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March 4, 2006

AUBURN, Ala. - The running game was the focus of the Auburn football team's first scrimmage of the spring, as the Tigers participated in an hour and a half full-speed scrimmage Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. During the 100-play scrimmage, the Tigers tallied 74 rushing plays, while only attempting 26 passes.

"As you can tell by the way the scrimmage went, we came out to run the ball today, to see if we could run it and to see if we could stop the run," said head coach Tommy Tuberville. "It was a pretty good scrimmage. We made a lot of mistakes, and we played a lot of guys. We didn't hold the defense back. They did about everything that they've been taught the last few days. It was a good test. We won't know until we see the tape where we're at and what we need to work on.

"We've had a good first five days," said Tuberville of the first week of spring practice. "We saw a lot of improvement from some guys. I'm really pleased with guys like Tray Blackmon - he did a great job. We have a lot of speed, we just have to make sure we're in the right positions and come back tomorrow and make corrections."

The scrimmage pitted the first and second team offenses against their defensive counterparts. The offenses started from a variety of field locations including from their own 3-yard line.

Freshman Ben Tate was the leading rusher, gaining 61 yards on 13 attempts including a 20-yard scamper. Senior Kenny Irons ran for 54 yards on nine carries, sophomore Brad Lester had 39 yards on 13 rushes and junior Carl Stewart added 32 yards on 12 attempts. Senior Tre Smith scored the offense's lone touchdown on a 2-yard run.

"Our guys ran the ball hard," said Tuberville. "Our offense knew today we were going to run the ball. We didn't tell the defense that, but I think they kind of caught on as the scrimmage went on. The offense had the upper hand early, the defense had the upper hand late. That's a typical scrimmage."

The Auburn defense dominated much of the action, allowing just one touchdown throughout the scrimmage. Seven different players shared team-high honors with seven tackles each, including redshirt freshman linebacker Tray Blackmon, who made several big hits and also had two tackles for loss. Sophomore end Octavius Balkcom had seven stops including three for loss, while Eric Brock, Kevin Sears, Quentin Groves, Courtney Harden and Pat Sims also had seven tackles each. Junior cornerback Jonathan Wilhite had two pass breakups and intercepted a pass for the defense.

In limited duty, junior quarterback Brandon Cox completed 2-of-8 attempts for 11 yards. Sophomore Blake Field was 3-of-7 for 25 yards, while sophomore Calvin Booker threw for 24 yards, completing 2-of-9 passes. Senior tight end Cole Bennett was the lone player with more than one reception, hauling in two catches for 19 yards.

Senior John Vaughn hit 6-of-7 field goals, including six consecutive. Sophomore Zach Kutch was 5-of-6 on field goal attempts.

The Tigers will practice tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CT before taking Monday off. Auburn's second full-scale scrimmage is slated for Saturday, March 11.

Auburn Player Quotes

RB Kenny Irons

On the progression of the offense...
"We have to do a better job of keeping the momentum for a full drive. We have to stay focused and not settle for field goals. When we're backed up in the end zone, we have to be able to make the plays to get out of that situation, and we didn't do that today."

WR Courtney Taylor

On the offense's performance in the scrimmage...
"I think that we played well today and that we are progressing. Today we ran more of a run-oriented offense and there weren't a lot of passing plays. We are going to start opening up the passing game."

On the leadership of the team...
"Right now we need more leaders to step up. Coach Tuberville said today that we needed more leaders and hopefully those people will start to step up and be more vocal for us."

QB Brandon Cox

On the scrimmage...
"We ran the ball a lot, struggled a little bit in the middle, but were able to pick it up in the end. We also need to be more consistent."

NG Josh Thompson

On the defensive effort today...
"I thought we came out and played well today. We're obviously still learning Coach Muschamp's schemes and trying to get the new stuff down, but I thought it was a great effort for the defense today."

On the play of the interior defensive line...
"The inside is coming along well. I thought Pat (Sims) and Tez (Doolittle) had good days today. The offense didn't run inside much, but we're doing fine in there."

LB Karibi Dede

On the younger defensive players...
"I thought they put forth a good effort. The first team was a little sluggish on the first series, but the second-team defense came in and created a spark for us. We were able to keep up the intensity the rest of the day, especially the younger guys. The offense only got in the end zone once, and we haven't been in this new system long so that is a good sign."

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