Blasts from the past

Here at Eye on the Tigers, we don't have a souped-up DeLorean with a flux capacitor (not in the budget).

But we do have a pretty sweet MacBook Pro -- and it's silver, like the ride above -- that makes it easy for us to partake in a bit of time travel. As in, back to August of 2009.

When you're in the first few weeks of camp, sometimes it's hard to sort out what you're hearing from coaches and players. Are they offering real insight into what's going on behind closed doors (or fences, in this case)?

Sometimes it's useful to look back at what they said before.

With that, here's a look at some of the stuff that was said during last year's camp as the Tigers prepared for Year 1 under Dabo Swinney and Co.:

“After today, I might be 110 percent. I felt pretty good today. I did team pass rush for the first time in a long time. It felt real good. I came off the ball good. I felt like I was explosive. I felt real good, but I’ve got to take it day by day.”

-- Ricky Sapp, after one day of camp

"We feel OK about Walker, Lambert, Hairston and Grant at tackle. Those are four guys that have a lot of experience in our offense. We’ll go to war with them and try to develop another one.”

-- Brad Scott, Aug. 6

“When we started spring, after the first couple of days I thought I was going to have to start collecting boxes. Then they got better as the spring went on. At the end of spring, from a freshman kicker and a guy who’s never kicked, it couldn’t be any better.

“I don’t expect either one of them to be All-American. And then, we can’t ask them to kick 40-yard field goals too often. But I’m expecting good improvement. I ain’t going to hit the panic button, but I’m not going to hit the easy button either.”

-- Andre' Powell, Aug. 9 (discussing kickers Richard Jackson and Spencer Benton)

“C.J. Spiller is where we’ll hang our hat. He’s a fourth-year player, a senior who’s earned his opportunity to get his touches.”

-- Billy Napier, Aug. 11

"Freeman is right there battling. Cloy had a bad day earlier in the week, and Freeman stepped up and did a pretty good job. Cloy has kind of come back. Cloy has had a good camp. I’m going to play them both. I think Freeman has got a chance to be an outstanding player. He might be one of our top five. If that’s the case, then we’d have to find a place for him."

-- Brad Scott, Aug. 14

"Those (quarterbacks) are athletic, they’ve got quick releases, and they do work the pocket really nice. I don’t see those guys outside on the flanks trying to escape and all that. I see a butt moving.

“I just think we’re better up front. I think our schemes are good. I think our quarterbacks are quick, and they’ve got good throws. That helps an offensive line.”

-- Scott, Aug. 14

“(Receivers) have had trouble adapting (to the increased tempo during the spring). They’d get winded, they’d drop more balls, maybe a little less focus, a little more fatigued. We’re also short in numbers at receiver.

“They’ve had the summer to get ready, and I think they’ve become a more consistent, productive group.”

-- Napier, Aug. 20

“When you play against a team whose offense huddles every play, then it really becomes a competitive advantage. It’s just one of those areas where I feel like you can really gain an advantage and be different. I think it’ll serve us well when the season gets here.”

-- Napier, Aug. 20 (on up-tempo offense)

“I have to go with my instincts. I’m going to try to not interfere as much as possible. But there will be times when I’ll just have to say: ‘I got it.’”

-- Dabo Swinney, Aug. 23 (on play-calling)

"I think we'll be able to count on Jaron Brown from the start. Obviously he’s never played in a game before, so you know that. But we’re preparing him, and I think as the year goes on his role will increase. He’ll be given a little bit out there at the beginning, and we’ll see how he responds. But he’s a guy I expect as the year goes on will become a bigger and bigger factor for us.”

-- Jeff Scott, Aug. 25

“Excitement is the correct emotion for me. I think nerves will come. If you’re not nervous, you’re not human. But I’ve been out there enough to be able to put it in perspective, I think.

“Knock on wood.”

-- Richard Jackson, Aug. 26

“I’ve been trying to get down low with the pads and just run the ball hard. On short yardage and goal line, I’ll get the ball and I’m going in and trying to bulldoze people – get low behind my pads and just move forward.”

-- Rendrick Taylor, Aug. 28

“I think the biggest problem was, mentally I wasn’t prepared. Physically, I was. But I’m more smarter now, more of a student of the game. I’m not just going out there playing. … I was fortunate enough to play a lot as a freshman, and I think it helped me a lot going into this year by actually knowing what to expect and how the flow is going to go for the games.”

-- Da'Quan Bowers, Sept. 1

“I think the identity is going to be an offense that gets the ball to its playmakers and gives guys opportunities to win games for us. Obviously we want to be able to run the football. I think our identity will change within our system from year to year based on the personnel that we have.

“I think we have a great system, very flexible. But our identity is: We want to be able to run the ball, and we want to be able to play-action. We want to stretch the field horizontally, but also vertically through the play-action pass, primarily. But also, we’ll drop back and take our shots from time to time and make sure that people aren’t just playing tendencies and things like that. We’re a zone football team with the inside zone and outside zone schemes. But we also want to be a power team and gap it. … We’re a spread football team, but we’ll be under center and do split backs and one back. We’ll do a lot of different things with our tight ends as far as creating a two-back type of mentality at times, but also we’ll spread the field."

-- Swinney, Aug. 22

A few quick links...

Here's an update from Auburn's camp.

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.”

Here's a piece on Auburn's two freshman receivers showing out.

Receivers coach Trooper Taylor called the play of both Goodwin and Kitchens "phenomenal." Taylor said Goodwin is "not afraid. I know he can help us on special teams a whole bunch, and it was good to see him block. That was my big deal. He put his face in there."

Good story here on Adewale Ojomo, who missed last season after -- get this -- getting sucker-punched by one of his own teammates.

Reportedly ``sucker-punched'' in the locker room by a former walk-on a year ago during fall camp, University of Miami's 6-4, 260-pound defensive end had his jaw shattered -- along with his dream of being a force on the line.

For six weeks, his jaw wired shut, the Hialeah High graduate slurped his nourishment through a straw. For a full season, he watched his teammates play without him. They missed his energy, his fire, his penchant for extending his long, muscular arms and roaring to the sky when he made a huge play.

Now, stronger and more determined than ever, Ojomo, described as ``a terror'' by fellow defensive end nightmare Allen Bailey, prepares to play for the first time since 2008.

Up at Boston College, Magnum is concerned about receiver.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com writes about the growing popularity of the 3-4 defense.

N.C. State's players are getting early wake-up calls.

Coach Tom O'Brien is implementing a new schedule that will have the team practicing in the morning, before classes, throughout the season.

Practice will start at about 8 a.m., allowing students to go back to campus and stay there the rest of the day.

"It will help us better with our academics and class and everything else," O'Brien said. "By 11 o'clock, noontime, we'll be finished here. They'll go back to campus. They can go be students. They can get all their work done and then be finished with football for the day."

At North Texas, coach Todd Dodge has been given an ultimatum: Win seven or else.



LW