Auburn’s Knox gets new lease on life

By Robert Rousseau  |   Thursday, April 17, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

College Football
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Auburn Tigers wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Greg Knox hasn’t received much slack on the second half of his job. In other words, most believe that he is more than a solid recruiting coordinator. However, over the years some have pointed the finger at him when it comes to the Tigers’ wide receiver play.

Auburn isn’t exactly known as a hotbed for receiver talent.

But the fact is that it may not be fair to blame Knox for the majority of the situation. After all, what has Auburn’s offense always been about?

Running the ball. And that started long before Knox, a former quarterback at Northeastern State and wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at Mississippi -- among other coaching jobs -- came to town back in 1999. So it’s not exactly as if the receivers have been given the same focus as other parts of the offense. What’s more, over the course of the last several seasons, Al Borges’s version of the West Coast offense had pretty much fizzled and the protection had broken down, neither of which are good for getting receivers a ton of notoriety.

That said, Knox did coach former Tigers receiver Tim Carter into the second round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He also coached draftees Ben Obomanu, Devin Aromashodu and Courtney Taylor (Auburn’s all-time receptions leader).

Not award-worthy, but notable.

Still, with Tony Franklin’s run and shoot coming to town, two things are about to happen: First, the receivers are going to become a much higher priority. And through this, Knox is about to get his chance to truly shine as a football coach.

You can already see the difference. All of a sudden, top 2009 wide receiver prospects are inviting the Tigers into their homes. They’re strongly considering Auburn. And that has to bode well for Knox as well as the entire offense.

Of course, with all of these changes, more pressure will be placed on Knox and the gang to improve their game. Will he come through in leading this group?

It will be fun to find out. A lot of changes at Auburn these days -- some subtle and some not so subtle.
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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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