I think it's time for Auburn baseball to stop playing Alabama in these so-called "goodwill games" around the state. Every year, the Tide and Tigers play a few games on Tuesday or Wednesday in Montgomery, Dothan, Mobile and other towns ... Nice, but they don't count in the SEC standings. So when you consider the unprecedented vendetta that they have waged against us (and the silence from the UA president's office speaks volumes about it) since 2010 ... the obvious ?uestion is ... why should we continue to promote ANYTHING crimson on our watch? Think about it, Mr. Jacobs!

As far as promoting Tiger baseball "one game at a time" is concerned, we'd be better off traveling to Georgia State, Samford, Bethune-Cookman or other places where the prospects are!

Hey guys and Dolls, it's about time for the Stefon Diggs announcement as to where he will attend school and play football.

Diggs is rated a 5* recruit pretty much across the board of all recruiting ratings sites. He is projected by rivals.com as the 2nd best WR in the country.

All of your comments are welcome

Recently, I was asked by SBN-Pittsburg Editor Adam Bittner to participate in a question and answer session regarding new Penn State defensive coordinator Ted Roof. I tried to be fair and objective, and not go off on a trashing session. My answers have been posted in a good coaching profile piece on Roof over there. Hopefully I didn't embarrass our fanbase!

NSD started off with a big letdown when Jordan Moore picked TCU. I was stoked about this kid becasue not only is he a great athlete but he really seems to have his head on straight. I always worry about these kids who feel they need to have a television audience to announce their decision to attend college, they want to put on a show and be unpredictable. And this was kind of a shock, since Auburn was much closer to home and offers everything and more than does TCU. Sounds like his desire to run track had a big impact in his decision.

I've got a sinkin feeling we are going to see more of the same tomorrow

By Davies Callender

Now more than any other time that I can remember, we hear our own internal criticisms that the "fabric" of our society is in pieces. Our individual morals and societal mores are rapidly changing and not for the better. As art is a reflection of our cultural intent, sports are the same manifestation in action. Sportsmanship should extend emotion far beyond the positive, disciplined athlete and manifest the same constructive behavior in its fans. This is why I became a college football fan. As a young man I recall seeing and desiring to be a part of the best that the game had to offer; first as a player then later as an enthusiast.

Boy how things have changed. The sport is being challenged by the money, boosters, coaches, media and most of all, the fans. The 2011 season was the most shocking and disgusting display of mayhem yet. From the firings of Coach Paterno and Jim Tressle to the Sandusky scandal, there has never been a greater feeding frenzy for the shock jock sports radio hosts and the lunatic fringe callers that spew their venomous speech. Nowhere greater than the state of Alabama is the lunacy at fever pitch and no other fan base than the University of Alabama’s can match the vermin that infests college football.

In the past, college football had leaders in their coaches, today’s coaches are demagogues. Let’s attempt to grasp the weekly paycheck of one particular coach; Nick Saban. His "take home" is around $80,769.23 per week; give or take a few thousand dollars. That’s a lot of coin just to blow a whistle. But it’s not enough for him to stand up and tell his fans to shut up, don’t poison trees, don’t make false recordings of fake meetings and if that’s not enough please don’t ear rape a boy while wearing "my " team’s jersey.

Mr. Saban, when will the outrages, that you so eloquently belittle reporters with, be directed at the Scott Moores, the Danny Sheridans the Harvey Updykes and the Brian Downings? Like it or not, these individuals represent you Mr. Saban, they represent your players, they represent your recruits and they represent the University that pays your salary.

You are on top of the world coach. You held up that crystal ball for the entire world to see. That makes the University of Alabama the epicenter of college football. However, the actions of your fans bring all of college football closer to an event horizon. Should you continue in your apathetic attitude towards the actions of your fan base, I believe you will be part of a few that will take college football past the event horizon and into the darkness of a singularity.

Some of the best evidence we have is contained in the videos below. You have to be careful when looking at videos of any particular game. When I first started searching for Temple videos, the first one I came up with was Temple vs Ohio. I saw lots of option out of the spread/gun. However, that game was 9th game of the season, and I understand they were down to their 3rd string QB. The Temple/Villanova vid is their opener. The Temple/Akron video, is the second game, and is a conference opponent so that should be as equal a match up talent wise as we have to look at, and thus should be what he wants his offense to be at it's base.

The video starts with 6 minutes and change left in the 1st. I doubt this was their first possession. The first play looks like what is known as the "Horn Play" run by Nevada. Smartfootball.com If you think it looks similar to Malzahn's "Hand Sweep" you'd be correct.

The first scoring play is a pure dropback passing concept run to the trips side (TE and 2 WRs). It's a simple post/wheel combo, hitting the wheel for the TD. Haven't we seen Fannin and Lutz make big plays on the wheel route with this same type combo?

The two plays run in the red zone vs Akron when they went up 21-3 are simple power. Fullback or H back kicks out the end man on the line of scrimmage, the back side guard pulls and wraps through the front side just past the tackle's block, and the back follows. It can be run from a variety of formations, under center or from the gun. Folks, this is classic "power football" run from under center. That said we've been running power from the gun the last 3 years.

They also run lots of Counter. An example of that play can be found at about the 3:30 mark where the back cuts back against the grain, and scores on a long play. They pulled the back side guard to kick out the end man on the line of scrimmage, and brought the H back from his wing position to lead up through, which sets up the play action pass off that action that is the second play in the video.

At the 6:30 mark, you'll see an example of the Outside Zone with a FB lead run from a 2TE/3RB set under the center. Lots of good play action can be set up off this, and can be run from a variety of looks, with or without a FB lead.

Two plays later, you get an Inside Zone run away from the H Back/TE surface. Teams can't key the H Back.

Uh, oh! The dreaded "Wildcat" is back the very next play. They run the inverted veer. To the offensive line, this is blocked just like Power. Run the speed sweep, read the play side DE for a give or keep read. Same thing we did with Cam.

At about the 7:40 mark, another big play off "Power O".

The next play is a typical 4 Vert's dropback concept.

And the final scoring play? Yep, Power O!

You'll see the same things in the Villinova game.

Now, on to the Ohio game. Radical changes? More option? Not really. Looks a little different, or rather looks more like what Florida did with Tebow, and what we did with Cam, but here's the thing. Watch the first two plays. QB Counter, and then QB Power (Inverted veer). (When watching film on offense, watch the OL blocking, it will tell you where the ball is going) Blocking stays exactly the same as those plays run from under center, and that's crucial. That's the toughest thing to change and/or re-teach. Then right back to the Counter look for a play action pass. The fourth play looks like veer from the gun. But watch the OL. To them it's just zone, but away from the play side.

The first scoring play is a very simple, max protect, 2 man route, play action pass.

Right after that, the zone read. At about the 2:15 mark, you get a play action off the Zone look from under center. At the 2:24 mark, you see a variation of their normal counter. They run counter GT (Guard/Tackle pull) as opposed to GB (Guard/Back). The H Back's action freezes the DE they left unblocked just long enough, and they get a nice gain on QB counter.

Major differences? It appears the offense he chooses to run (when his QB isn't injured) uses more true TE with either an H Back, or Fullback from under center. Same concepts we've been seeing, but out of heavier personnel.

The passing game seems to have more straight dropback passing without play action for the vertical passing game than we've seen from Malzahn with the play action being mostly bootleg type stuff or roll-outs for the shorter passing game. In the Penn St. video, you see a few more "quick game" concepts, and some screens too. So, overall, I expect the passing game to be a bit more diverse.

Again, this is a small sampling, but I think the Akron game probably gives you a good idea of what to expect. Heavy run based in Power, Counter, Inside Zone, Outside Zone with TE/HB/FB used. Think Lutz and the new FB transfer on the field at the same time with down hill running. They also run a play that looks like ISO where they loop the H Back through to lead on the LB with no other puller. Could just as easily be run out of the I, but their version has a bit of a counter look to it too, but it hits the A gap.

Bottom line, he can make it look however he wants, and the base of what he does is very "pro style-ish".

Temple/Akron 2011 (via templeu222)

Temple Football (via Centnj)

Temple/Villanova 2011 (via templeu222)

Temple vs. Penn State 2011 (via mmp121)

I was thinking about writing this post even before SL was announced as our new OC. With all the talk about his prowess of coaching QB's I felt it was even more appropriate.

First what is the job of a QB

1. Team leader

2. Coach on the field

3. The engineer that drives the train

4. The man you look to when your are hurting and down.

There a a bunch more but I will stop there.

Consider a few college quarterbacks that were pretty darn good and what they meant to their team. I admit I was a little lazy compiliing stats but it is so damn boring it was tough to stay focused.

Payton Manning-His 4 years at Tenn the team went 8-4,11-1,10-2,11-2

Tom Brady-His 2 starting years at Michigan the team went 10-3,10-2

Big Ben-At Miami University, Ohio (not a powerhouse by any stretch) in 2003 the team went undefeated and finished ranked 10th nationally.

Bret Favre-His record at Southern Miss was spotty but they were a stepchild team that played a lot of quality opponents. The record during his tenure, 6-5,10-2,5-6,8-4

Can Newton-I don't really need to say anything about Cam. It goes without saying what he meant to his team.

I know there are many more examples of what an "Elite" QB means to a team but like I said, I was lazy.

IMO, the bottom line to this we have not had a stellar QB at Auburn in a long time, (Sully was pretty good too, and we won with him) other than Cam and possibly Jason Campbell in 04 and it shows. You can have all the big uglies in the world, all the top notch running backs, and all the sticky fingered receivers on the planet but if you can't get it done at the QB position it will all be wasted. Granted you need those other pieces of the puzzle to make a championship team, you have to have the "Guy" under center.

We have the QB's on campus and coming in that can be that "GUY" if they are developed.

All that being said, I am very excited about SL as our OC because he has a rep of teaching and developing top notch QB's. If for no other reason but that you should also be excited about Scot.

Welcome to the Family Scot.

War Eagle.

With no contract extension on the table for Cam Cameron from Baltimore, could Cam be our next OC ?

From Wikipedia created by AU GRAD, the free encyclopedia:

"Malcolm "Cam" Cameron (born February 6, 1961) is an American football coach. He is currently the offensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. He was previously head coach of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers, and head coach at Indiana University. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh announced Cameron as the new offensive coordinator on January 23, 2008.

Cameron spent the first ten years of his career at the University of Michigan, where he learned from long-time Wolverine coach Bo Schembechler. After two years as a graduate assistant, he became Michigan's youngest assistant and was responsible for tutoring quarterbacks and receivers (WRs 1986-1989, WRs/QBs 1990-1993).

He coached many future NFL players, including Jim Harbaugh, Elvis Grbac, Todd Collins, Amani Toomer, Derrick Alexander and Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard.[1] Cameron served as an assistant at Michigan alongside future head coaches Lloyd Carr, Gary Moeller, Les Miles, and Mike DeBord. His fellow graduate assistant was Mike Trgovac, who is currently the defensive line coach of the Green Bay Packers, after serving six years as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers."

Poll

Will Cam Cameron be our next OC ?

36%

YES

182 votes

63%

NO

323 votes

505 votes | Poll has closed

There is a great story on Jay Prosch on al.com with video. It is superb!!

He is one super kid and one devestating blocker. I hope we can run an offense that will get him involved in some way or another. If he can catch the ball I am going to be absolutely giddy.

You can read the story at this link to al.com and the video is posted below.

If anyone deserves a hardship transfer waiver, it is Jay. Welcome to your new extended family Jay.

Warning: You may need tissues after watching the video:

Jay Prosch BTN Feature (via IlliniProductionsHD)

Don't know how much credence to give these rumors....but the name getting bounced around the radio in Atlanta and the rumor-monger boards is that Greg Knapp, QB coach of the Texans is a leading candidate for the OC job.

What fits about the rumor is that Knapp is now available and he has a ton of NFL experience as a coordinator with the 49rs coaching Jeff Garcia, the Falcons coaching Mike Vick, the Raiders coaching (ugh!) JaMarcus Russell, the Seahawks with Hasselbeck and the last two years as QB coach with the Texans and Schaub.

Thats a mixed bag of nuts, in terms of results, but I do know that both Vick and Russell never made the commitment to excelling at the professional level. Vick admitted it and with Russell its pretty obvious he doesn't care about much of anything that doesn't come with a side of gravy.

I was never impressed with Knapp as OC in his time with the Falcons, but again you had the Vick factor in play there, which would be maddening to deal with; because of his talent and unwillingness to be coached in Knapps' system which was the West Coast offense.

Based upon his work with the Texans and the play of TJ Yates, I'm pretty impressed. We will definitely need someone that can mentor young QB's and he has plenty of experience. But with the quick read offense that the west coast offense is, I wouldn't expect a young QB to do well in it the 1st year. However, Jason Campbell did fine, so their is always hope.

Then again, the mere fact I know this probably means it definitely WON'T be Knapp.