Tigers back after long layoff

It was brisk this morning when the Tigers returned to practice after almost two weeks off for spring break. The Tigers will practice on Thursday and Friday and then A-Day will be Saturday at 2 p.m. Coach Tommy Tuberville said the players will return next Wednesday for a final scrimmage.

Position swap

• So there was some movement on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball today. On the defensive side, CB Aairon Savage was working first team, moving ahead of Walt McFadden. DC Paul Rhoads said Savage was really good in practices 6-10, earning the right to be with the ones and go against Auburn's No. 1 offense. Rhoads also said that very few positions had been won although he's seen a few guys who definitely shown they're ones.
• OL coach Hugh Nall did some shuffling on the offensive line, moving Mike Berry out to right tackle and getting Ryan Pugh snaps at center. Berry and Andrew McCain worked with the ones at tackle, while Pugh worked with the twos.

Online stories:

Coming Wednesday in the Ledger: Check out the Tigers following their return to spring practice.
3/25: AD Jay Jacobs answers questions for several Ledger writers.
3/19: LB Merrill Johnson healthy and running with ones.

Practice hits

• RB Ben Tate was back at practice after missing time with first a high ankle sprain, then a pulled hamstring. Tate said he rushed back from the hamstring injury and strained it again. Also back on the field and throwing a bit was QB DeRon Furr. RB Tristan Davis did not practice. Tuberville said his foot is still sore.
• OC Tony Franklin has established his QB hierarchy, although not a clear-cut No. 1. Kodi Burns and Chris Todd split most of the reps on Tuesday, while Franklin said Neil Caudle would be the backup behind those guys. Caudle had few snaps in the practice. Furr threw sparingly, but Franklin said that was because of a lack of progress on the mental parts of the position, not because of the physical.
  Franklin on the co-No. 1's: "Right now, those guys are alternating with each other. There is no No. 1, or else there's two number ones. However you want to look at it. I talked with all four quarterbacks and talked about what direction that we're going to go in. You know, it's impossible to rep all four guys. You can't do it and be good. They get reps all through practice, but when you get into skele and team, you have to start narrowing it down. The last few practices here, we're giving Chris and Kodi most of the reps. If somebody emerges clear-cut a lot better than the other one, you may have one guy. But I don't think that's going to happen, and I've told them, I don't think it is. I think they'll go into the summer and they'll be competing against each other."
  Franklin on Caudle: "Neil will be a great backup for them. He's a great team guy. He's a great Auburn guy that wants to be here. He'll do a great job as a backup and if either one of them falters."
  Franklin on Furr: "He's just a long, long, long, long, long, long way off physically and mentally. He's not grasped the offense right now. He's physically been hurt, but mentally he's not prepared himself good enough to compete. He's a long way off from having any abilities to help us. We'll see what happens to him over the summer. If he works hard and studies and learns, then maybe he could compete again. The biggest thing about playing quarterback, if you don't know it before you step on the field and you don't have mental pictures of where everything's going to be, you have no chance. None. And right now, he doesn't have any idea. He's got to work harder and study harder."
• McFadden picked off an underthrown ball by Todd during the practice, while Jonathan Vickers picked off Burns. Burns finished the team drills with a nice pass to Montez Billings for a touchdown on a fade route.
• Franklin blasted his offense, saying they came back much as he expected. They didn't look sharp after the long layoff. Rhoads also wasn't pleased. The defense worked after practice on fumble recovery drills and also did up-downs.
• K Wes Byrum had a rough outing, making just 1-of-4 kicks. He hit a 32-yarder, then missed left on kicks of 37, 42 and 47 yards.
• Here's a quick look at the pass-rush drill results:
  79-49: 79, 79, 79
  58-98: 58, 98, E
  50-93: 50, 93
  53-94: 53, 53
  66-90: 66, 66, 66
  
  73-97: E, 73, 97
  71-94: 71, 94, 71
  68-93: 68, 68
  57-98: 98, 57, 98
  75-45: 75, 45, 45
  **Remember this is highly subjective.
• DE Antonio Coleman was going for a checkup today to see if he had final clearance to practice. Tuberville said he expected Coleman to play in the A-Day game if he received clearance.

Check back on Thursday for more from practice!