March 21, 2007

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn football team held its final workout of the spring Wednesday at Jordan-Hare Stadium, practicing for close to an hour before holding a half scrimmage. It marked the last of Auburn's 15 spring workouts for the 2007 season.

The Tigers started the workout practicing on their special teams and conducting various individual, group and skelly drills. Once the drills were concluded, Auburn held a half scrimmage in which the offense exploded for 10 touchdowns.

"It was a good finish to spring practice on the offensive side of the ball," said head coach Tommy Tuberville. "The defense got taken to the woodshed today. I haven't seen that in many, many a moon. It was a good showing. The running backs ran hard, the offensive line blocked well. We didn't handcuff either side. I told both coordinators to run what you want and make it hard on the other side. I'm really proud of the offense and how they improved. They showed a lot of improvement, a lot of competitiveness."

Redshirt freshman Mario Fannin provided the early excitement, running for scores of 58 and 60 yards on his second and third carries, respectively. Fannin later added an 11-yard touchdown run and another gain of 44 yards to finish with 206 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries.

Junior Tristan Davis started slower, but ended with a bang. After gaining 41 yards on his first 12 carries, Davis scored touchdowns on each of his last three runs, coming from 40, 4 and 15 yards. He finished with 100 yards on 15 carries and three scores.

The Tigers also excelled through the air, particularly when senior Brandon Cox was leading the first team. Cox connected with junior Rod Smith on a 75-yard touchdown on the first play, and later hit junior Brad Lester for an 18-yard score on a screen pass before lobbing a 3-yard touchdown toss to sophomore tight end Gabe McKenzie on his last pass of the day. Cox completed 14 of 19 passes for 302 yards and three scores.

Smith finished with 118 yards receiving on three catches, while junior Robert Dunn also went over 100 yards receiving with four receptions for 103 yards.

Defensively, the Tigers were without some key players, but several others stepped up. Redshirt freshman Craig Stevens led the team with six tackles including a sack, while junior Chris Evans had five tackles. Senior Quentin Groves and sophomore Patrick Trahan had two sacks each, while senior Eric Brock and junior Blake Shrader both intercepted passes.

"We didn't tackle very well," said Tuberville. "Some guys were hurt on defense, but that's no excuse. We should have played better than that, but the offense had something to say about that.

"Overall, it was an excellent spring. I wish a couple of guys had gotten a little bit more practice time, but that's part of it. It was a good day and a good month. Now these guys, after a long year from August first to this point, deserve a week off. We'll put our nose to the grindstone and start getting ready for next year."

Auburn opens the 2007 season against Kansas State on Sept. 1 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn Player Quotes

QB Brandon Cox
On the spring...
"It went as well as we could have expected, especially offensively. There were a lot of question marks with the offensive line and receivers coming into the spring. We had some offensive linemen step and some receivers step up. Today was a good day to end on, with the offense coming out and having a productive day."

On the half scrimmage...
"We had a good day at A-Day, but we still had some question marks about going up against base defense and Quentin (Groves) and Josh (Thompson) being out. Today we came out, and coach said offense and defense could do whatever they want to. Everyone was out there, and we came out and had a really good day. There are no more excuses. We made a lot of strides throughout the spring."

RB Tristan Davis
On the spring...
"The spring went well overall. The backs and the offense as a whole really made a lot of progress. We started out kind of slow, but toward the end we started making big plays. That's what it's all about. We might start out slow, but Coach Borges always talks about recovering, and that's what we did today."

On the rushing attack in the scrimmage...
"We kind of knew that the defense was going to come at us because they were kind of frustrated about Saturday's game. We knew they were going to come at us with everything they had, and all we had to do was produce and the big plays would be there."

RB Mario Fannin
On his performance throughout the spring...
"This spring was a learning experience. I came out here and was able to show the coaches that I was ready to play. It was a good time."

On the half scrimmage...
"The offense was on a mission. We came out here and got after it. The defense played hard, but we came out on top this time."

WR Robert Dunn
On the offensive progression throughout the spring...
"We made a lot of strides. We still have a lot of work to do, but I feel like we got a lot better this spring, but we still have a long way to go. The receivers stepped up, the running backs played well and the offensive line is where everyone expected them to be, but we still have a long way to go."

On the half scrimmage...
"I was kind of expecting it to be a little bit tougher. I don't really know what happened. We just came out firing on all cylinders. That is what happens when everyone is in synch with each other. The offensive line was blocking. The receivers were making plays. The quarterbacks were putting the ball on the money. We just worked hard."