While a good chunk of the spring practice focus has been on, rightly so, the battle for Auburn’s starting quarterback job, it may ultimately turn out that replacing Cam Newton will be the least of Gene Chizik‘s worries.
Thanks to attrition brought on by graduation and, in one case, a mass arrest, the defending national champs will have what kids these days like to refer to as “depth issues"; in fact, as of right now, Auburn is No. 120 out of 120 Div. 1-A schools in the number of projected returning starters -- seven. And that figure operates under the assumption that there will be no injuries to the returnees between now and the start of the regular season in early September.
All told, 35 players who were a part of the roster that made up the ’10 title team are no longer around; in fairness, however, Auburn will have yet another stellar recruiting class from which to pluck fresh talent as well as 10 players from last year’s top-five class who took redshirts.
Still, the very last thing Auburn needs right is more attrition, even if it involves a backup. So, of course, the very last thing has occurred.
By way of the Birmingham News, AuburnUndercover.com is reporting that linebacker Jessel Curry is no longer a member of the football team. It appears that unspecified personal reason led to Curry’s departure as Chizik alluded to earlier in the spring.
As a true freshman last year, Curry played in six games, although he appeared in none after the first half of the season. Coming out of Buford, Ga., Curry was rated as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com.