24 Auburn Tigers call Georgia home

AUBURN — Brad Lester’s decision during his senior year of high school wasn’t difficult.

Georgia was offering him a scholarship to be a defensive back. Auburn had a scholarship also waiting for him, as a running back.

“I wanted to play running back,” Lester said to no surprise.

When No. 18 Auburn travels to Athens, Ga., to face the No. 10 Bulldogs on Saturday, Lester will be about 40 minutes away from his home in Lilburn, Ga.

Auburn’s junior tailback is one of several players who were recruited by Georgia and turned the Bulldogs down to come to Auburn.

Auburn has 24 Georgia natives on its roster. Not all of them, of course, were recruited by UGA, but many were. Offensive line coach Hugh Nall, who played at Georgia in the late ’70s, calls the Auburn-Georgia game “like two brothers fighting.”

“The schools are so similar,” Nall said.

“We recruited almost every one of their players. They recruited almost every one of our players. It just makes it a natural backyard ballgame.”

Nall later launched into a weird analogy. He compared the Auburn-Georgia game to him playing racquetball.

What? Nall plays racquetball!

“It’s just like when I play racquetball everyday,” said Nall, who recruits South Georgia. “I try to beat the guy up and win the game, but we go to lunch afterward.”

Auburn defensive tackle Josh Thompson of Statesboro, Ga., doesn’t play racquetball. Well, I don’t think he does, but he was recruited by Georgia.

In fact, he was close to going there, until ... “they signed a huge, good defensive line class the year before I came out” and never offered him a scholarship.

Payback, right, Josh?

“Nah,” he said, making sure not to create any “bulletin board material.”

Receiver Robert Dunn was offered a scholarship from UGA, but he thought Auburn was “a better fit.” From Augusta, Ga., Dunn has several friends on Georgia’s team.

One of them — defensive tackle Corey Irvin, also from Augusta — called him during practice this week. His voice mail picked up.

“I haven’t checked it, but I have an idea what it will say,” Dunn said.

The junior slot receiver called this game his “Auburn-Alabama game.”

The same could be said for linebacker Tray Blackmon, who’s from LaGrange, Ga. During the recruitment process, Blackmon chose Auburn over Georgia and Florida State. So, why pick Auburn?

“Just getting down here and meeting the coaches and players and people, it just felt more like a family here,” he said.

Blackmon, who grew up a Bulldogs’ fan, admits he cheers for Georgia against whoever they play, except for this weekend.

“After we play them and before we play them,” he said, “I’m kinda for them.”

Byrum to kick off again: Kicker Wes Byrum returns this week to kick off for the Tigers. Suffering from a thigh bruise, Byrum has not kicked off since the Week 8 game at LSU.

He has remained the Tigers place-kicker, attempting field goals and extra points but was removed from the kickoff team to rest his leg. Special teams coach Eddie Gran hopes Byrum’s deep kicks helps an otherwise lackluster kickoff coverage team.

“Hopefully, the ball is not at the 20,” Gran said. “That makes a huge difference.”

Austin High grad Morgan Hull kicked off for the Tigers during the win over Tennessee Tech. Just one of Hull’s four kicks made it inside the 5-yard line. The others landed between the 15-and 20-yard line.

Byrum, who didn’t kick at all during the last two weeks of practice, was surprised how well he was hitting extra points and field goal the last two games. The true freshman is confident he will be able to kick off just fine.

Byrum agrees with Gran in that longer kickoffs will help Auburn’s 45th-ranked kickoff coverage team.

“I think if the ball was 10 yards farther back we would have done a lot better,” he said.

Gran will mix up his personnel on the coverage team, which gives up more than 20 yards a return. “We’re going to find the best 11 who will run down this week, guys who want to be on it and are chomping at the bit. We’ve had some situations where we’ve held some guys because of injuries, but we aren’t holding guys anymore. This is Georgia.”