Departures

This one hurts.



Not because of what it does to Auburn's linebacking corps, which was OK (if not great) even in Blackmon's absence this year, nor because I think it's not the best decision for Blackmon himself (which, given his apparent family-driven need to play for a paycheck, it probably is). It hurts because of the ifs. If he'd been able to stay healthy. If he'd had his head on straight long enough to stay out of Tubby's doghouse. If he'd been able to play more than two good games at a stretch and really give himself something to build on ... if, if, if he'd ever been able to just play, he'd have been an Auburn legend. And as long as he was in school, there was the chance those ifs could become whens. That won't happen now, and so the Little Ball of Hate hits the long road north with more ifs trailing behind him than any Auburn player I can think of. It's safe to say Blackmon's going to be remembered at Auburn for a long, long time, but for a kid who could have been remembered as the final All-American culmination, the definitive example, of Tubby's undersized-but-quick-and-hard-hitting defensive philosophies, being remembered as a cautionary tale just seems so, so hollow.

From Auburn's actual on-the-field standpoint, however, Blackmon's departure might not have even been the most damaging one reported yesterday, since Chris Slaughter has also hit the road. Commenter Alex P pointed out recently that even if Malzahn wants to throw deep on a regular basis, at the moment Auburn doesn't have the kinds of receivers that scream "legitimate deep threat." I responded that Auburn had one guy who could be coached into the sort of player that defenses would have to respect downfield: Slaughter, who showed against Ole Miss that he had some potential to be that bombs-away weapon Malzahn needs. Now? Uh ... Billings? Uh ... Hey, I hear Rueben Randle is coming for a visit!

Ryan Williams is also gone, which isn't surprising but is just one more blow to the depth of a secondary that really could use all the depth it can muster. All in all: yesterday was not a very good day on the roster front, that's for sure.