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AUBURN FOOTBALL
In sad news, Jakell Mitchell's funeral was held on Sunday. The team attended the funeral following their final bowl practice in Auburn. The team will take some time off for Christmas before heading to Tampa Bay for the Outback Bowl.
In Bowl news, there is still no word on Duke Williams' situation. Duke has not been involved in the bowl practices due to an undisclosed illness. He also reportedly did not file his paperwork for NFL draft evaluation. That doesn't mean anything, though. He knows about where he stands, and that paperwork is not a requirement. For Auburn fans right now the biggest question is whether or not Duke plays in the Outback Bowl.
Speaking of bowl practice, Jonathan Wallace has been getting work at receiver since the UGA game and Auburn will decide after the bowl game whether that is a permanent move. It would likely be the smart spot for Wallace to land with Jeremy Johnson and Sean White ahead of him on the depth chart going into next season. That's even before Jason Smith arrives to compete for the starting QB position. If Wallace does move over, then I hope he has a stand out senior season next fall. He deserves it. He has had quite the ride during his time on the Plains.
Will Muschamp is confident that he has the talent to put together a very good defense at Auburn next fall. I think if Frost and McKinzy stick around for their senior seasons, then he is definitely right. Auburn does have a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball. Two senior linebackers with a lot of experience could make that an even better defense.
Speaking of that returning defensive talent, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer has been continuing their early look ahead at Auburn's roster for next season and they've tackled the defensive line, now. They did the defensive ends first, followed by the defensive tackles.
There were some reports yesterday that Gus Malzahn is getting interest from NFL teams who may change coaches this offseason. It happened last season, too. Malzahn's name is going to come up for NFL job openings for as long as he's here at Auburn. I don't doubt that one day he may leave to take an NFL position. However, I don't think that is right now. I think he wants to win a championship at Auburn. I suspect he may want to be able to say he won a championship at every level of football as a head coach (high school, college, pro). We'll see, though.
In "Most Meta-Auburn Play Ever," this happened...
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That's former Auburn LB Darren Bates leaping the line of scrimmage to block the punt. It was recovered and returned by former Auburn LB Will Herring (hey, Kris and Cass... Muschamp turned that guy into an NFL linebacker from a DB in ONE season... just saying), and then the tackle was made by... former Auburn OL Brandon Mosley.
AUBURN BASKETBALL
The ladies traveled to New York for the first part of a five game road trip to play in the St. Johns Chartwell's Holiday Classic. They split the difference in their games, losing in a valiant effort to host team St Johns on Saturday 56-49, and then holding off the SMU Mustangs on Sunday. SB Nation blog "Swish Appeal" did a running commentary during the game.
You would have to be completely ignorant of Auburn basketball or just completely ignored the internet over the weekend in order to miss what the men's team did on Saturday night. They took down Xavier at home in Auburn Arena 89-88 in Double-OT. Down by 13 at the half, with Cinmeon Bowers in foul trouble within the first 5 minutes of the game. I did not believe Auburn could do what they did in the second half. They did it because Malcolm Canada had the game of his Auburn career.
The men will return to the court on Tuesday night in Auburn arena to play Texas Southern. This is a Texas Southern team that just took down Michigan State in East Lansing, so while their record is horrendous, it is obvious that they can play.