Auburn’s Coleman returns with a vengeance

By Robert Rousseau  |   Monday, September 01, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Auburn Tigers
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As Auburn fans know, Tigers defensive end Antonio Coleman suffered a neck injury during spring practice. But anyone who doubted whether he'd be healed in time for the team's season opener this past Saturday was proven wrong.

“I’ve been thinking about that big hit to start off the season,” said Coleman after the Tigers' 34-0 trouncing of Louisiana-Monroe. “I dreamed about it (Friday) night. That was the best way to start off a season.”

Coleman impressively recorded 8.5 sacks last year, but he looked like an even better player on Saturday.

Coleman started off the game by jarring the ball loose from quarterback Kinsmon Lancaster on the Warhawks' first series. Coleman's teammate Michael Goggans then picked the fumble up and rumbled in for a touchdown.

That wasn’t the end of it, though, as Coleman managed five total tackles, including two for a loss, and a sack on the day. What’s more, he got in Lancaster's face consistently and terrorized UL-Monroe's runners.

“They're a very good football team and I would say their defense is maybe as good as we've faced in the last couple of years," said Warhawks head coach Charlie Weatherbie.

In all likelihood, somewhere in the back of Weatherbie's mind was a visual of Coleman wreaking havoc on his offensive linemen.

Not a bad start.



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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or...
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