Youngsters get another shot

Auburn will hold a half-practice/half-scrimmage Saturday morning inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. The emphasis of the scrimmage portion would be on the younger players.

"It will be mainly trying to get those guys more reps," said coach Gene Chizik. "To try to get some younger guys in there, guys we feel like still need those live reps. There is no substitute for doing it so we are going to scrimmage until we feel like they have had enough reps to continue getting better at their trade."

Chizik said he hopes Saturday will help he and his coaching staff make some final decisions.

"Next week we will really start to pan everything down and give reps to the guys that need to be game ready," said Chizik. "But tomorrow we will be focusing on the younger guys. There is a bunch of them that we are counting on to help us.

"Hopefully, we will show a lot of improvement."

Quick-hitters:

*** Chizik on back-up quarterback Clint Moseley: "A guy as competitive as he is, obviously he was disappointed yesterday, but my expectation is he does what he does every other day which is try to improve."

*** Barrett Trotter on Moseley: "I went to his house last night and talked to him, just hung out a little bit. I know he's really disappointed, to compete hard and for them to drag it out to the last minute. I know that is tough. I know he's still disappointed, but hopefully he can come out of it and do all right."

*** Trotter on his Thursday night following practice, hours after being named the starting quarterback: "I talked to a ton of people last night that heard the news and got in touch with me. There were very excited, really happy for me. It was an enjoyable night."

*** Trotter on the number of calls and/or text messages he received: "I lost count. It was a lot."

*** True freshman Kiehl Frazier addressed the media for the first time since learning of the news that Trotter had been named the starter. Frazier said the decision would not have an effect on him.

"It doesn't change anything for me," said Frazier. "Coming in as a freshman, you don't have any expectations except to get better and I'm going to continue to go out there and do that every week."

*** Frazier said he did not know what his role on the team would be this fall, if any.

"The coaches haven't really defined my role, yet," he said. "I don't know exactly what their plan is for me so I'm going to go out and prepare like I'm the starter, too."

*** Junior running back Onterio McCalebb has been impressed with the play of incoming freshman running back Tre Mason.

"I have seen a lot of things out of him," said McCalebb. "He's a great player. He's like a brother to me, Mike (Dyer) and all of the running backs. He has a lot of talent. He's fast"

*** When asked if Mason was faster, McCalebb responded, "He's fast, but I don't know if he's as fast as I am." Is anyone on the team faster than McCalebb? "I don't think so," he said.

*** McCalebb on redshirt freshman receiver/return specialist Trovon Reed: "He's been working hard in camp and he has a lot of talent. I expect him to do big things this year."

*** Chizik commented on sophomores Cody Parkey (kicker) and Steven Clark Friday.

"I think our young punter and kicker are doing some nice things everyday," said Chizik. "They need to continue to work, but as a whole we feel comfortable where we are."

*** Chizik hopes the return game is improved in 2011. It has been a glaring weakness in the Tigers special teams the past two seasons.

"That was one of our main focuses going into two-a-days," he said. 'We expect to be better. We have to get a guy there where if he has enough room, he has to get us a first down. We haven't been very good at that so we have to get better and we have put a lot of time in it."

*** Chizik on true freshman Quan Bray: "I'm really proud of Quan. He has gotten better day by day. It's been really nice to see him improve."

*** Auburn is scheduled to practice/scrimmage at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Tigers will be off Sunday and Monday.