STULTZ: Rambling into fall camp
We are exactly one week away from the start of fall camp for the 2024 Auburn football team, and as usual, some questions will need to be answered during the next month leading up to the season opener against Alabama A&M on August 31.
This will be my fourth camp since joining this site, and the sheer amount of talent is finally getting to the point where you can see SEC-level play on the practice field. Hugh Freeze and the Tigers aren't there yet, but this is a pivotal season in which Auburn must show progress on the field. We've discussed this on The Rundown earlier this week, but a winning season is necessary for the momentum Freeze and his staff have built to keep going.
Football season is arriving soon, so we might as well get some ramblings out of the way before we kick into full gear. Off we go!
- I love the Olympics for many reasons, but my favorite is watching the Parade of Nations and realizing how bad my geography knowledge is. Every four years, I am reminded that 10 or more countries exist that I either didn't know about or forgot. I'll be glued to all the coverage over the next two weeks.
- My underlying storyline for Auburn's fall camp is whether Camden Brown can continue to step up or if he gets lost in the pack considering the upgrade at the position. It's a critical camp for him and his future.
- Will this year's Big Cat Weekend exceed last year's? No matter, this weekend finally means something again.
- There was an episode of Murder,She Wrote that aired the other night in which Jessica Fletcher works with the KGB, and I have many questions about her morals, considering it was right in the middle of the Cold War. Was she secretly a Soviet spy? Is that why her husband died in a plane accident? Is that why people die wherever she goes? Ok, enough about the greatest show to ever air.
- Say what you want about Payton Thorne, but he was a great representative for Auburn at media days last week. So were Eugene Asante and Keldric Faulk. The coaching staff did well picking those three men.
- Watching The Open on Saturday, the weather those golfers were facing was so bad that if I were playing in those conditions, I would have done what the guy did on Thursday—quit and go to the pub. I love golf, but that looked miserable.
- Thanks to everyone (the number is now in the dozens) who have either texted me or told me in person that I look like Thriston Lawrence, who led The Open for a little while on Sunday. He wished he looked like me and had my golf game.
- I am watching The Price is Right for the first time in months, and Drew Carey's soul patch looks so silly. Is he trying to be Howie Mandel?
- This week, while appearing on a radio station in Norman, Okla., I was asked how Auburn fans feel about Oklahoma and Texas joining the SEC. My answer was that it is a mixed bag because fans are losing the regionality and traditional rivalries that made this conference great a long time ago while also being excited to have two top programs join and look forward to visiting both places. I didn't give my opinion of I wish they weren't joining.
- Going back to the Olympics, I widely prefer the Winter Games over the summer only because you get to see crazy events that you only see every four years. Curling? Love. The luge? I can't get enough. Downhill skiing? I'm not sure how they don't die. It's riveting.
- How many Cal fans do you expect for the game this year? A buddy of mine is catering an alumni tent for 1,500 or so, but I expect not much more than that. It's a long trip, and they have a lot of long trips now that they're in the ACC. That travel schedule is bananas.
- A Hallmark Christmas movie is coming out this year, and it is supposed to star Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and other members of the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm in for it just due to the bad acting that will ultimately occur.
- I haven't downloaded NCAA Football yet because I want reasons to get me out of the house, and I feel as if I would become a hermit.
- TikTok of the Week: If you've never watched Arrested Development, you must change that. Here is Gob Bluth at some of his best.
- Finally, I noticed the other day that I always feel more comfortable starting with my left foot when I begin walking. Is this because I am a lefty? Do right-handed people start with their right? Am I overthinking this? This is especially true when I try to get even steps in on a sidewalk or piece of grass. No, I'm not crazy. Okay, maybe just a little.