Auburn Football Practice Report - AuburnTigers.com - Auburn University Official Athletic Site

Auburn Football Practice Report Tigers hold first scrimmage of spring

Montez Billings

March 1, 2008

Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn football team held its first scrimmage of the spring Saturday, running approximately 130 plays during the two-plus hour session. The Auburn offense scored four times through the air and twice on the ground, while the Tigers' defense came up with two interceptions that were returned for scores.

"We didn't let the defense do a whole lot today," said Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville. "The offense should have scored some points and they did. I think we looked a little rough--this was our first scrimmage with this offense. The offense is pretty tough on both teams, so you have to be in good shape."

Sophomore quarterback Kodi Burns completed 22-of-37 passes for 162 yards, including one touchdown and one interception. Burns' TD strike was a 20-yarder to senior running back Brad Lester.

"I thought the effort was good and Kodi (Burns), considering this is relatively new to him, looked pretty good," Tuberville said. "Everybody else kind of struggled. I saw some good things on both sides, but we will just have to look at the film. We will practice tomorrow and see where we are at."

Lester scored the afternoon's first touchdown on an 8-yard run. Lester finished with 44 yards on 12 carries. True freshman signal caller DeRon Furr led the Tigers' running attack with 57 yards on 10 attempts. Running back Anthony Jemison added a 3-yard TD run.

Quarterback Neil Caudle connected on 22-of-33 passes for 243 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Caudle hit Quindarius Carr on a 46-yard touchdown play and also found Robert Dunn (16 yards) and Terrell Zachery (22 yards) for TD scores.

Zachery led the Tiger receivers with nine receptions for 84 yards, while Dunn had six catches for 63 yards. Montez Billings had six receptions for 57 yards, while Tommy Trott added five catches for 33 yards.

A total of 16 different receivers had at least one reception on the day.

Defensively, Zac Etheridge, Josh Bynes, Mike Slade and Craig Stevens each tallied eight tackles.

Defensive back Jonathan Vickers had a 35-yard interception return for a TD early in the scrimmage and defensive tackle Jemarcus Ricks caught a tipped ball in the end zone for a TD.

Auburn will hold its sixth practice of the spring on Sunday at the Athletic Complex practice fields beginning at 4 p.m. CT.