The Works, audio NSFW-style

Maybe Dunn enjoys it because if you smash up the words "punt return" it kind of sounds like it?

Apropos of nothing, really. A buddy of mine runs Trivia Night over at Innisfree in Lakeview, and one evening a couple of years back he had the misfortune of announcing that the bar had run out of Bud Light, which had been on special.

"So no more $2 Bud Light," he said, "but we do still have shots of Patron. Anyone who's here for the cheap Bud Light, don't worry ... shots of Patron are still available."

I thought that was pretty funny at the time and I still think it's pretty funny. Funny enough to share on this blog, that I don't know about, but maybe Robert Dunn would appreciate it: via Auburntron, he's dropped a single named "Goose and Patron" on a label apparently started by Quentin Groves. (This story gets more and more awesome, doesn't it?) Have a listen, though as you might imagine the audio's NSFW:

I don't listen to enough hip-hop to offer any kind of substantial review, but underpinning the beat with the guitar is an interesting touch, don't you think? Better than Soulja Boy, in any case. Best of luck to Dunn and Groves in their hip-hop endeavors ... and after that whole Montavis Pitts thing from a few years back, thanks to them for waiting after their Auburn careers to pursue their rap dreams.

Switcheroo. How confident is Trooper Taylor in his current corps of wideouts? Confident enough that he and Malzahn were willing to go head-to-head with Ted Roof over who gets the services of ... Harry Adams?

Adams walked into an argument during Wednesday’s coaches meeting.
He soon realized the argument was over him when coach Gene Chizik approached him.
“After I got done working out, I came up to the office and the coordinator was sitting in there and the offensive coordinator and coach Chizik said, ‘Both these guys are fighting over you. I’m in the middle to make a change,’” Adams said. “He said, ‘What do you want to do?’

Adams picked wideout, and that's where he's going to be for at least this next news cycle. As Adams isn't particularly likely to surge his way into serious playing time at either receiver or corner, the real story here is what Auburn's offensive coaching staff thinks of what they've got to work with at wideout. And what they think is, pretty clearly, These guys aren't good enough. Oh, how I wish I could say I was surprised.

Personally, I don't see any reason not to make the move. With both Christian Thompson and Mike Slade getting rave reviews at safety from Thigpen, Aairon Savage is likely to stay at corner ... meaning Adams would have been fifth choice, at best, behind McFadden, Thorpe, Savage, and Bell. With D'Antoine Hood still an option there as well, receiver seems like his best option.

Other stuff. On the injury front, Montez Billings is done for the spring, Eric Smith is hurt and might also miss the rest of the spring, Onterio McCalebb and Cameron Henderson (one of only three DEs!) are both nursing injuries, and Antoine Carter probably isn't coming back until this fall. Things could certainly be worse--as long as no one injures themselves seriously enough to miss the season, that'll be true--but they could probably be better, too.

Good news for those of us who think Mario Fannin is Auburn's most dangerous option in the backfield: he was back at running back yesterday. No change in the quarterbacks' status.

Don't punt, Auburn, don't punt. The reaction to Jay Boulware's announcement that Auburn will punt from a spread formation has, uh, not been met with applause from the Auburn faithful. Fields of Donahue seems to sum up the consensus:

Please, no ... For some reason, every time I picture a spread punt I picture those unblocked guys coming straight in who have to be stopped by the random three guys in front of the punter. I just don't like it.

As I said yesterday, like FoD the formation makes me waaaaaay too nervous to fully endorse. But we can't say that Boulware doesn't at least have his reasons: between moving to the spread and his stated emphasis on having as much speed on the unit as Auburn can find, he's trying to buff up the team's coverage. Certainly, I can applaud a staff that cares about things like net punting and is willing to make changes to make Auburn the best they can be in this area.

But here's the thing: Boulware's trying to fix what ain't broke. Auburn was 18th in the country last year in net punting. Saturn V Durst's Ray Guy-like hangtime takes care of most of the problem on this unit ... so why increase the likelihood of a block when the coverage is already fine? As long as Durst (or Shoemaker) stays protected, we're all good--and Auburn should repeat as one of the best punting teams in the league. But if blocks become a problem, we're all really going to have to wonder, aren't we?

GO VOT GO. I wouldn't expect Vot Barber to get much of a look from the NBA, but a few other hyperactive, undersized, non-jump shooting power forwards have made the league in recent years (think Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes, Paul Millsap ... though all of those guys have a lot more weight to throw around than Vot) and Barber's making a go of it at the Portsmouth Invitational pre-draft camp. From NBAdraft.net's report on Barber's team's victory in the event semifinals:

Korvotney Barber was active all night contributing in a number ways to a winning cause, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

That's the extent of the report on Barber, and you can't say he's been a smashing success when a player on his same team doubled him up in both points and rebounds. But hey, it's something.

And hey, speaking of basketball drafts, Whitney Boddie got drafted in the second round, 20th overall. With Bonner going fifth, that's exactly as strong of a one-two punch as we thought we had. You'll be missed, ladies.

Etc. Arkansas columnist/running Razorback Expats gag source Wally Hall apparently believes Coach K was strip-searched at the Canadian border ??!?!? ... PPL notes that Auburn's currently finding their way into baseball's NCAA Tournament projections; the Tigers host 7-5 SEC Florida this weekend ... and a vain attempt to locate the site for Quentin Groves' music label did at least lead me to this, which immediately became my favorite one of those ever.

Enjoy your weekend.