Auburn freshman impresses coach

AUBURN — We don’t know how many catches he had during Saturday’s closed scrimmage.

But we do know this about Auburn true freshman wideout Philip Pierre-Louis: “Oh, yeah,” Auburn junior tight end Tommy Trott said. “He’s just fast.”

Just fast.

And impressive.

After Saturday’s 90-play scrimmage in Jordan-Hare Stadium, which was closed to the public and media, Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville wasn’t shy in talking about a specific player who caught his eye — more than once.

“One guy who did show some elusiveness and made some big plays was Philip Pierre-Louis,” Tuberville said. “That’s one guy I’ll tell you who did well. He’s not a big target, but the quarterbacks have a lot of confidence in him and a lot of confidence he can make plays afterward.

“There were other guys who made plays, but just standing out there and watching the guy who just made consistent plays was him.”

For Pierre-Louis, who Tuberville has nicknamed Frenchy, Saturday wasn’t the first time he’s made an impression on his Auburn coaches and teammates.
According to senior wide receiver Rod Smith, who led the team in catches last season, Pierre-Louis has been standing out ever since arriving on the Plains.

“Man, that guy’s quick. He’s a playmaker,” Smith said. “That’s just amazing to see a true freshman come in and pick up the offense like that and be able to go out on the field and make plays. To do what he’s done these two-a-days is just amazing.”

What Pierre-Louis lacks in size — the freshman from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., stands 5-foot-8, 155-pounds — he makes up for in ability, says Trott.

“He’s dynamic when he gets the ball out there,” the tight end said. “And I think we’re going to try to get him the ball some. It’s going to help our offense.

“I don’t think (his size is a problem). He plays bigger than he is. He plays more mature or older than he is. He’s comfortable out there on the field and he’s making plays for us.”

And while none of those plays went for big gains Saturday, Pierre-Louis still stood out.

“He just caught short passes — made 10- or 15-yard runs after,” Tuberville said. “No long plays. Just consistently when the ball was thrown his way, he caught it. I counted the first half, we probably had four drops, total. And he wasn’t in any of it.”

Speed and good hands. What else?

“Our tackling was better (than last week’s scrimmage),” Tuberville said, “but when you’re trying to tackle Frenchy, it’s pretty tough.

“He’s going to be exciting to watch. He’ll make you look bad on one-on-one. I think it’s good we see somebody like that in the open field.

“I’m talking about not just the young guys, everyone was trying to take a dead bead on him. He’s going to make a lot of people do tackling drills the next week if he can stay healthy.”