TIGER TALK REVIEW: South Alabama Week

It’s once again time for TIGER TALK.

WHERE TO LISTEN: You can check here to see which radio station near you may be carrying the show. You also can click that link and get hooked into the stream through Auburn’s web portal.

WHERE TO WATCH: You can check here to see if the Tiger Talk Live Stream is active. I am told everyone can watch the stream on War Eagle + even if you’re not a paid member. I am not sure this is true. I will update this as conditions merit.

* I refer to Brad Law as “Not Andy” as a sign of affection. Though I had a beef with Brad for a number of years, that beef has been squashed. I said I’d begin referring to him as “Brad” on these reviews, which date back the Tuberville days on HABOTN, but he said he’d prefer I continue referring to him as “Not Andy.” So that’s the story.

THE SHOW BEGINS

It’s once again time for TIGER TALK.

WHERE TO LISTEN: You can check here to see which radio station near you may be carrying the show. You also can click that link and get hooked into the stream through Auburn’s web portal.

WHERE TO WATCH: You can check here to see if the Tiger Talk Live Stream is active. I am told everyone can watch the stream on War Eagle + even if you’re not a paid member. I am not sure this is true. I will update this as conditions merit.

* I refer to Brad Law as “Not Andy” as a sign of affection. Though I had a beef with Brad for a number of years, that beef has been squashed. I said I’d begin referring to him as “Brad” on these reviews, which date back the Tuberville days on HABOTN, but he said he’d prefer I continue referring to him as “Not Andy.” So that’s the story.

AND WE BEGIN …

ANDY congratulates Hugh on the win. Hugh appreciates that, says the atmosphere was great.

“I wish I could really take that in.”

HUGH says that years ago when people would introduce him as HUUUUUUGH, it was bad because his daughters (who were young then) thought he was getting booed. “Why are they booing you, Dad?” I said: “They’re not yet, but they probably will at some point.”

GUFFAWS ALL AROUND

NOT ANDY asks about the defense. “I think our defensive improved from Week 1 to Week 2 — moreso than any unit. There was effort being given. There was some physicality. I thought they played with the confidence that I’d seen in fall camp.”

“The front has been buying into what we’ve been preaching. We may not have the star guy, but there’s strength in numbers. Play your 15 snaps with incredible passion, energy and technique. We have enough depth there to be solid. It’s proven to be there.”

NOT ANDY says Auburn took what the defense gave them. “They were more Quarters, but it was really soft Quarters. We could have thrown Hitch RPOs every run play if we wanted to. I did not think we played great offensively, honestly. I didn’t think we strained at times to protect. We didn’t finish some blocks like we did at Baylor.”

THE SECOND SEGMENT

HERB is in the house. He’s dissatisfied with the penalties and fumbles. “We’re not happy with the penalties in all three phases. A couple of them … Amaris was laying it out and his hand got on the facemask. Those will happen. The hold on Connor was not a hold. I’ve already turned that one in and got it back and it was not a hold. Special team penalties are the ones that are real. It was ridiculous. You didn’t have to hold the guy; he didn’t have anything to do with the return.”

“Too many balls on the ground for sure. I’d like to have zero. We had too many balls that were loosey-goosey.”

BUSTER is in the house. He likes that Auburn is willing to play every team in the state. “We think it’s a good thing. It’s scary to me because I know they’re be excited and fires up and all that. It’s so good for our state. We’ll play them all. It keeps the money in the state and it’s easier on all the fanbases, too, to come together.”

KEN/KENT is in the house. He wants to talk about Durell Robinson‘s development and the non-fumble for Woodyard. “Durell, in all of my years coaching I’ve never seen that. They call it compartmentalized syndrome. Blood just gathered all on his thigh from a hit that he took. It’s unfortunate. They had to take him to UAB and do surgery. They had to do a long incision. It’s going to be a little bit in terms of recovery.”

“The forward-progress deal … I think it was a very clear strip. I’ve watched it 100 times.”

ANDY asks about the tailback situation. “Damari is still questionable. It’s a shoulder. You don’t really know until you take a hit on it. We’ve got to get Omar (Mabson) ready. We’ve got to get Alvin some definite meeting time. I don’t know that it’s reasonable to get … Omar ready and Alvin ready. I think we’d be doing a disservice to the team and those kids. We believe in Alvin. It’s very difficult to get all the looks you need to get those kids ready. I think it’s really Omar and Jeremiah … and hopeful for Damari.”

ANDY asks about how pass pro is the toughest part of the job for a freshman tailback. Hugh agrees heartily, but says it’s tougher than just blocking. “Just inside zone … you don’t just run (it) and it hits the same way every time. It’s very helpful if you know that Connor is telling me right now that I need to press the front size of his cheek and not the back side of it.”

(Andy gets a laugh out of a reference to Connor Lew‘s ass cheek.)

THE THIRD SEGMENT

ZETH/ZEF/ZEP is in the house. He wants to know what Freeze says to the line judge when he’s pissed off. “He didn’t enjoy that moment. He’s a new guy in the league, too. I don’t curse. That’s not really my deal. I can be really sarcastic. I’ve tried to improve on that. I did tell him that he needed to go back to another conference. I did apologize … later. You fight for your kids.”

FAY/FAYE had a question about Damari, but Andy stole it from her. SHAME.

NOT ANDY asks if players can be focused for every game. What is Freeze’s message in this case? “Do I think that it’s possible for them to be emotionally high every single Saturday? No. I don’t. I’ve never believed that. If you say you want to be great, there has to be a level of focus and preparation and then passion that goes into effort. If the players aren’t demanding that of each other … then I don’t know that any coach really has a great chance of that being a consistency within your program.”

ANDY asks about Sly Smith, who was great the other night after being challenged. “He responded really well. It was really good to see that because some don’t. It’s a pride thing. It’s so good to see him bounce back. We really need him back there to be kind of … we’re playing a lot of freshmen. Somebody’s got to get us all on the same page.”

NOT ANDY thinks coaches can still coach kids hard. Hugh notes that it’s possible, but the kids have to be receptive. “You still can coach them hard if they know that you care. That’s our approach. Many (players) that choose to humble themselves and to be taught, it’s going to pay dividends to them.”

THE FINAL SEGMENT

NOT ANDY wants to talk about Connor Gibbs having to take over for Towns the other night. “Did Connor ever come in and blow our doors off? Those kickoffs were 4.0 hang time and deep into the end zone. He hadn’t had his shot and here he goes. Man, those kickoffs were hard to argue with now. We’re going to have a little competition tomorrow for long field goals.”

ANDY asks about South Alabama. “Offensively, I think (Paul) Petrino does a great job of formationing you, motioning, shifting, causing you to communicate and check. We’re young in the secondary. The Baylor game, we had a lot of confusion. He’s going to make us … make a lot of checks. They have a solid G5 O-line. It’s really the scheme and everything they do that tries to get you to make a mistake.”

“Defensively, they’re going to muddy the front.”

“They’re not going to stay stagnant. This team is going to be four down, odd and mint. And them move. They’d like to try to play six in the box and play some time of coverage behind it and see if they can stop the run by doing that. We’ve been pretty good against six in the box so far. We’ll see if that can carry.”

“They’ll be excited to play here.”

Hugh notes that two of his former guys are working now at South — Eric Ponio and Zach Crisler.

NOT ANDY asks about Auburn’s speed at linebacker. “We’re going to need those young safeties and nickels to play well. Woodby and Fegans and Winters are going to get a lot of snaps. Linebacker-wise, we’re goin gto play that same five guys we’re rotating right now. It’ll be vital that we get on the same page.”

ANDY asks about linebacker Xavier Atkins. “That kid loves ball. Period. He loved to practice. He’s going 100 miles per hour in every practice, film session, all of it. This day and age, that’s good to see. A kid like him is really hungry for success. We’ve got to work on a little bit of his academic views. He views that this lend of football is his chance to do something great.”

Hugh finishes with a cheery, contented: “War Eagle, guys. Thank you, guys.”