Chizik raves about former LB Travis Williams' return to the Plains

Gene Chizik talks to players in a team meeting before the start of practice.

Ahhh, it felt nice to sleep in a bit on a Saturday morning. I'm getting used to these evening practices, especially if keep up with this un-August-like string of cool nights.

I'll have more notes later this afternoon, but I wanted to share a preview of the story I'm writing in tomorrow's paper about Travis Williams.

Williams, of course, was a very good linebacker for Auburn through the 2005 season. He returned to the Plains just a few weeks ago to serve as a defensive graduate assistant working under Tracy Rocker.

I wanted to share what Gene Chizik said about Williams because I don't think I've ever seen Chizik answer a question with more animation or enthusiasm. I think that says a lot about how much Chizik likes Williams...

First and foremost, people don't realize what an integral part of that great defense from 2004 that (Williams) was. He's a guy that moved around, really a selfless guy when he played. He moved to whatever position we needed him. He was a 209-pound linebacker in this league and he was an All-SEC player. That's because he has the heart and he loves the game. Anytime you can bring players back like that into your program that have been there and done it and done it like he did it and went on to play in the NFL when arguably he's too small, but he did it anyway. He just brings that element back to Auburn that we're trying to keep imparting on these new guys. It's invaluable. He can relate to them. He just got done playing -- it wasn't long ago that he was a part of a lot of great teams here. It's just huge to have guys come back and be a part of it.

By the way, you can read my print edition stories here and here.

I'll check back in later tonight.