If I were to start a Bucket List, this would be at the top:

"I've been to Tony's system clinic before, it's 2 days of intensive football training. However, this year I had a bit different perspective on things given that he's at Auburn now. Several things that he mentioned that may be of interest with regards to Auburn:

We're going to be the most hard-nosed, physical, passing team in the country.

Tempo is the key to the game, attack and control it.

Offensive philosophy: Fast, Fight, Finish

Great game execution comes from great pace (very fast)and intensity in practice by the players and coaches

He said that Auburn will line up under center more and run downhill more than he did at Troy, because of the quality of AU's offensive linemen

He also said that he will run more formations with a tight end (Which are already available in the playbook, just typically not used that often) because of the number of great players we have at the position

Something that I hadn't heard before that he said with regards to game planning and making adjustments; Basically he has a fairly lengthy script, he makes it a point to get through that script no matter how long it takes. Once he has done that he has a fair idea of what's going to work, based on how he charts the success of plays. The adjustments that he makes through the course of the game essentially boil down to running the plays that worked over and over again. He is definitely not afraid of calling the same play back to back if it worked before. A very pragmatic, no nonsense approach.

He also is including all the practice plans for the 9 Auburn practices where he installed the offense. I'm looking forward to seeing that when we get everything.

Another thing that AU fans might find interesting is that Tony does 'player scripts'. Which is a list of particular plays or variations on existing plays that target getting the ball to a particular playmaker. He showed us a script sheet from the Troy vs Arkansas game, and the name that was most prevalent on that sheet was Jerrell Jernigan. I think we missed out on that guy big time.

He also tracks 'touches', or each time one of his playmakers gets to touch the ball in a game. When he looked at the chart at half time of the bowl game he noticed Brad Lester only had 4 touches, and he wanted to get him at least 15, so that's what he set out to do in the second half. It's amazing how well an offense works when the playmakers get to make plays in space. :)

I also got to spend a little time talking to Troy's RB coach, Chad Scott. The guy was very impressive! If Eddie Gran happens to get the South Alabama job, this guy should be our next RB coach!

Sorry for the length of this post, but I thought that some of this stuff might interest some folks around here." (Mattimer40 from the Bunker last night)

A couple of notes from the above quoted post...

1) I must attend one of these camps before I kick the bucket. It would be incredible to see into Franklin's mind and figure out what all went through his mind to get AU's offense ready in nine practices to take on a top-10 defense.

2) I love that Franklin plans to have plenty of lining up under center. One thing that I grew to loathe watching Florida run the "spread" was watching every snap out of the shotgun. Chris Leak looked even more awkward in a prototypical I-formation accepting the snap directly, and one of the things that scared me most about this hire was thinking the same thing about any of AU's future quarterbacks. I'm hoping for a good mix like the one Mark Richt employs at Georgia.

3) I love that he charts touches, and I'm certain recruits will love this as well. Mario Fannin is going to get the ball in his hands at least 10 times a game next season...wow. We may have a new favorite trick play(s) to replace the flea flicker TD pass against Arkansas in 2004. This goes right into my fourth and final point...

4) Player scripts. Need I say more? It was things like these that got Urban Meyer recognized at Notre Dame and Colorado State, leading to his hiring at Bowling Green.

On to the defensive side...

We have sadly parted ways with Will Muschamp, and we are now under the direction of Paul Rhoads. Rhoads' resume is impressive enough, especially on passing defense and total defense. It's hard to get excited after losing someone with Muschamp's dynamics, though. I'm sure we'll continue to have top-7 defenses nationally because Tommy Tuberville is not going to sit idly by and watch the defense suffer, but I can't help but think of the possibilities one more year with BOOM would have done. I don't see any "Superman wears Paul Rhoads pajamas" jokes in the near future.

Some positives though...The guy wants to have the best secondary in the country, which will be big. He will get an opportunity to work with potential All-SEC stars Aaron Savage and Jerraud Powers. His Pitt defense completely shut down a West Virginia team that should be very similar to the one we face in September or October. Lastly, as good as Will Muschamp is, how many times did we play in Atlanta when he was here?

As always, War Eagle everyone.

Chris
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