Partial move

[rl]

AUBURN, Ala. | Four days into spring practice and Jason Smith has made a move to wide receiver. Just not a full one. Yet.

Smith, who has also been working as a punt returner, split time between quarterback and wide receiver Tuesday and will continue to do so the remaining 11 practices.

"What we said is it would be all quarterback as long as he wants to compete for the job," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "He still wants to, but at the same time, he wanted to try some receiver so we're going to do a little bit of both the rest of the spring."

Smith has had success at receiver. He played the position early during his high school career before concentrating on quarterback as a junior and senior. He played wide receiver for a week during Alabama-Mississippi all-star practices in 2012 and then earned game MVP honors after catching six passes for 134 yards.

"He's the type that we definitely need him on the field. He's got a lot of skills as far as athletic ability," Malzahn said.

NOTHING SERIOUS: True freshman safety Tim Irvin had a big cast on his left hand Thursday but was able to practice without issue according to Malzahn. Junior defensive end Gimel President has been a spectator during the first four practices with an undisclosed injury.

"We're hoping to have (President) back once we come back from spring break," Malzahn said. "He is a little banged up. Hopefully he'll be back full throttle when we come back."

MAINLY SAFETY: Rudy Ford started at safety last season but defensive coordinator Will Muschamp said Saturday he may need to use the junior at cornerback. So far, most of Ford's work has been at safety.

"I mainly play safety, but I have worked a little corner to make sure I'm tuned in to what they're doing, just in case anything happens," Ford said.

Ford is open to playing either position this fall. "I just want to play."

LOOKING TO STEP UP: Malzahn is looking for some receivers to step up this spring opposite of D'haquille Williams. Two players he's pushing for more consistency from are Ricardo Louis and Tony Stevens, who both have the potential to take over for Sammie Coates as a big-play receiver.

"(Louis) has done a lot of good things for us, but he's really trying to emerge as a guy we can consistently throw the ball down to the field. That's what we're working really hard on. He's committed to that. He is one of our leaders. Everybody has seen that he's got running back skills in the backfield, but we're going to really work hard on the down-the-field consistency playing receiver.

"(Stevens) is one of the guys that we're ready to take that next step. He has shown some signs of being able to do that. It's just a matter of being consistent. This spring will be very big for him. We're giving him a lot of opportunities, quite a few with the ones just to see what he can do. It's just a matter of him being consistent."

STAYING PHYSICAL: Auburn's fourth overall practice Tuesday was its second in full pads. The Tigers will do the same Thursday before taking off spring break. Auburn won't return to the practice fields until Tuesday, March 31. Malzahn said he won't hold any full-scale scrimmages until after the break.

"We had a good, physical practice," he said. "Offense went against defense a lot. It wasn't a whole lot of individual today. Really just trying to strain our guys. Really trying to develop that trust -- that trust that coaches can trust the players and players can trust the guy beside them. We're trying to strain them, trying to really come together. Kind of like I talked about day one, really working hard to get our edge back. A lot of energy in practice. A lot of good competition."