Coffee and Magnolia: 16 April 2015

HOME ON THE PLAINS

A reminder that there's a TON of stuff going on in town this weekend and Everett has you covered on the details of all of it.

Coming in to town? Watch out for all of these road closures and areas where traffic may be an issue due to construction.

Phillip Marshall wrote a piece about how this year's A-Day is about more than the scrimmage for the football team. The baseball and softball teams each play series this weekend.

TENNIS

It was a big day for both the men and the women as the SEC Tournaments got underway. The men won their opener against Arkansas, and the women took down Tennessee.

BASEBALL

It was a good day for the Tigers, as they played a double-header against Alabama A&M after Tuesday's game against Alabama State was cancelled due to weather. The first game was close until six runs in the 7th inning blew it open and the Tigers went on to win 8-1. Anfernee Grier hit his first home run of the season in the 6th inning to give the Tigers the lead before that six run tear in the 7th. The bats were more spread out in Game 2. Anfernee Grier hit yet another double. He has 19 of them this year, which is most in the SEC. Perhaps the strangest thing about Game 2 was Daniel Robert - who had six RBIs between the two games - was called to the mound to PITCH to close out the 8th inning. You can read the recaps on the official site here. Auburn hosts Ole Miss this weekend in what is pretty much a must-win series if the Tigers hope to make it to the post season.

BASKETBALL

Horace Spencer committed to Auburn way back in the fall, but did not sign with the Tigers during the fall early signing period. He never wavered in his commitment, however. On Wednesday he sent in his LOI to Auburn and became part of a Top 15 class in the nation for Auburn basketball (3rd in the SEC).

AuburnUndercover has a good (non-pay-walled) article summing up all five of Auburn's five current basketball signees. It is still possible that Auburn could take one or even two more players in the 2015 class. Doing so would mean players currently on the roster would have to depart Auburn, as the Tigers are right on the scholarship limit with Spencer's signing.

FOOTBALL

Here on College and Magnolia, Matt Donaldson gave some thoughts on this year's A-Day game.

Add Cameron Toney to the list of players side-lined this spring with injury concerns. Gus Malzahn has not clarified what that injury is, but he has acknowledge that it IS an injury and not any off-field or discipline issue that is keeping Toney out of practice.

Shon Coleman knows he had some bad games in 2014. He's looking to learn from those games and become a much better force on the offensive line in 2015. With his story, I really hope he can become a Greg Robinson type player and dominate on the line.

Gus Malzahn broke down the format of A-Day and as he noted before, it's pretty much the same as it's been the past two years.

Cassanova McKinzy is projected to be one of the top inside linebackers in the 2016 NFL Draft. Right now he's just trying to nail down Will Muschamp's defense and ensure he's a starter come the 2015 football season.

If you're not already absolutely psyched about having Carl Lawson back on the field this fall, then go read this article about how he prepares for games and how he studies other defensive ends. As long as he stays healthy, Lawson is going to be an absolute beast this season. From reading that article I'd say Lawson goes on to a nice career in pro football and definitely has a future as a great coach down the road if he wants to go that route.

Another player to be excited to have back from missing 2014? Alex Kozan.

You may have noticed Scott Fountain (Tight-ends and Special Teams coach) tweet about Dameyune Craig using virtual reality to teach his wide receivers, yesterday. If you're interested in reading more about the technology pioneered by Standford, FoxSports did a write-up on it a few months back.

Finally, Auburn released a new recruiting website yesterday, AuburnFast.com. I checked it out and gave my thoughts on it. I get that it's primarily for recruits, but I still think it could be much better done even for that.

Here's a pretty good article by ESPN on comparing Auburn's offense and defense.

UPDATED: I had to add in this link to ESPN.com because seriously? What the hell is this guy even trying to say here? What is the point of this? There is none. It's a pointless attempt at a not-so-veiled shot at Auburn and it's just dumb.

JUST BECAUSE

Dos A Cero. That is always funny.