Tuesday was a big day at Auburn on two different fronts.
First, Auburn basketball took a huge step forward with the hiring of former Tennessee Vols coach Bruce Pearl. To Auburn fans it was a signal that Auburn is getting serious about returning the Tigers to prominence on the national basketball scene.
While Auburn basketball was still celebrating, the Auburn football team hit the practice field for the start of year two in the Gus Malzahn era.
Expectations are high for the football Tigers. In Malzahn’s first year, the Tigers came within 13 seconds of winning the national championship. That heartbreaking loss to Florida State hung over the practice field like a lingering bad memory. The players who came so close to winning it all last season still felt the pain of that close call that ended an otherwise magnificent season.
“Going to the big show and not really getting the task done is going to stay with me until we get back to that point and hopefully win the whole thing,” senior cornerback Jonathon Mincy told AuburnTigers.com.
“We can be as good as we were last year or even better,” senior offensive guard Chad Slade said. “We have very, very high expectations for this year’s team.”
Although the players are the defending Southeastern Conference champions, this year they want more … and so does Malzahn.
“We are proud of how far they came,” Malzahn said of last season. “That’s in the past. This is a new team. The seniors have moved on, and we’ve got to earn it. All we are talking about is earning the right to get back to a game like that. We’ll be working real hard every day to do that.”
“Most definitely,” senior safety Jermaine Whitehead said. “You get to hear about it a lot. You are always seeing it. We know we are the hunted this year. We just want to make a statement and live up to expectations.”
When the Tigers hit the practice field on Tuesday, the accomplishments of 2013 were all but a memory. Now the team’s coaches are going back to the basics of blocking and tackling with an increased focus on fundamentals.
“The first one is to improve our base offense and defense and really just the fundamentals,” Malzahn said during Monday’s press conference.
“This time last year we were talking about getting our edge back. We felt like we did that, that mental and physical and mental toughness that Auburn’s known for. We’ve got to keep that going. We’re going to have a very physical spring just like we did last spring.
“The third goal is to play faster offensively and defensively, really with an emphasis on communication. The last goal is to develop quality depth at each position. Last year we had a lot of unknowns. We know a little bit more about our team right now obviously than we did this time last year, so we’re really focused on the depth.”
The Tigers return outstanding quarterback Nick Marshall but gone is leading rusher Tre Mason from the team that led the nation in rushing a year ago. Gone too are defensive linemen Dee Ford and Nosa Eguae, but the Tigers’ have plenty of defensive help back for another run. The secondary and its depth is a concern for defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson.
“Coach (Johnson) is going to mix and match some during the spring, with (junior college safety Derrick) Moncrief and a couple of those other guys,” Malzahn said. “With the safety positions, we’re going to mix and match a little bit. We’ll see where we’re at, and probably by the middle of the spring we’ll have a better idea moving forward.
“We’re getting closer, there’s no doubt,” Malzahn said. “We didn’t have a whole lot of what I’d say quality depth last year. We had a lot of moving parts on the back end and we were probably one injury away on the back end from being in a really dire situation so this spring will be really good for us in all areas and we’ll have more depth coming our spring we feel like.”
One thing that you will see at Auburn this spring is a faster, up-tempo offense now that the NCAA has assured that there will be no change in the rules governing the ability of an offense to get to the line of scrimmage and snap the football without having to wait at least 10 seconds.
That is encouraging news for Malzahn and the Tigers, who personify how an up-tempo offense should be run. Auburn’s opponent’s had better be ready for it this fall because it’s coming back real soon.