“I knew that, depth-wise on the defensive side, we were hurting a little bit,” McKenzie said Sunday. “We have a lot of offensive players.”
So McKenzie, who played both ways at Davidson High School in Mobile, took his idea to Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, who McKenzie said was caught by surprise.
"He was just looking at me like, 'Hmm,' " McKenzie said. "He smiled, too. He's probably more happy for me than anybody."
And so it was that, after three years as a tight end, McKenzie became a defensive end last week. He’s been working hard ever since to learn the schemes and techniques he’ll need to play in Saturday’s opener against Louisiana-Monroe at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“It’s going well,” McKenzie said. “There’s a lot of learning, a lot of techniques and stuff like that.”
On the strong side, where McKenzie is playing, there are indeed depth issues. Sophomore Michael Goggans is set as the starter. Freshman Jomarcus Savage is expected to play, but has most of the past week with a shoulder injury. Raven Gray has still not fully recovered from a knee injury suffered last season in junior college.
“Raw and talented at the same time,” Rhoads said when asked about McKenzie. “He just grabbed me in the training room talking about how defensive conditioning and offensive conditioning are completely different. He was a little bit gassed today. The tempo is a little bit different. At the same time, he’s having to think because it’s new to him. He shows explosiveness. He shows athletic ability. We are excited to see him over here.”
And McKenzie says he’s happy to be there.
“I’m real close to knowing the defense,” McKenzie said. “I’m going to be a good player.”
Nerves are normal for Rhoads Rhoads said he fully expects to be nervous before Saturday night’s game. He’s always nervous when it’s time to play.
“I think it’s important to know who you are,” Rhoads said. “Whether it’s at a new place or the 48th game at an old place, I’m nervous about everyone. I think that tends to help me as the game goes on.”
Nursery school in the secondary Rhoads said he feels very good about his front seven on defense. He feels very good about the starters in the secondary. It’s the backups in the secondary that will be biggest question marks on defense going into Saturday’s game.
True freshmen Neiko Thorpe and D’Antoine Hood will back up Jerraud Powers and Walt McFadden at cornerback. True freshman Christian Thompson and redshirt freshman Mike Slade will back up Zac Etheridge and Mike McNeill at safeties.
Rhoads said he wants to get the young players into the game as soon as it is feasible.
“The decisions we make in the back end are based on one thing: giving up touchdowns,” Rhoads said. “I’m not going to put a kid on the field that is going to give up a touchdown. All those kids, whether it be Jerraud Powers or D’Antoine Hood, all those kids have to prove to me that I’m not nervous that in 3-4-5 plays they’re going to give up a touchdown. I certainly hope that’s by this Saturday.”
Looking at the rules Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said players went to class on new rules in Sunday’s team meeting.
“We had a long talk today about a lot of new rules in a team meeting and watched a couple on films about sportsmanship,” Tuberville said. “We kind of touched the bases on that. We had good meetings. We treated today exactly like a Sunday after a game. We met with the seniors and kind of got in the game mode.”
Gray doubtful for game Tuberville said junior college transfer defensive end Raven Gray, though he is practicing, is doubtful for Saturday’s game. He’s still recovering from a knee injury suffered last season.
“He’s up and down, really struggling,” Tuberville said. “He’s a little bit stiff. We want to try to get him 100 percent. I don’t know if he’ll play. He’s not in the rotation.”
Albert cleared to go full-speed Walk-on running back Justin Albert practiced full-speed Sunday for the first time. He has been recovering from a knee injury suffered late last season.
“He was cleared to go,” Tuberville said. “He’ll obviously start out on the scout team. They held him out just to make sure he got all his strength back. We’ll start him out at running back.”
Tuberville said Albert also could get a look at slot receiver and perhaps at cornerback.
