ADDED WEAPON

By Andrew Gribble

Published: November 10, 2008

Kodi Burns rolled out of bed Sunday, aching from the damage he did on the ground Saturday against UT Martin.

Bumps and bruises were aplenty, but they didn’t come without some consolation.

Burns’ 13 carries for 158 yards — two shy of the all-time record for an Auburn quarterback in a single game — served as Saturday’s knockout punch against the overwhelmed, yet feisty, Skyhawks.

Aware that he put together his career-best rushing performance against a Football Championship Subdivision team, Burns had tempered expectations that he could repeat Saturday’s effort against No. 10 Georgia on Saturday and No. 1 Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

Against those “big boys,” bumps and bruises can easily morph into sprains, tears and fractures.

“I ran the ball a lot,” Burns said. “I’m definitely not going to run that much against Georgia or anything like that, because they’re a great defense.”

Perhaps, but Kentucky’s athletic quarterback Randall Cobb didn’t have much trouble against the Bulldogs on Saturday, running for a team-high 82 yards and three touchdowns in the Wildcats’ 42-38 loss.

Burns had already digested the tape of Cobb’s big day before he sat down with reporters Sunday. The planned running, he said, will likely have to strike a happy medium for Auburn to sneak away with an upset Saturday.

“That’s part of what I do,” Burns said. “We’ll pick and choose when the time that I need to do that is.”

Burns chose the second half against UT Martin to showcase his elusive speed and quickness.

After his team’s surprising struggles in the first half, the offensive coaching staff called a number of designed runs for Burns. In the past, Burns had picked up the bulk of his yards on broken plays, when space opened up in the middle of the field.

Burns’ two touchdown runs went for 31 and 58 yards, respectively, and he had another 31-yard run earlier in the game. A number of broken tackles and slower players in the secondary certainly contributed to the big gains, but the perk of having an extra, ready blocker also provided more muscle.

“It gave our line an easier job to open up the holes,” said tailback Ben Tate, whose block spurred Burns’ first touchdown run. “That’s what worked. All I could do is block hard.”

Of course, Burns also had to run hard. It’s what head coach Tommy Tuberville saw from Burns in high school, and it’s why Burns came to Auburn.

Now, he’s just getting the opportunities.

“He’s not a blazing fast guy,” Tuberville said. “He’s rather quick. He’s strong. He knows how to run the ball. He looks like another running back carrying the ball.”

Burns’ ability to mimic a running back likely won’t go unnoticed over the next two games.

Though he threw for 319 yards two weeks ago at Ole Miss, Burns reverted back to the inefficiency that plagued him throughout his short career against UT Martin. Burns was 12-of-20 for 130 yards, but missed on a number of open opportunities near the sidelines and down the
field.

Auburn’s continued struggles from its trio of tailbacks may also draw Georgia’s and Alabama’s defenses to zero in on Burns’ deftness to flee the pocket and, perhaps, assign a spy to him.

They can go right ahead, Burns said.

“That’s one less guy that we have to worry about in the passing game,” Burns said. “With me being able to run and the running backs being able to block, that just gives you an extra blocker.”

Even if the holes are the same, gaping size Saturday, the hits certainly won’t feel the same. Burns did himself no favors Saturday, bulldozing himself into UTM’s linebackers and safeties, trying to get every yard he possibly could. He did not slide once and rarely ran out of bounds.

That may have to change against the “big boys.”

“He wasn’t going to go down,” Tuberville said. “Of course, in the next two games, he’s going to have to protect himself a little bit more.”

Try running that by Burns, and he’ll just try harder to run you over.

“I’m about 210 pounds,” Burns said, “so I can take a few licks.”

Davis earns SEC honor
Senior kick returner Tristan Davis was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance Saturday against UT Martin.

Davis had a 95-yard return for a touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff.

Davis leads the SEC in average yards per return with 30.9 per try.

His two return touchdowns are also tops in the conference. The senior returned a kick 97 yards for a touchdown, Auburn’s longest since 2000, in a loss to Arkansas last month.

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