Advertisement
football Edit

BMatt’s Monday musings

AUBURN | The move of J.J. Pegues from tight end to defensive line was a positive for all parties.

For Pegues, in particular, it gives the sophomore his best opportunity to make a big impact this fall and the best path to a future in the NFL.

Even if Bryan Harsin and Mike Bobo feature the tight end in Auburn’s offense — and I think they will — how many touches would Pegues have gotten in a group that includes John Samuel Shenker, Luke Deal, Tyler Fromm, Brandon Frazier and Landen King?

Pegues could develop into a playmaker on the defensive line.
Pegues could develop into a playmaker on the defensive line. (Todd Van Emst/Auburn athletics)
Advertisement

Surely, not enough for a young man with his impressive combination of size and athleticism. Even offensive coordinator Mike Bobo saw this coming when he spoke to the media on March 22.

"You know, I’ve seen some athletic guys like that who are athletic and can move and have short-area quickness, but they were playing D-line, not tight end,” said Bobo.

At 6-foot-3 and 308 pounds, Pegues should fit in quite well at defensive tackle, noseguard and perhaps strongside end. It’s going to take some time, but once he starts catching onto the scheme and fundamentals of the position, he could certainly develop into a penetrating force who disrupts offenses and makes plays in the backfield against the run and pass.

Perhaps this fall is a little too early to expect all that but even if he can earn a spot in the rotation, he’ll likely have an opportunity to play more snaps on defense than he would have as a tight end or H-back on offense.

Auburn remains deep and athletic at tight end, if a bit unproven, and now adds what could be an important piece on the defensive line to shore up a position that took a hit earlier this spring with the ACL injury to Jeremiah Wright.

It’s a win/win.

***

Auburn’s 1-11 start to SEC play is the worst in program history, but this is certainly not the worst baseball team I’ve covered in my 20 years. Not even close.

There are certainly issues, big ones on a pitching staff that was hit hard by injuries. Even though those injured pitchers are all “back” now, they’re not all back to the form they had pre-injury. Several of them appear to still be quite a ways off.

It’s hard to win when your pitching staff has a 7.35 ERA in 12 conference games. No surprise that ranks dead last in the league. The staff’s 64 walks rank 13th (Missouri has an unreal 84), 18 wild pitches rank 14th, 16 hit batters rank 12th and 80 strikeouts rank 14th.

Not good.

Offensively, Auburn is better but its .251 batting average in SEC games ranks 10th, its 61 runs scored rank 11th and its two stolen bases rank 14th.

The biggest issue on offense is the catcher position where Steven Williams, Ryan Dyal and Nate LaRue have combined to go 3 for 36 (.083) at the plate in conference games. SEC opponents are 13 of 13 in stolen base attempts against the trio.

All that said, Cody Greenhill has bounced back well from his injury, Jack Owen was terrific at Arkansas before getting knocked around a bit against Mississippi State and Carson Skipper looks close to being back. If Richard Fitts can ever find his form, Mason Barnett can locate that strike zone again and Hayden Mullins can return to his pre-injury dominance, the Tigers have a chance to put up much better number on the mound in the second half of conference play.

I don’t see any quit in this team. They competed throughout the weekend, especially at the plate. They just need several of their veteran pitchers and a couple of veteran players to start playing up to their potential.

***

In today’s musical journey, we go back 47 years and a big solo hit from a former member of perhaps the greatest band of all time. On April 13, 1974, Paul McCartney and Wings hit No. 1 on the Billboard 100 with Band on the Run. The song, the second release from the album, Band on the Run, sold over one million copies and was the second of five No. 1 singles for the band. It was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by the trio of Paul, Linda and bass guitarist Denny Laine, who was a founder of the Moody Blues.

Paul McCartney and Wings, originally Wings, was formed in 1971 by Paul, his wife, Linda on keyboards, Laine and drummer Danny Seiwell nine months after the breakup of the Beatles. An acclaimed music photographer, Linda learned to play keyboards after marrying Paul so the two could tour together. After two unsuccessful albums, the band recorded the theme song for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which became a big hit in 1974. The Band on the Run album followed that same year and had several hits along with the title track including Jet and Helen Wheels. The band released four more albums from 1975 to 1979 and had a number of hit singles including Listen to What the Man Said, Silly Love Songs, Let ‘Em In, Maybe I’m Amazed and With a Little Luck. Along with Paul and Linda, the band included eight other members at different points over 10 years. Paul McCartney and Wings, which broke up for good in 1981, won six Grammy Awards including two for Band on the Run, the song, and another for Band on the Run, the album. The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.

The song Band on the Run was partly inspired by a comment George Harrison made during a meeting with the Beatles’ Apple record label. Harrison said, “If we ever get out of here,” and “we’re all prisoners in some way,” during a drawn-out meeting. McCartney explains the song encompasses a lot of themes including escaping, freedom and the desperado image he attributed to bands like the Eagles and Byrds. Two sections of the song were recorded at EMI Studios in Lagos, Nigeria and the third at AIR Studios in London. The song is one of McCartney’s longest at 5:09 but the U.S. radio edit cut it to 3:50 by taking out the middle section. John Lennon was a fan, calling it a, “great song and great album.” In 2010, AOL Radio listeners voted Band on the Run the best song of McCartney’s solo career.

Advertisement