SCRIMMAGE NOTES: 8/11/10

Hey everyone. Let’s boogie.

Todd Van Emst/Auburn U.

Antonio Goodwin caught two touchdown passes Wednesday night.

• Gene Chizik: “Overall, I thought it was a really good first scrimmage.”
• He said Cam Newton, Neil Caudle and Clint Moseley rotated with the offense. “We’re going to continue to work them all.”
• Chizik: “Our young linebackers did a nice job. Corey Lemonier continues to improve. Jeff Whitaker continues to improve.“
• He said turnovers “weren’t an issue tonight. for the first time tonight, there wasn’t a lot of negative things happening other than the explosive plays, which is a great thing for the offense and obviously not for the defense.”
• Zac Etheridge did not participate in the scrimmage.
• Ted Roof, defensive coordinator, seemed satisfied with the team’s run defense. He was upset about penalties (two offsides calls converted third downs) and some busts in the passing game.
• LB Craig Stevens echoed that sentiment, saying a second year in Roof’s defense has made a big difference in understanding run-defense assignments. Roof said it’s a matter of better fits along the front and taking better angles when pursuing runners.
• Stevens: “You’re always going to give up one or two big plays. You try not to give up any, but overall it’s the response. And I feel like we responded today. Because after the big plays, we responded with a couple of stops and picked it back up on defense. So overall, we need to improve on that, but I think we responded well.”

• WR Emory Blake said what stuck out to him was overall passing efficiency and Antonio Goodwin (pictured), who caught several passes that went for long gains. Mario Fannin said Goodwin scored twice.
• Trooper Taylor on Antonio Goodwin: “I’m telling you, the guy is phenomenal. He can go get the football. He’s not afraid. I know he can probably play on special teams a whole bunch, but it was good to see him live. That was my biggest thing was he put his face in there. He got overwhelmed by some of the bigger guys in the blocking process, but he stuck his face in there and for me that’s big.”
• Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn on Newton: “It was good for him to get the reps. He made some good plays and he made some things that I know he wished he could do better. That’s part of the process. He needs reps. So each scrimmage he’ll continue to get a lot of reps. “

• Fannin on Michael Dyer: “Mike looked good. He’s a quick guy and he’s low to the ground and he can make some people miss too. He looked really good. He’s got to basically keep learning the offense and he’ll get better as the year goes along, too.”
• Pat Dye and, as you see below, Chuck Person were in attendance.
Todd Van Emst/Auburn U.

Chuck Person made an appearance at Wednesday's scrimmage.

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