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Mike Lutzenkirchen reaches out to students during emotional 'Lessons from Lutz'

By Eric Wallace | Sports Writer | March 12

“My son was a 23-year old man and was mature beyond his age because of Auburn University,” Lutzenkirchen said. “Philip made the choice to do what he did and he made the choice to get in that vehicle. I just don’t want to see other kids make it. That gives me strength to have a conversation about those details.”

Softball defeats Troy in second competition

March 11

It was only a two-run game for the Tigers on Wednesday, March 11, against Troy, but two was all they needed to seal the victory, allowing no runs from the Trojans. Coming back into Alabama from sunny Fullerton, California with three out of five game wins, the Tiger’s were in great shape to battle the Trojans for the second time this season, even if they still aren’t back at Jane B.

12 Tigers qualify for NCAA Championships

By Derek Thompson | Sports Reporter | March 11

Twelve athletes (10 swimmers and two divers) punched their ticket to compete in the 2015 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships March 26-28 in Iowa City, Iowa. The swimmers who earned a place in the competition are senior Alex Hancock, junior Arthur Mendes, sophomores Kyle Darmody, Michael Duderstadt and Joe Patching and freshmen Peter Holoda, Jacob Molacek, Hugo Morris and Zack Warner. Senior Fraser McKean will lead the divers and compete on the 1-meter, 3-meter and platform for the second straight year after his performances at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships March 9-11.

Golloway feels confident heading into conference opener

By Sam Butler | Sports Writer | March 11

With his Auburn squad sitting at 13-4 heading into conference play, coach Sunny Golloway said he feels his team is ready to get into the thick of the season. “We’re excited to be going to Texas A&M and excited to be starting conference play,” Golloway said during Wednesday’s teleconference.

Pearl, Tigers look toward Nashville

By David McKinney | Assistant Sports Editor | March 11

It’s do or die time. From here on out, every game for Auburn’s men’s basketball team could be their last of the season as begin Southeastern Conference tournament play Wednesday, March 11, in Nashville, Tennessee. The first opponent is a familiar one in the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who the Tigers lost to 78-71 at Auburn Arena in January.

Samford takes down Auburn at home

By Derek Thompson | Sports Reporter | March 11

Derek Thompson Sports Reporter Samford takes down Auburn at home In-state opponent Samford defeated Auburn 6-0 Tuesday, March 10 at Plainsman Park. It was all Samford (5-8) as the Tigers committed six errors, gave up three unearned runs and couldn’t get the bats going against Bulldog’s pitcher Parker Curry. Curry picked up the win after the junior gave up only five hits, allowed zero runs, no walks and recorded seven strikeouts through eight innings. “We looked at the pitch count,” said head coach Sunny Golloway.

Errors doom Tigers against Samford

By Derek Thompson | Sports Reporter | March 11

“We looked at the pitch count,” coach Sunny Golloway said. “They had 41 pitches thrown through five complete innings. I know for a fact that is the least amount of pitches against a program I have ever had the fortune to be in charge of. That can’t happen. Our approach was not good tonight.”

No. 9 Auburn men’s golf wins Tiger Invitational

By Andrew Monson | Sports Writer | March 10

The No. 9 Auburn men’s golf team won the Tiger Invitational Presented by Jason Dufner at Grand National’s Lake Course on Tuesday, March 10, by 28 strokes, a tournament record. Auburn’s Michael Johnson also earned his first collegiate individual win, shooting a final round 2-under and 8-under total. Johnson, who previously set the Auburn 54-hole record at 16-under last September, beat Georgia State’s J.J.

​New defense, no problem for Jonathan Jones

By Andrew Monson | Sports Writer | March 10

With the hiring of Will Muschamp as defensive coordinator, senior cornerback Jonathan Jones is learning his third defense during his four years at Auburn. But that does not seem to bother Jones at all, who has a simple approach to learning new schemes. “The thing about football is there’s different terminology, but it’s basically the same thing,” Jones said.

Tigers confident in replacements for Coates

By David McKinney | Assistant Sports Editor | March 10

“He’s a guy that has a lot of experience,” Malzahn said. “All the seniors have experience, and we’ve really asked them to raise the level and he’s one of those guys. He’s a made a lot of plays for us in the past, and we expect big things out of him.”

Junior Emily Carosone was named the USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week

By Sam Butler | Sports Writer | March 10

Junior Emily Carosone was named the USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week, one day after being honored as the SEC Softball Player of the Week. Carosone has led Auburn to a school-record 25-2 record, including a weekend trip out west where the Tigers picked up four wins, including two over ranked opponents — No.

Carosone named USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week

By Sam Butler | Sports Writer | March 10

Junior Emily Carosone was named the USA Softball Collegiate National Player of the Week, one day after being honored as the SEC Softball Player of the Week. Carosone has led Auburn to a school-record 25-2 record, including a weekend trip out west where the Tigers picked up four wins, including two over ranked opponents — No.

Johnson starts spring as top QB, must 'win' job

By David McKinney | Assistant Sports Editor | March 10

“Jeremy Johnson will be our first quarterback to take snaps,” Malzahn said. “Sean White, Tyler Queen and Jason Smith will all get reps. Coach Lashlee has a plan."

Running back trio to rotate during spring competition

By David McKinney | Assistant Sports Editor | March 10

“Those guys will be rotating,” Malzahn said. “We’ll try to put those guys in equal situations with the first line, with the second line and we’ll rotate those guys.”

Harrell named Second Team All-SEC

By Eric Wallace | Sports Writer | March 10

Senior guard KT Harrell was named Second Team All-SEC on Tuesday morning by league coaches and administrators. Harrell led the conference in scoring (18.1 ppg), 3-point percentage (43.3 percent), 3-pointers made (88) and 3-pointers per game (2.84). This is the second consecutive season Auburn has had a representative on the All-SEC Second Team.

McKean and Youtsey qualify for NCAA Diving Championships

By Derek Thompson | Sports Reporter | March 9

Senior Fraser McKean and junior Justin Youtsey qualified to compete on the 1-meter springboard at the 2015 NCAA Men’s Championships Monday at the NCAA Zone B Diving Championships at the Gabrielsen Natatorium. McKean finished fifth overall and had a 12-dive list of 719.85 to earn his spot at the national meet. Youtsey took seventh overall with a score of 674.35 to represent Auburn for the first time at the national meet on the 1-meter springboard. The two of them have a chance to qualify for the championships with a top-12 finish in the 3-meter springboard Tuesday and the tower Wednesday. The NCAA Championships will be March 26-28, in Iowa City, Iowa.

Carosone named Player of the Week

By David McKinney | Assistant Sports Editor | March 9

Things keep getting better for the Auburn softball team. Following an impressive weekend on the west coast, junior second baseman Emily Carosone has been named SEC Player of the Week. In the five games over the weekend, Carosone recorded a .526 batting average.

Auburn gymnastics climbs to No. 7 nationally

By Andrew Monson | Sports Writer | March 9

Auburn gymnastics jumped two spots to No. 7 nationally in the Regional Qualifying Score rankings with an RQS of 197.020, the highest in program history. Auburn raised its RQS with a record performance against Alabama in Birmingham on Sunday, March 8, where the Tigers scored the highest away total ever and the highest total against Alabama for the program. Auburn’s previous away score at Florida was replaced with its higher score against Alabama, increasing the Tigers’ RQS despite the loss. This is the highest the Auburn program has been ranked this far into the season in the program’s history. Auburn now ranks seventh nationally on floor (49.310), eighth on beam (47.220), eighth on vault (49.295) and ninth on bars (49.250). The Tigers meet North Carolina for Senior Night Friday, March 13 at 7 p.m.