Coffee and Magnolia: July 29th

A wonderful Tuesday to you, wherever you may be.

When looking around for things to include in today's post I at first thought there was an odd amount of news today, for a random Tuesday in late July. Then I realized the beat guys are just recycling quotes from Media Days to find new things to write about since they've got nothing else happening right now.

Joel Erickson wrote about Auburn's offense being not so complicated, but also being pretty complicated. In that piece, alongside quotes from some SEC defenders and head coaches, is C.J. Uzomah saying, "I definitely think [Malzahn] has enough tricks in his bag to where nobody should be able to adjust for 50 years." Hope you're right, Ceej.

At this point in last season, Malzhan's staff had 13 commitments for his 2014 class. This year that number is up to 19. The difference? "The coaching staff has just managed to catch up recruiting-wise," Bryan Matthews of Rivals.com's Auburn site told the L-E's Ryan Black. "Most of the guys that are committing now, Auburn started forming that relationship with them back when they were sophomores, so it makes a big difference." Black and Matthews discuss throughout the piece the future of Auburn's 2015 class and highlight some guys who could be stars here, and some guys who he thinks may be on the fence still.

Brandon Marcello takes a look at his top five position battles that will help shape Auburn's SEC title defense in 2014. He ranks them, in order, as running back, defensive end, left tackle, boundary safety and field cornerback. I'm probably most interested in the Shon Coleman-Patrick Miller dogfight for the left tackle spot.

Marcello also wrote about the state of Auburn's receiving corps. It's pretty good. D'haquille Williams and Sammie Coates get most of the attention - deservedly so - but the Tigers return a boatload of other wide outs who made impacts last season as well. Quan Bray, Ricardo Louis and Marcus Davis are also back to help Nick Marshall aerial attack this fall.

Similarly, Erickson covered how the Tigers' defense feels their linebackers are far beyond where they were last season and will be an impact unit on the field.

Jon Solomon wrote earlier today about a new concussion settlement between the NCAA and former players. I haven't checked out many details yet, but you should read it.

Black's L-E ‘4 at 4' series covers some Frank Thomas bases you may have missed this weekend, Chris Davis and his summer in San Diego, and high school receiver Nate Craig, an Auburn commit, who was just named number one overall in his class by Rivals today.

Jay Tate's Top 40 has Cass McKinzy settling in at No. 11, and Ryan's preseason power rankings slots Ole Miss at number six, but I've hit my paywall limit over there, so I know nothing else about the article.

That's all for today. Have a great one!