Coffee and Magnolia: 18 June 2015

GOLF

The US Open begins this morning. There will be two former Auburn golfers participating. Jason Dufner will tee off at 10:50am Central and Blayne Barber will tee off at 3:22pm Central.

BASKETBALL

I somehow missed this, but JUCO recruit Alex Hicks has apparently decided to decommit from Auburn. Hicks had a number of hurdles to overcome in the first place, as we wrote about back when he initially committed. He was going to be a walk-on at Auburn this season as he rehabbed an ACL tear.

FOOTBALL

Bobby Petrino is prepping for how his Cardinals will deal with new Auburn QB Jeremy Johnson. Hopefully he's not preparing too well, though.

If you, like so many others, have been wondering why Auburn's Cost of Attendance numbers are so much higher than pretty much any other Top 25 team, James Crepea examines the issue and gives an excellent explanation of it all.

How is Auburn managing that stable of running backs, and how are the backs themselves approaching the competition for the starting job? Position coach Tim Horton says it's through a team-first attitude amongst the group.

The AL.com VIP 25 is on #18, a running back that Auburn just couldn't seem to contain last season.

Brandon Marcello talked with prognosticator extraordinaire Phil Steele about this season's Iron Bowl and whether it could determine the winner of the SEC West.

ESPN looks at where most SEC football players come from.