Contributed
(August 10, 2010)

AUBURN - The Auburn football team practiced in full pads for the first time this season on Monday, working out for two-and-a-half hours on the Athletics Complex practice fields.

The Tigers opened with special teams work before moving to individual and position drills. After more special teams, much of the rest of the practice pitted the offense against the defense in team drills.

After practice, head coach Gene Chizik stated that he had hoped for more energy from his team, particularly after a day off from practice on Sunday. He noted that there were some bright spots, but was not satisfied overall.

"I was really hoping it would be a more physical day," said Chizik. "After having an off day yesterday, I really felt like today would be more high energy. I’m disappointed in that. It wasn’t as physical of a day as we needed to have since we went live for the first time. That’s not to say there weren’t some good things happening, but overall, I’m not pleased with the day. We’re going to get that fixed tomorrow."

Monday’s practice came after five members of the team earned their degrees from Auburn earlier in the day. Seniors Mike Blanc, Mario Fannin, Byron Isom, Ryan Shoemaker and Terrell Zachery all went through graduation ceremonies prior to attending practice.

The addition of those five graduates gives Auburn 11 players on the current squad who have already earned their degrees. The other six who had already graduated include Mike Berry, Zach Clayton, Zac Etheridge, Michael Goggans, Aairon Savage and Craig Stevens.

The Tigers will have their first two-a-day session of practices on Tuesday. The first practice will begin at 9:55 a.m. CT, while the second will start at 7:10 p.m.

Auburn opens the 2010 season on Sept. 4 against Arkansas State at 6 p.m. CT in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net.