Tuberville committed to ‘Auburn Offense’

By Mike Szvetitz
Sports Editor, Opelika-Auburn News
Published: September 30, 2008

Sunday, Auburn’s offensive coordinator admitted the Tigers aren’t running the “Tony Franklin Offense.”

He called it the “Auburn Offense.”

Tuesday, during his weekly press conference, Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville agreed.

The spread offense that Franklin’s been known for, which he implemented at Kentucky and Troy and at countless high schools across the country, has taken a backseat this year on the Plains.

The reason?

Franklin says it’s a mixture of him trying to figure out what works best for the personnel he has and the way he relays it as a coach.

“We’re having to try to adjust,” Franklin said Sunday. “We’re trying to adjust what these guys can do. So that’s a never-ending challenge, trying to figure it out. And just when you think you might have your finger on it, there’s another adjustment to be made.

“So we’re still searching, trying to figure it out. Trying to figure out what works best for Auburn.”

Tuberville, again, agrees, noting that running the entire “Tony Franklin Offense” isn’t going to work right now for this particular team at this particular time.

“I love this offense,” AU’s head coach said Tuesday. “It’s going to be great. I’m glad we’ve gone to it. It’s going to give us some options.

“The only thing that we do, and I make sure we give our players the opportunity with the talent we have. One day we’ll have the talent that we can say, ’Well, we’ll run 100 percent of what Tony likes to run.’ Right now, we don’t have that talent in some areas.”

But Tuberville says he’s going to stick with the system in place, because he believes in it and the guy who’s running it, cautioning that you’ve got to do what works.

“We’ll always tweak it,” Tuberville said. “We don’t run Tony Franklin’s spread offense. This is Auburn’s offense. It’s like our defense. We’re going to run what works and what we’re going to match up better with the other team. Everybody has to do that. You can’t put … a square peg in a round hole. Why would you do that?

“The spread offense is a heck of an offense. We’re going to run more of it as we go. Heck, we might run it 100 percent this week just depending on the situation.”

Injury report

Tuberville said the Tigers are getting healthy this week and he expects most everyone to be back in the lineup for Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.

Running backs Brad Lester (knee) and Tristan Davis (concussion) were held out of last week’s Tennessee game, but Tuberville said both were at practice Tuesday and should play this week.

Middle linebacker Tray Blackmon (wrist) will play as well, but will have to do it with a cast on his hand to protect the broken wrist.

Byrum working out of slump

Sophomore place-kicker Wes Byrum knows what the problem is.

He knows why he’s missed his last three field goals in a row.

“I’m not hitting the ball on the same spot on my foot every time,” he said.

That’s it. It’s that simple?

For a kicker, yes. And the way you fix that, Byrum says, is to get back to the fundamentals of kicking. And more than anything, repetition.

“I’ve been working hard last week and this week, just going over my mechanics, going back to the basics,” said Byrum, who estimates he kicks 50 to 60 field goals in practice. “I just need to get back to good, solid contact.”

Tuberville said Byrum will kick against Vanderbilt this weekend.

Tough man competition

Only once did Zac Etheridge think about taking himself out of Saturday’s game against Tennessee.

Playing the entire game with a bruised left shoulder, Etheridge didn’t feel the need to come out. Then he landed directly on it after a tackle.

“I thought about it,” Etheridge said of leaving the game, “but it was a big game, so I had to push myself to keep going.”

Etheridge pushed himself to one of his best performances of the season, if not his career, finishing with six tackles from his safety position, including one for loss.

“He played big, is what I told Coach Tubs in the meeting,” said defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads. “He was a general to that secondary.”

All with a bruised shoulder that kept Etheridge out of two practices last week.

“It’s pretty sore,” the sophomore said. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a little banged up. I’m keeping ice on it.”

But it didn’t affect his play, and that caught him off guard.

“Yeah, I’m surprised I did,” Etheridge said of playing so well being hurt. “Just not letting the shoulder affect me and just going out there and playing. I saw that I had 22 production points. That’s a plus, just playing on my hurt shoulder.”