Coffee and Magnolia: July 21st

Good morning. Hope everyone's weekend was stellar. It was kinda slow on the Auburn news front.

The two most interesting reads of your day will come from Jon Solomon (no surprise) and the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Solomon has a lengthy piece at CBS Sports looking at the various ins-and-outs of what all the discussion around the power five conferences and "autonomy" is about, including some great quotes and a handy graphic.

The magnum opus of the day is this beautifully put-together longform about Auburn's own Baseball Hall of Famer, Frank Thomas, called ‘Big Baby to Big Hurt.' There's some really cool graphics and videos to play around with, in addition to the excellent story told.

AL.com's Joel Erickson recaps last week in Auburn sports with seven stories you may have missed, including links to more media days notes, the quarterback situation and some injury news.

One of his links is to a Brandon Marcello story about Jeremy Johnson and his ability to lead the offense into SEC play against Arkansas if need be.

The Alabama and Auburn beats at the Ledger-Enquirer share a byline discussing the state of the quarterback position across the SEC.

Alex Byington notes that - outside of a potential minor punishment to the intended starter - Auburn is in great shape under center, and has a story about the Tiger receiving corps being set for a big year in 2014, with the return of 900+ yard performer Sammie Coates, C.J. Uzomah and newcomer Duke Williams.

Ryan Black opens up a new countdown series, this one taking a look into the crystal ball to guess at each SEC team's best and worst-case scenarios in 2014. He opened with Kentucky, before moving on to fellow-East division bottom feeders Vanderbilt.

Wrapping today up, former Auburn pitcher Taylor Thompson got the call to the Show after six years in the minors, and put together a great five-out, two-strikeout performance allowing the Astros no runs at US Cellular Field.

That's all for this lovely Monday. Go have an awesome day!