Coffee and Magnolia: July 23rd

Hello, hello. Starting this little daily post during media days gave me such a false sense of how much news there'd be to recap leading into the fall. It's going slow.

Brandon Marcello wrote about Malzahn trying to become the first coach since Phillip Fulmer to repeat as SEC Champions. Fulmer did it in 1997 and '98. After multiple repeats in the first six years of the SEC title game, no one has done it since, and only a handful have made it back to the game itself. Also in the history against Auburn column, the Tigers have only had back-to-back ten win seasons twice in their 120+ year history.

Jay Tate at Rivals continued his Top 40 Tigers list with a transferring safety who has raised a lot of eyebrows on the Plains since arriving this winter. Derrick Moncrief joins the Tiger defensive backfield after a two year stint at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College.

Ryan Black's look at the possible extreme results of each SEC team's season continued with him hashing out his thoughts on Tennessee yesterday. He says the Vols will finish somewhere between an Outback Bowl spanking of Iowa and a 4-8 meltdown job.

Black has also picked back up his ‘4 at 4' link series, picking out a few stories around the SEC and the sporting world in general, ranging from the backfield starters at a few Western division schools to Floyd Mayweather.

The Columbia Tribune also rolls with a story about who's returning to offensive skill positions around the league, with a nifty sortable chart showing returning stats, not just returning starters, both in the run game and the air.

Chuck Person spoke in Decatur to a group of Auburn fans about the new direction the basketball program is moving in. He touched on Bruce Pearl and his open practices, the Nike vs UA question and says he'll be Pearl's successor, ten years and a few championships down the road.

SI's Richard Deitsch highlights the upcoming ‘Bo, Barkley and the Big Hurt' doc from ESPN in his Monday media column. Also at SI, there's a funny article about 1993 PGA champ Paul Azinger guaranteeing that he can fix Chuck's swing, and putting his hair on the chopping block if he fails. The link also features a hilarious gif of Barkley's busting out a one-handed swing.

Frank Thomas will be in the spotlight evermore in coming days, as he will join the greatest to ever play the game in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown this weekend. Baseball America's commemorative issue has a great reprint of a Rubin Grant story from 1989 when Thomas was named BA's Minor League Player of the Year.

A couple of articles ran yesterday about former Tigers and their NFL dreams. The Kansas City Star waxed a bit on rookie Dee Ford and his excitement to play in "Pass Rush City," and former Auburn High star John Sullen is highlighted in the O-A News for signing with the New York Giants, where coach Tom Coughlin says he will be behind another Tiger, Brandon Mosley, on the depth chart.

Joel Erickson talked to Mike Lutzenkirchen about his emceeing the FCA event Thursday in his son's place. He notes that Lutz' number will be all over the place that day, including the prices to play in the golf tournament: $143 for one, $430 for a foursome.

Wrapping today up, the War Eagle Reader talked to Bret Eddins about his 2004 sack of Marcus Randall possibly slipping out of the JHS pregame hype videos. That would be a sad day to many, but Eddins just says if it happens, it's because Auburn is getting better every year.

Have a great Wednesday y'all. Oh and before I go, I just have to share a little excitement. I'm going to see Yu Darvish pitch in the Bronx tonight and I may just ascend to heaven from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium before coming home, so that's where you can find me if there's no morning links up for Thursday. War Eagle and Go Rangers!