NOTES: Scrimmage (8/17/10)

Todd Van Emst/Auburn U.

Michael Dyer shined in the Tigers' scrimmage.

• Gene Chizik singled out Kodi Burns. He praised him for being a good pass-catcher and a special-teams force. “He’s just a great Auburn guy. He’s trying to do everything for us right now.”
• “We went 80-some-odd plays.”
• The offense scored 82 points via the scoring system that rewards teams for achieving certain things … not just touchdowns and field goals.
• The scrimmage tone was set when TB Michael Dyer broke free for a pair of long runs early. The defense, LB Craig Stevens said, was shocked by that development and struggled to rebound emotionally.
• Stevens: “We didn’t do too well today. We had a little adversity early. They jumped out on us. We tried to find a way to respond but we just couldn’t get it done.”
• Dyer: “I take what’s given to me. If the hole is there, it’s there. If not, I try to create one. I never really thought about it as much as people do.”
• Defensive coordinator Ted Roof: “We’ve got to be able to adjust to the tempo of the game and play with the speed of the game because as a defense you don’t dictate that — you dictate how you play. And that’s what we’ve got to concern ourselves with.”
• Assistant coach Tracy Rocker made the entire defensive line work some extra conditioning drills after the scrimmage. Based on how sweaty those players were upon exiting Jordan-Hare Stadium, I’d say it was a rigorous session.
• TB Mario Fannin scored on a screen pass.
• Fannin also fumbled. He paid the price: “I had it in my left arm and it slipped off my brace when I cut back across the field. It slipped off my brace. I didn’t get hit. I had to do some up-downs for that one, but it was well worth it. You’ve got to have good ball protection.”
• Burns scored on two pass plays from Cam Newton.
• Jay Wisner scored on a long pass, too. We believe that throw was from Neil Caudle.
• You think all this scoring made Gus Malzahn happy? Not quite. “In my mind right now I’m thinking of the things we didn’t do very good. And we’re still not there yet. Penalty-wise we’re not there yet. Execution-wise we’re not there. And we’ve got two weeks to fix it.”
• Chizik said several quarterbacks had good nights. “They’re competing really hard.”
• It appears the emphasis on defense was to break in some young players, but Stevens said the defensive problems shouldn’t be placed solely on the second-team guys. “Both defenses were off and on tonight. I’m not going to lie. The fact that we didn’t respond tonight, it’s not the way to end camp. We’ll find a way to pick it up.”
• Chizik said Dyer “did some good things. We’ll continue to work him and see where he fits into this.”
• More on Dyer: “His head was swimming the first week and a half. He’s playing a little bit more now without thinking. It’s going to be a continuous learning process with it. You can’t just run the ball. There are protections … and blitzes.”

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