Auburn football turns secretive

AUBURN — Auburn officially closed one chapter of its preseason preparations Thursday, bidding farewell to the university’s intramural fields after 14 practices.

AU always starts the preseason on the intramural fields, which offer more space for players and coaches to spread out. The intramural fields also offer a bonus: Because they’re in a very public place, without a fence in sight, practices at the fields are open to the public.

That’s over now, as AU moves back to its usual practice fields behind the university’s athletic complex on Donahue Drive. The Tigers will practice twice on those fields today; both sessions will be closed to the public and media.

“One reason I come over here is so people can come out,” head coach Tommy Tuberville said Thursday. “Over there (at the football complex), we just don’t have enough room.”

Auburn has a need for a bit more secrecy than usual this preseason, according to Tuberville. The Tigers have two new coordinators this year.

So far in the preseason, AU has kept things simple in its open practices, running mostly basic sets — aside from a few crowd-pleasing trick plays. The Tigers ran more complicated plays in their scrimmage last Saturday, which was closed to the public and the media.

Tuberville hopes the secrecy will pay off.

“This year, we’ll hopefully have a little bit of an advantage, going into the season with two new coordinators, and people not knowing what we’re doing,” Tuberville said.

In a preseason tradition celebrating the last intramural-field practice, players were treated to watermelon at the end of Thursday’s practice.

Academics still a question mark: Auburn is still waiting for word on some players’ summer-semester grades, according to Tuberville. The coach said Thursday that of the players’ whose grades he knew, all were academically eligible.

“So far, so good,” he said. “It’s been real good.”

The holdup is unusual, as all summer-semester grades were to be posted last Friday, according to university policy. But Tuberville said some professors’ grades hadn’t been posted; he theorized some professors might be on vacation between semesters.

“We’re at the mercy of information coming to us as it comes,” he said. “It’s no different than any other semester. It’s the same thing at Christmas time.”

It’s unclear whether cornerback Ryan Williams is among the players whose grades Tuberville has received. Last month, Tuberville said Williams was in good academic standing, but he has backed off those claims recently.

Williams has practiced sparingly in team drills, and repeated requests to interview him have been denied.

Injury report: Auburn’s top three running backs — seniors Brad Lester and Tristan Davis and junior Ben Tate — all sat out Thursday’s practice, the third consecutive session they’ve missed. Lester and Tate are being held out as a precaution, according to Tuberville. Tate, who took a blow to the head from linebacker Chris Evans on Tuesday, “got his bell rung,” according to Tuberville.

Tuberville also said offensive guard Bart Eddins suffered a shoulder sprain and would undergo an MRI today.