally done, but it’s something this Auburn team has been forced to do because of injuries. Saying they’ve handled things well to this point, Britton said it’s all about preparation and understanding what your role is. “I think we do a really good job preparing everybody and making sure we have 10, 11, 12 guys that can go into a game and play at any given time,” he said. “That starts today when we go into meetings. Everybody has to be on the same page and understand what we’re doing. Even like Connor, you never know when your number is going to get called. When your moment is called and the team has to depend on you, you have to be able to respond.” Auburn takes on the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday at 3 p.m. The game can be seen on the SEC Network.

al.com Auburn DB Jaylin Simpson named one of 15 Jim Thorpe Award semifinalists Published: Oct. 31, 2023, 12:04 p.m. ~2 minutes Hugh Freeze does celebration dance with Jaylin Simpson after fumble recovery vs UMass Auburn defensive back Jaylin Simpson hasn’t been able to stay out of the headlines this season. And in his case, it hasn’t been a bad problem to have. From being the nation’s leader in interceptions at one point and dancing along the sidelines with Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze, to coining the term “Plankton mentality” last week, Simpson has had himself a time through the front half of his fifth and final season on The Plains. And it’s not going unnoticed. On Tuesday morning, Simpson was named one of 15 semifinalists for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award, which is awarded annually to the best defensive back in college football. Simpson lands himself on the list having tallied 22 tackles, four interceptions, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery. According to Pro Football Focus, Simpson ranks as the nation’s fourth-best safety in coverage having played 216 coverage snaps and only allowing 11 receptions on 19 targets. Meanwhile, Simpson has yet to allow a touchdown catch. Three finalists for the Paycom Jim Thorpe Award will be announced on Nov. 28, followed by the winner being announced on Dec. 8 at the Home Depot College Football Awards. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

al.com LB Eugene Asante wearing non-contact jersey at Auburn’s Halloween practice, other injury notes Updated: Oct. 31, 2023, 5:13 p.m.|Published: Oct. 31, 2023, 5:04 p.m. 3–4 minutes Auburn coach Hugh Freeze previews Vanderbilt Auburn starting linebacker Eugene Asante wore a yellow non-contact jersey during a period of practice Tuesday open to media members. He did still take part in drills with the team. Asante’s left arm — and specifically his elbow, it appeared — was wrapped as he went through drills. His status for this weekend’s game against Vanderbilt is unclear. Auburn officials have not stated his specific injury. Starting center Avery Jones who missed last week’s win over Mississippi State with an undisclosed injury, was seen on the practice field, but separate from the team as he worked on agility drills on the indoor practice field. His left leg was wrapped up and he wore a large brace as he went through rehab drills. Freshman center Connor Lew played well enough to earn SEC Freshman of the Week in Jones’ place, and will likely start again against Vanderbilt. On Monday, head coach Hugh Freeze mentioned starting offensive linemen Kam Stutts and Gunner Britton could be rested at Tuesday’s practice because of how beat-up they have been throughout this season. They have been playing at less than 100% health. Stutts was seen off to the side riding a stationary bike, but Britton practiced in full. “Kam Stutts is a warrior who loves Auburn and is giving everything he can, but he’s beat up,” Freeze said Monday. “It’s sad to see, because he would love to go every rep, but man, he’s one of these veterans that we probably need to not make practice tomorrow — seriously — to try to get through the year with him. And Gunner Britton was beat up some. We’ve got to rotate those guys to hopefully, I mean, it’s a long season. We’ve got four more games, and we need all those guys to play significant snaps.” Starting defensive lineman Marcus Harris also practiced in full after picking up an injury in the Mississippi State win. Freeze said Monday there is nothing “lingering” for Harris and offensive lineman Izavion ‘Too Tall’ Miller. Wide receiver Nick Mardner was not seen at Tuesday’s open practice window. He has already missed time with an injury early in the season. The practice on the evening of Halloween also featured an inflatable T-Rex costume. Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

247sports.com Why Freezes team reminds Bruce Pearl of his first season at Auburn Nathan King 7–9 minutes “My first team knew that we were going to get it going,” Bruce Pearl said Wednesday. Hugh Freeze hopes his team’s turnaround can mirror some of the success of a coach he admires at Auburn. And Bruce Pearl, whom Freeze called Monday “one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met,” thinks there are plenty of similarities between the job Freeze is doing in Year 1, and how Pearl’s team fought in his first season at Auburn all the way back in 2014-15. Freeze’s Tigers are finally off the schneid, winning their first SEC game Saturday by defeating Mississippi State 27-13 at home. But wins and losses aren’t where Pearl has been seeing parallels. “I'm so happy for his locker room, happy for his staff, happy for the Auburn family,” Pearl said Monday, taking the podium right after Freeze to discuss the Tigers’ exhibition game Wednesday against Auburn-Montgomery. “His approach this week was that we talked about that, and it reminded me again of my first season. KT Harrell and that group so badly wanted to be a part of the turnaround — whether it be culture or the way we trained. It certainly could not be in winning championships right away; that wasn't going to be their turn.” Pearl inherited an Auburn basketball program that had a losing record in all four of Tony Barbee’s seasons, including an 18-50 mark in SEC play. Pearl knew he was in for a significant rebuild. All he wanted was fan support and patience as he improved the roster’s health and recruited at a higher level. Freeze has obviously used a lot of that same language in his first season at Auburn, after taking over following the failed Bryan Harsin regime, which saw the Tigers miss a bowl game last year for the first time since 2012 and lose nine of 10 Power Matchups before Harsin was fired on Halloween. On the hardwood, Auburn went just 4-14 in conference competition in Pearl’s first season, but saw fight from his program and a renewed confidence that they could play with anyone. That was validated when the Tigers won three games as the 13-seed in the SEC Tournament in Nashville. “My first team knew that we were going to get it going,” Pearl said. “They didn't know when and they didn't know how big a part of it they would be. But they desperately wanted to be part of that history. So we can all look back to our first year and go, 'That team didn't quit.' They won three games in the SEC tournament down the stretch, and they were part of the rebuild. “That's what this football team is doing right here, right now, and this program. So they've got a lot to play for.” Pearl’s program then improved its SEC standing in each of its first three seasons before breaking through and winning a regular-season championship in 2017-18 and making the NCAA tournament for the first time in 15 years. The Tigers have made four NCAA tournaments since, with 68 SEC wins, three combined SEC titles and the program’s first-ever trip to the Final Four. Freeze and his players had felt they’ve been close to turning a corner, particularly in the passing game, but an SEC schedule that saw Auburn as an underdog in its first four matchups was unforgiving. A home game against another struggling SEC team proved to be the remedy, as quarterback Payton Thorne threw three touchdowns in the first half in the most efficient showing for the Tigers through the air against a Power Five opponent this season by far. “Proud of the improvement that I thought our kids showed and the job our staff did,” Freeze said. “I think it's a direct reflection of accountability and little things that we've been trying to instill in the way we operate on a daily basis here. It was good to see them have success on the field. Hopefully we can grow from that.” On paper, Auburn should be able to grow with potentially three straight wins. The Tigers are a double-digit favorite at Vanderbilt this weekend, then face an Arkansas team with zero SEC wins, followed by a matchup with New Mexico State in the pre-Iron Bowl warmup. *** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more *** *** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter *** Auburn offense 'searching for perfection' after win over Miss. State Auburn's offense still has plenty to work on following a win over MSU. AUBURN, Alabama—After failing to score more than 21 points in a Power 5 game this season, the Auburn Tigers scored 24 in the first half against Mississippi State on the way to a 27-13 victory. Struggling to find rhythm and success with multiple quarterbacks playing and rotating, on Saturday the Tigers stuck with Payton Thorne and it led to the best game of the year to this point. But it’s an offense that is far from satisfied. Honored by the Southeastern Conference as one of the co-offensive linemen of the week, Gunner Britton said he believes there is plenty more ahead for this group as they get ready to face Vanderbilt in Nashville this Saturday. “Sometimes you have to see it to believe it,” Britton said. “Guys on our team can now see we’re capable of doing it, we should be able to do it more consistently and have that breakthrough. I said it after the Ole Miss game of how close we were. I feel like we saw what this offense is capable of. We just have to go do it again this week.” The offense revolved around the best passing day of the season for Thorne and the Tigers. Completing 20-26 passes for 230 yards and three touchdowns, the Michigan State transfer did some good things, but coach Hugh Freeze said even his performance didn’t come without things he can improve. “He probably left two throws out there that he probably should've thrown, in my opinion, he'll agree when he sees the film,” Thorne said. “He had two other RPOs that probably should've been thrown. I thought he left the pocket early a couple times but he did good things with it. He took care of the ball. “Outside of those four plays it was hard to argue that he didn't play really, really, really solid. Had one ball that was a little high but we've got to catch those, too. I just thought he played really solid, really confidently and I thought our kids responded to that around him well.” For Thorne it’s all about capitalizing on every possession. Auburn did a good job of building an early lead, but was unable to get some first downs when backed up with poor field position in the fourth quarter. Auburn’s starter said that’s just one of the things they have to get better at this week. “Obviously I wish we would have been more productive in the second half,” Thorne said. “I think we only scored three points, but we only had one possession in the third quarter. We could have been better there. We were backed up a few times, but our job is to get a couple of first downs at least and we didn’t do that. That wasn’t good by us. We finished the game on the field, which is a positive. There’s absolutely stuff we can improve on. There is every game. We’re going to take a critical eye and fix those up.” Britton said that means chasing the unattainable goal of playing a perfect game. It’s not something that will ever happen, but the veteran offensive lineman said that doesn’t mean you can’t try. “Everyone is chasing perfection,” Britton said. “The beauty of this game is no one is going to be perfect. If the quarterback goes out there and throws for seven touchdowns, there’s still two or three passes that he misses that he wants to have back. That’s the fun part of this game. It’s a little bit easier to do after a win because those mistakes are still magnified, but it’s not like it caused us to lose a game. It’s a little bit nicer for us. We can move on to the next one and see the mistakes and coach them up and move on from there.”

247sports.com PMARSHONAU Alex McPherson carries on a family tradition of excellence Phillip Marshall 7–8 minutes Auburn's Alex McPherson has made 14 consecutive field goal tries. (Photo: Jason Caldwell, Auburn Undercover, 247Sports) AUBURN – Alex McPherson was aggravated. His first Auburn field goal attempt had missed in the third quarter of Auburn’s 13-10 win over Texas A&M last season. Sure, it was a 54-yarder, bur McPherson, a freshmen getting his chance because of an injury to Anders Carlson, expected to make it.And he hasn’t missed one since. McPherson, rated the nation’s No. 1 kicking prospect as a high school senior, made six straight last season after that miss. And he’s made eight straight this season. He might look like a fresh-faced teen-ager, but he has an uncommonly powerful right leg, uncommon poise and uncommon accuracy. It all started back home in Fort Payne, where LaDon and Amber McPherson’s three sons, all soccer players at one time, took up kicking on their own and became a prominent kicking family known far and wide. It started when Logan, the oldest, asked his mom as an eighth-grader if he could try out for football. Then came Evan, who set the state high school record with a 60-yard+ field goal, became a standout at Florida and now is one of the more prominent kickers in the NFL. He kicks for the Cincinnati Bengals and is 19-for-19 on field goal tries in the postseason. When Evan was a senior at Fort Payne High School, eighth-grader Alex was his older. Evan was watching on live stream when Alex kicked a 61-yard field goal, breaking Evan’s state record. Logan was a four-year starter as a punter at Louisiana Tech and is now a successful medical device salesman in Greenville, S.C. The three brothers started their journey by practicing with a makeshift goalpost made with a soccer goal with PVC pipe on each side for uprights. They competed hard with each other and still do on the unusual occasions when they are back home together. Evan is the first player from Fort Payne to play in an NFL game. Alex will almost certainly be the second. That will be a dream-come-true for Alex, but for now, he is living another dream. Alex had seven scholarship offers, all from SEC programs, as high school senior. His family had never really chosen sides between Auburn and Alabama, but Alex had. “Auburn was really my dream school,” Alex says. “To come here and play is the dream I’ve always had. Making the decision wasn’t hard. When they made the offer, I was ready to commit right then.” Alex had known what he wanted since he had attended a camp at Auburn as a seventh-grader. “We weren’t diehard Auburn or Alabama,” Alex says. “When I came to my first camp here, I really loved it – just the town, the university, everything about it.” First-year Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze didn’t know what to expect from any of his kickers when he arrived last December. In spring practice, he quickly found out. Here is what he said last spring: “Look we haven’t had a game yet but look in spring practice and I was overjoyed like every time we kicked. “It was like ‘Oh my gosh!’ I got a kicker. This guy can put points on the board.” That’s exactly what Alex has done as place-kicker and field goal man. “Yeah, I mean, I coach him, so I, I take credit for him,” Freeze says with a laugh. More seriously, “I wouldn't know what to tell him. That comes from genetics, I think, and his genes. But I'm extremely comfortable with him. I think in these next few road games, he plays a huge role in getting points when we get in field position.” *** Kickers come and go in college football and in the NFL. Approaches are different. Mindsets are different. All of those things, Alex says, go back to his brothers and that makeshift goalpost in the yard. “I think, for me, it’s just being myself,” Alex says. “I know I can trust what I’ve always done. I know when I go out there I am prepared and have done everything I need to do leading up to that moment. I just have to trust. Going into any kick, I think of what I need to do to make the kick and not about the moment.” What if he was sent to kick a game-winning field goal against Alabama? “I don’t think I would be nervous,” Alex says. “I think I would be excited that I got to do it.” Kicking a ball through the uprights with consistency is about muscle memory, concentration and nerves of steel. Those things are the same, Alex says, in high school or college. Probably the NFL, too. His mother, who frequently shagged balls for her kicking sons, helped convince him of that when he would become frustrated because he couldn’t kick as far as his older brothers. “For me it was always technique,” Alex says. “It wasn’t as much how far I could kick the ball. That is probably a testament to, honestly, my mom. She would always tell us ‘If you can keep it down the middle, as you get older you will kick it farther and it will still be down the middle.’ That’s a pretty good mindset to have. If you can keep it down the middle, your strength will come and you will make those kicks eventually.” Frrom left, Evan, Alex and Logan McPherson Alex jokes with Auburn coaches about putting a fake field goal into gameplans. He is not just a kicker. He has some athletic ability, too. “Hey, I played quarterback in middle school,” Alex says. “I wasn’t terrible. I was the fourth-string quarterback. I actually played receiver, but then all the quarterbacks got hurt and they said ‘Can you play quarterback?’ I said ‘sure.’ My first play I threw a touchdown and kicked the PAT. That was pretty cool.” On the soccer field, Alex was a standout goalie through his junior year in high school, but he gave it up to devote all his attention to kicking. And his right leg was too valuable to the Fort Payne High School team to risk it playing another position. Chris Elmore, his high school coach, says his impact unlike he had witnessed. “Most of the time, after high school football games, you see kids running around, throwing touchdown passes, running the ball, tackling, whatever it is,” Elmore says. “At Fort Payne, we had about 10 kids trying to kick extra points. They saw Alex make a state record, and they were trying to figure out how they could kick." For Alex, Evan is more than just a brother. He’s a friend, a confidant and even a coach. Evan learned from Logan and Alex from Evan. It’s a true family tradition. “If I ever need to tweak anything or have any questions, I can just ask my brother,” Alex says. “That is kind of a unique outlet to have. We talk pretty much every day. We work out together when he comes back.” Alex’s Auburn journey is just getting started. He didn’t flinch when Bryan Harsin was fired and Freeze was hired. He didn’t sign with Auburn because of a coach. “It has been,” Alex says, “everything I ever dreamed of.”

al.com All dad jokes aside, Ron Roberts has delivered as Auburn’s defensive coordinator Updated: Nov. 01, 2023, 6:11 a.m.|Published: Nov. 01, 2023, 6:00 a.m. 6–8 minutes Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts caught some flak from his players when he first arrived to The Plains after making the move from Baylor, where he spent three seasons as the Bears’ defensive coordinator. A father of three, Roberts was quick to dig into his deep pockets of dad jokes and crack them with his players. Except more times than not, they didn’t land. “He tries to make jokes that ain’t really funny,” Auburn safety Jaylin Simpson said in an interview during the preseason. “He’s definitely a player’s coach.” Not every player on Auburn’s defense had the guts to criticize Roberts’ joke-telling – at least not directly. “No comment,” Auburn defensive lineman Jayson Jones said when asked if Roberts’ jokes were funny. “I love you, Ron. Love you.” But Jones and the rest of Auburn’s defense don’t just “love” Roberts when trying to stay in good graces with their defensive coordinator and tiptoe around questions about his poor joke-telling. They legitimately enjoy playing for the guy. “It’s been amazing to play under his defense,” said Auburn Jack linebacker Elijah McAllister, who came to Auburn as a graduate transfer after spending five seasons at Vanderbilt. “He’s an old-school football guy; he knows exactly what he’s doing because he’s seen it. It’s fun playing for him, honestly.” Auburn’s defenders like playing for Roberts because everyone gets a piece of the pie in a Roberts-led defense. Roberts himself gives his defense the distinction of a linebacker-led defense. “They’re going to have to answer the bell and be productive,” Roberts said of Auburn’s linebackers in the preseason. So Auburn’s corps of linebackers have eaten it up, starting with Eugene Asante, whose breakout season continues to build as he leads the Tigers’ defense with 62 tackles, 6.5 tackles for a loss and 3.5 sacks – all coming after a season in which Asante spent most of his time on Auburn’s scout team. “That kind of thing fuels me, just being out there,” Asante said after his heroic performance against Cal in Week 2. “Coach Roberts, coach Alridge, this staff giving me the opportunity to show what I can do, I’m just forever grateful to them.” For Jack linebacker and Appalachian State transfer Jalen McLeod, the prospect of playing for Roberts was one of the biggest factors that played into his move to Auburn. At 6-foot-1 and just less than 240 pounds, many might argue McLeod is a bit undersized for the position he plays, but McLeod trusted Roberts to put him in the right position in the right situations. “I’m not the biggest guy,” McLeod said in the preseason. “Coach Roberts, the defensive coordinator, he played with people my size before. He knows how to use him. He lets us play free a little bit. Just set the edge and get after the quarterback. Play fast and physical.” McLeod has gone on to tally 24 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks and four quarterback hurries. Meanwhile, guys along Auburn’s defensive front have seen success, too — despite there being no shortage of challenges put in front of them. Given the season-long struggles to sustain drives on offense, paired with injuries along the defensive line, Auburn’s defensive linemen have had to spend a lot of time on the field and not much time on the sideline on Saturdays. For guys like defensive lineman Marcus Harris, that means playing a ton of snaps – 352 on the season or 44 a game, to be exact. “Marcus and some of those guys are just having to play too many snaps,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said ahead of the LSU game. And though a lot has been asked of Harris, the senior has delivered. With 31 tackles, 7.5 tackles for a loss, four sacks and a forced fumble, Harris has graded out as the 15th-best defensive lineman in the country, according to Pro Football Focus. And that makes it hard to justify pulling him off the field. So it’s been a bit of a balancing act for Roberts – on the defensive line and especially in the backfield as there was once a time during the season that Auburn was without defensive backs Nehemiah Pritchett, Keionte Scott and Donovan Kaufman all at once. Auburn’s secondary has been the group that’s probably been bit the hardest by the injury bug with guys like Jaylin Simpson and Zion Puckett also missing time here and there. But when the Tigers’ defensive backs are on the field and in full force, they’re a stingy group. They’re ball-hawks and they have a lot of fun – hence the turnover seatbelt that’s been introduced this season and Simpson’s sideline dances with Freeze. “He definitely makes the ball a priority,” Simpson said of Roberts. “He’s big on like, if that ball comes your way, we got it we gotta get it, if you’re in position.” With a heavy focus on notching takeaways through the air, the Tigers lead the SEC with 10 interceptions through their first eight games. Meanwhile, Auburn tallied just six interceptions through the course of the entire season last fall. And without a doubt, all of that has pleased Freeze. “I think for our lack of depth, they’ve done a marvelous job,” Freeze said of Roberts and the defensive coaching staff after Saturday’s win over Mississippi State. “The staff and kids and we’re not a very deep football team in the front six, and at times this year we’ve been very short on the back end too.” But like his jokes, Roberts’ play calls aren’t going to land every single time. There have been lapses on the defensive side of the football with the game at LSU and some of the explosive plays given up against Mississippi State immediately coming to mind. And those things certainly frustrate Roberts, Freeze says. But Freeze feels comforted that perhaps unlike his jokes, Roberts’ play calls are going to land a majority of the time. “He is one of the best in the nation of calling a game,” Freeze said of Roberts. “One of his strengths is definitely game day, calling the football game from a defensive perspective and making adjustments within his system. I think he’s really gifted at that.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

247sports.com Auburn Opponent Preview Vanderbilt offense Jason Caldwell 4–5 minutes For the second straight week, the Auburn defense will face a team that is expected to play multiple quarterbacks when the Tigers travel to Nashville to face the Vanderbilt Commodores. While leading passer AJ Swann could miss the game with an elbow issue, Vanderbilt still has plenty of firepower to pick from in Ken Seals and Jackson, Alabama native Walter Taylor. Playing in seven games this season, Seals has completed 69-113 passes for 858 yards and eight touchdowns and two interceptions for a surprising Vanderbilt passing attack. This season the three quarterbacks have combined for 2,186 yards and 19 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. More of a runner, Taylor has played in three games and has completed just 4-12 passes, but has 64 yards rushing on the year. Currently ranked 81st in scoring offense at 25.4 points per game, Vanderbilt has been one of the best teams in the country in making big plays in the passing game. In nine games, the Commodores have 39 passing plays of 20 or more yards. That’s good enough for seventh nationally. A big reason why is senior playmaker Will Sheppard. Playing in 39 career games with 32 starts, Sheppard has put up monster numbers for Vanderbilt for four years and this season is no different. In nine games, Sheppard leads the team with 40 catches for 591 yards and eight touchdowns. For his career, the Louisiana native has 145 receptions for 1,974 yards and 21 touchdowns. He’s joined in the starting lineup by physical freshman London Humphreys. This season he has 14 catches, but for 350 yards and four touchdowns. The third starter is speedy Jayden McGowan, who has 31 catches for 365 yards. Backup Richie Hoskins has added a pair of touchdowns on six receptions. Tight ends Justin Ball and Kamrean Johnson have combined for 18 catches, 158 yards and three touchdowns. As good as Vanderbilt has been throwing the football this season (242.9 yards per game), that’s how bad they’ve been on the ground. The Commodores are averaging just 92.8 yards rushing per game with nine total touchdowns. When you take out the 215 yards and three touchdowns against Alabama A&M in week two, you have a rushing offense that has been the worst of the worst. The good news for the Commodores is they broke a streak of five straight games being held under 100 yards when they ran for 169 yards on 44 carries last week in a 33-7 loss at Ole Miss. The addition of Taylor at quarterback played a part in that, but the Commodores have a sold one-two punch of Patrick Smith and Sedrick Alexander to carry the load. This season Smith leads the team with 66 carries for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Alexander has 65 carries for 251 yards, but leads the team with four touchdowns. Up front the Commodores have an experienced group that features four players with at least 18 starts under their belts. Leading the way is right tackle Bradley Ashmore, who has started 36 of 37 career games. In the middle, Vanderbilt has one of the best centers in the league in Julian Hernandez. The St. Thomas Aquinas standout has played in 37 games with 33 career starts. WR 14 Will Sheppard 6-3 198 Sr. 39-32 85 Junior Sherrill 5-11 172 Fr. 9-1 WR 83 London Humphreys 6-3 186 Fr. 9-3 or 3 Quincy Skinner Jr. 6-2 205 Jr. 26-5 WR 6 Jayden McGowan 5-8 181 So. 21-15 15 Richie Hoskins 6-1 196 Jr. 16-1 RB 28 Sedrick Alexander 5-9 199 Fr. 9-3 4 Patrick Smith 5-9 189 Jr. 27-9 or 13 Chase Gillespie 5-10 197 So. 13-0 or 46 AJ Newberry 6-1 197 Fr. 1-0 QB 8 Ken Seals 6-3 220 Sr. 24-20 or 2 Walter Taylor 6-7 235 So. 3-0 5 AJ Swann 6-3 228 So. 14-11 7 Drew Dickey 6-1 215 So. 1-0 TE 84 Justin Ball 6-6 247 Gr. 35-13 48 Kamrean Johnson 6-5 221 Fr. 9-0 F 18 Logan Kyle 6-3 224 Sr. 27-2 49 Chris Boyle 6-3 239 Gr. 29-0 LT 55 Gunnar Hansen 6-5 321 Jr. 21-21 73 Charlie Clark 6-7 309 Jr. 9-0 LG 64 Xavier Castillo 6-5 361 Jr. 22-18 52 Kevo Wesley 6-4 317 Sr. 31-1 C 62 Julian Hernandez 6-4 310 Gr. 37-33 76 Grayson Morgan 6-5 280 So. 6-3 RG 71 Gage Pitchford 6-6 315 Jr. 20-6 55 Jake Ketschek 6-5 320 Jr. 5-3 RT 50 Bradley Ashmore 6-6 303 Sr. 37-36 57 Leyton Nelson 6-6 308 So. 9-0

they also claimed we stole their signals.

i cannot stand thamel or whatever his name is. what a joke. all he had for years was made up bull on cam. i still remember finebaums very first article covering auburn and texas. i thought it was funny. i believe it was something about watching the clouds roll by instead of taking care of business. that made folks mad but i have a huge sense of humor................

i only did a third of a gummy this morning golf................

you serious? we have a couple in the hood. they are zombies pretty much.and they dance a weird dance............

my behind puckered up a little and he was not even addressing me. thank god he never heard me call him goober...........................lol