Although A-Day has come and gone with this past weekend, the Auburn Tigers were back on the practice field Tuesday and Wednesday morning, making them the last SEC team still holding spring practice.
After an entertaining spring game in front of more than 83,000 fans, most of who then traveled to the celebration at Toomer's Corner, Gus Malzahn and the Tigers took back to the practice field for two fine-tuning practices.
Typically, a program's spring game symbolizes the end of the NCAA's 15-allotted spring practices, but this year, the Auburn coaching staff decided to have a couple of evaluation days during usual practice times and push those practices back until now.
Overall, Malzahn seemed pleased and had a positive attitude toward the team's progress throughout the spring.
"The attitude and the team togetherness was my big thing this spring," he said. "I've said all along, the Xs and Os and the schemes will come with time, but I really feel like we got closer as a team. We talked about the having the hard-nosed, physical edge, and we really put them through it."
After stressing physicality all spring, Malzahn said the emphasis today was on the fundamentals and techniques.
The offense and defense stayed separate and went back to what they worked on at the beginning of the spring.
Malzahn wanted those techniques to be fresh in the players' minds so that they can get better over the summer.
He thinks that the outcome of last season should be a motivating factor for the players and push them to continue to get better over the summer when the coaching staff isn't around.
He said those teams that are able to improve over the summer are the ones that have success during the fall.
"I like where we are at right now as far as our attitude," Malzahn said. "It will just be a matter of how hard we work over the summer, and hopefully they will come back improved from today."
Malzahn said the coaching staff will spend the next few days further evaluating each position and working toward coming up with a preliminary depth chart. They will then hit the road for recruiting.
Malzahn doesn't necessarily think not having a depth chart at this point is a bad thing, because it will inspire competition and establish depth at most positions. He said they will also need some of the young guys coming in to help out in that regard.
However, they have a much better understanding of the players than at the beginning of the spring, and that is the good thing.
Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee will be able to further evaluate the quarterback position now that the spring is over. They will match up the numbers, meet with each quarterback and go over what they need to improve on.
Malzahn said the idea is to open up the competition for fall camp, but they want to name a starter sooner rather than later once they get there.
He had no updates on the eligibility of senior safety Demetruce McNeal, who missed the final five practices of the spring due to off-the-field issues, but hopes to have the situation resolved at some point next week.
Malzahn said the staff will begin to shift some of their attention toward next season's opponents over the summer, but they need to spend more time focusing on their team for now.
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