Coffee and Magnolia: 15 April 2015

Happy Tax Day, everyone! I don't know about you guys, but I'm not a fan of writing big checks. It's hard to figure out how to justify deducting $180,000 when you don't even make anywhere close to that anyway!

Sorry, I couldnt' resist a good BARN'S CHEATIN' pun. I did have to write a nice little chunk over to the federal government and one to a state government, but thankfully somehow the other state I pay taxes in is refunding me enough that's it a wash. Who has to write the biggest check here on College and Magnolia? Anyone?

HOME ON THE PLAINS

There are a lot of things happening in Auburn this week and weekend. A lot of them. So check out Everett's article where he has it all covered for us.

BASEBALL

Last night's game against Alabama State was a wash. Literally. It got washed away. A giant storm from moved through (and may still be moving through when this publishes), and the game ended up not happening. The plan is for a double-header today with Alabama A&M. Play starts at 2pm. We'll see if that happens.

BASKETBALL

AuburnUndercover has a good feature on how Bruce Pearl's signing class at Auburn may be surprising to the casual fan of basketball who wonders how Auburn can pull in that kind of talent, but isn't surprising at all to those who know Bruce Pearl.

Today is the first day of the spring signing period. Commitment Horace Spencer is expected to send his paperwork in to Auburn, and there may be a few other additions to this year's basketball class in transfers or possible last second recruit commits before all is said and done. We'll keep you updated as we find them out.

FOOTBALL

Auburn held its 12th practice of the spring yesterday afternoon. You can check out our recap of it and the tweet-cap of Gus Malzahn's press conference. That recap contains links to all of the various beat writer's observations from the 20 minute "media" period, as well.

I did a Q&A with "And The Valley Shook" about the Auburn spring practice and expectations for the team. The comments quickly devolved into hatred of Chaz Ramsey and seriously when will they let that go? I tried to find info on how many times Auburn has been called for a chop block vs other teams in the past decade, but it was too much work and would have been pointless to try to convince them otherwise. The Brock pass interference wave-off in 2006 was the right call, too, according to the rules.

ESPN spoke to Lance Thompson and speculates on his reasons for making the move from Alabama to Auburn. I'm guessing he was probably told he needed to find work elsewhere or encouraged to, but I highly doubt Saban was pleased with him choosing to go to Auburn.

Gimel President has had an interesting career at Auburn. He earned his way into playing time last season, and now is being cross trained at the "Buck" and defensive end positions. He is also a part of Auburn's awesome "All Name" class that includes a Duke, Queen, and two Kings. Not to mention a Cassanova.

Auburn may not have too many projected starters playing very long in the A-Day game on Saturday. This is one of those moments where I point out that if Jeremy Johnson and Sean White light up the scoreboard (or lack thereof) on Saturday, it doesn't necessarily mean that our quarterbacks are the greatest of all time or that the secondary is going to be horrible. It just means this is a scrimmage. One of the top wide receivers is probably going to be sitting out, too.

If you want some good news on the injury front, Alex Kozan says he is feeling 100% and ready to go.

The Montgomery Advertiser has five players you should be watching during A-Day. All but one of them are on the offense. I would probably swap Tray Matthews out for Austin Golson, but that's just me.

JUCO transfer Maurice Swain is ready for the big time when the 2015 football season comes around. Swain has some big shoes to fill wearing that #90, and he will be counted on to provide immediate contributions to the defensive line since Auburn lost so many players to graduation at his defensive tackle position.