Coffee and Magnolia: 30 December 2014

AUBURN FOOTBALL

Auburn offensive lineman Chad Slade missed practice for a day or so to return home to attend the funeral of a family member. He should be back in Tampa with the team now though, and will still play in the bowl game.

Offensive lineman Avery Young submitted the paper work to test his draft status, but will return for his junior season. Young was a redshirt Sophomore this year, and could have turned pro at the end of the season as Greg Robinson did after 2013, but has decided to return for at least one more year on the Plains.

Gus Malzahn singled Melvin Ray out as a player who deserves more targets and passes thrown his way. I have a feeling that will happen a good bit next season once Jeremy Johnson takes the reigns of the Auburn offense. Johnson loves to target Ray, and it worked out well in the Arkansas game to start the season.

Duke Williams may miss the Outback Bowl, but there are a lot of other wide receivers who are ready to step up for the Tigers.

The Tigers took a trip to Busch Gardens on Monday as a part of the Outback Bowl festivities, and it appears they had quite the time.

The official site has a good write-up on Trovon Reed and just what all he's been through in his years here at Auburn. Reed will play his final game in an Auburn uniform on Thursday in the Outback Bowl.

There is all sorts of news out there about recruiting right now with the high school all start games this weekend. 4* linebacker Darrell Williams spoke about his commitment to Auburn. A number of big recruits will make their intentions known during the all star games, and there are a number of Auburn targets among them. Meanwhile, al.com has a wrap up of how various Auburn commits have fared so far.

AUBURN BASKETBALL

The ladies took care of business in south Florida, winning their first game in the FIU Sun & Fun Classic 81-44 over host school FIU.  They will now face Hampton at 2:30 this afternoon in the final non-conference game of the season.

The men won their most convincing game since the Louisiana-Lafayette victory tonight against Middle Tennessee State on Monday night with the 64-48 win.. You can check out our post-game "Three Things We Learned" as well as the official site's game recap.