Coffee and Magnolia: July 22nd

Good morning, all.

Late yesterday, top 2016 recruit Nate Craig, a receiver out of Tampa, committed to Auburn. The 6-3, 190 pound junior is considered by many to potentially be the number one overall player in his class. His announcement promptly pushed Auburn's '16 class up ten spots to number six according to 247 Sports, with just three commitments already made.

The biggest news, or spectacle, in the Auburn sporting world yesterday was Gus Malzahn's whirlwind tour of ESPN's Bristol campus, knocking out fourteen interviews while there.

In the process his conversations ranged from last year's Iron Bowl to jokes about his affinity for bubblegum in this segment that I wish didn't include Greg McElroy.

As he says in the video and repeated elsewhere, the Florida State game is the one that sticks with him the most from 2013, even more so than the Georgia and Alabama classics. He actually admitted to finally sitting down and watching it from beginning to end for the first time about a month ago. That's something I'll never do.

Also in the above video from Numbers Don't Lie, Malzahn says he hasn't made a decision on Nick Marshall's punishment, but says that call will be made in a "short period of time."

In a SportsCenter interview, Malzahn talked about his excitement for this year's offense and the possibilities presented by playing with a returning quarterback and several other playmakers.

Joel Erickson posted about a video released by the football team showing off Ryan Russell's conditioning program, and I was pretty intrigued. I think that was the longest I've cared about workouts and weightlifting in my life. In Erickson's words, the video shows players in "a wide range of training exercises, including change-of-direction drills and running in a sand pit, a wide variety of strength and explosion exercises and plyometrics, along with a lot of lower-body work designed to improve explosiveness."

In the continuing preseason lists section, Ryan Black shared his tongue-in-cheek best case/worst case for the 2014 version of the Arkansas Razorbacks, with the fate of Bert's emotions largely tied to the future of HUNH offenses across the country.

Jay Tate's Top 40 players on the Plains rolls on with No. 18 Ricardo Louis, and - aptly - No. 17 Kris Frost.

Alex Byington wrote about Thursday's FCA event that Philip Lutzenkirchen had agreed to emcee before his tragic death four weeks ago. Now his father, Mike, will take over in his stead, helping to put on the Auburn chapter's 50^th anniversary evening. Thursday will feature a golf tournament in the morning, followed by the ceremony beginning at 5 pm in Auburn Arena.

Jon Solomon, continually finding intriguing angles, now at the ACC Media Days, wrote about the confusing dilemma surrounding, of all things, NCAA Football 15, or more accurately, the lack of it due to concerns over the use of players' likenesses.

Speaking of video games, a few new Madden rookie ratings were released, and former Tiger Greg Robinson was tied with Jadeveon Clowney for the highest rated newcomer at 83.