Saturday, October 20, 2007

A shakeup at wide receiver?

After several days of rampant speculation on the Internet, Auburn wide receiver Robert Dunn didn’t make the trip to Baton Rouge. Dunn, a junior, reportedly wasn’t at practice Thursday. Auburn officials are staying tight-lipped about Dunn’s exact status. As I said, Internet rumors are all over the place, but our burden of proof at My Five Cents is a little higher than that…at least for now.

All we know for sure at the moment is that Dunn won’t play tonight. He’s been listed as a starter all season, starting one game at “Z” receiver and the rest at the “W,“ or slot position. He has 10 catches for 116 yards this season—tied for the fifth-best total on the team—but has had some high-profile drops. Auburn’s top reserves at W are redshirt freshman Tim Hawthorne and true freshman Chris Slaughter. Hawthorne has two catches for 16 yards; Slaughter has two for 13. Neither has shown much sign of life this season, but one or the other will get a big chance tonight.

Dunn is also Auburn’s No. 1 punt returner. As I write these words, Jerraud Powers and Chris Slaughter are catching punts in pre-game warmups. If I had to guess, I’d say Powers becomes the top punt returner. Auburn’s coaches would probably prefer to give Powers a rest—he plays a lot of snaps on defense as a starting cornerback and is also an emergency option at safety, plus lots of special-teams coverage duties. But if I know Tommy Tuberville and Eddie Gran, they’ll be very hesitant to debut a true freshman punt returner under the lights in Tiger Stadium. Something to keep an eye on as we draw ever closer to game time. (Now less than 52 minutes away!)

UPDATE (7:32 p.m. CDT): A spokesman for Auburn’s department athletics media relations issued a statement on Dunn. Here it is, in all it’s glory: “Robert Dunn did not travel with the team due to a violation of the practice policy.”

Not particularly helpful, but interesting phrasing. At least for now, Dunn is still officially with the team. More on this story as it develops, obviously, including in Sunday’s and Monday’s Opelika-Auburn News.