Todd J. Van Emst | Special to the News

When Kodi Burns first set up his class schedule for the fall semester, the slate included a class at 8 a.m. on Mondays — including today, the first day of classes at Auburn.

Burns wasted no time correcting that particular scheduling quirk.

“I went to my academic counselor,” the sophomore quarterback said with a smile. “We had to do something about that.”

Burns has earned an extra few hours of sleep today. He and his teammates wrapped up preseason camp Sunday, closing a stretch that featured 20 practices in a 16-day stretch.

Today is the players’ first off day since Aug. 2, when practice began. Of course, it won’t exactly be restful: Almost every player has a full slate of classes today.

“They need a day off,” head coach Tommy Tuberville said Sunday. “The problem is, they don’t sleep late — they have to get up and go to work.

“They start their second full-time job (today).”

Still, a brief respite from football will be a relief for the Tigers. Their schedules are officially devoid of football today — even team and position meetings won’t resume until Tuesday.

“We’re definitely ready for an off day, to help the body recover a little bit,” quarterback Chris Todd said. “It’ll be nice to get school started and stuff. I’m definitely looking forward to tomorrow.”

The need for rest was on display in Saturday’s scrimmage. Coaches and players agreed the Tigers showed signs of fatigue in the session.

“You could really see it in some guys’ eyes, that some guys could step up and some guys can lay it down,” Burns said. “Fatigue makes cowards of a lot of people, and that kind of showed Saturday in the scrimmage.”

Tuberville’s response was more direct.

“The effort, it looked like it tried to be good,” he said. “It looked like we were running with leg weights on.”

After today’s break, the Tigers resume practices at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, with another off day scheduled for Saturday. This week, Tuberville and his staff hope to hammer out a depth chart and determine which players will spend the season on the scout team.

That makes the next few days important for several true freshmen, including former Central star D’Antoine Hood. Hood, a cornerback, is one of several rookies with a chance to play on defense. The list includes safety Christian Thompson, cornerbacks Hood, Harry Adams and Neiko Thorpe and linebacker Spencer Pybus. Thompson and Thorpe, who have consistently worked with the second-team defense in practice, are nearly certain to play. The others will wait with more suspense.

On offense, the list of freshmen who are likely to play includes tailback Eric Smith and receivers Philip Pierre-Louis and Darvin Adams.

All regular-season practices are closed to the public.

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