Chizik meets with media following Wednesday practice

AUBURN - Auburn coach Gene Chizik met with the media following Wednesday's practice. Here's what he had to say.

Chizik

“On a different note, I want to wish all the people that were affected by the storms today, No. 1 they’re doing OK. All our players are OK. So that’s a concern for everybody in the community, I know. Football wise, had a good week and finished practice tonight on a very positive note. A lot of energy at practice. Got one more day and we need it. And we’ll be ready to play Saturday.”

If Gus leaves, would you like to replace him with a guy who runs a similar system?

“If any of my coaches leave, we’ll replace them with who we feel is the best fit. And that’s what we’ll always base it on.”

Have you been contacted about any of your coaches this year?

“No.”

When you guys first had all the injuries at defensive end, you mentioned Joel Bonomolo as a guy who could step in. What’s kept him off the field?

“It’s been kind of a strange year for him. He was healthy at the beginning of the year, then got banged up and came back. Was healthy for a little while then got banged up again. It’s really been more of an injury issue than anything.”

What about Ladarious Phillips?

“He just hasn’t progressed as fast as we’d like him to. He’s just got to grow up. Again, his progression hasn’t been what we’d hoped.”

What about Jake Holland?

“He’s getting healthier. Week by week, all the treatments and rehab are starting to help him. The week off helped him. He’s still beat up and banged up a little bit but he’s certainly better than he was two or three weeks ago.”

Has anyone emerged at Bell’s corner spot?

“I think they have all really competed and practiced hard. Again, we’re not in a position to say who is going to start Saturday. But they have all practiced really hard. They have competed. All the young guys I mentioned earlier in the week, they have all competed and all had a really good week.”

Could you take a by committee approach?

“It could be. Again, we feel like we have a couple different guys who are real close. The name of the game is to try and keep them fresh and keep the same guys in there as much as you can, but if you have to rotate them depending on what’s happening in the game during different drives we feel comfortable doing that too.”