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• The Auburn Tigers conduct their first practice in pads Wednesday amid hype about a new offense and expectations to play in this year’s SEC Championship Game.

Scott Chancey

AUBURN, Ala.  — James Swinton missed all the fun.

While the senior Auburn receiver finished his World Literature final Wednesday, his Tigers teammates took to the practice field in full gear to continue preparations for the season opener against Louisiana-Monroe on Aug. 30.

“(The first practice) lasted from 4-6:30 p.m. and I ended at 6:31,” Swinton said with a laugh. “It was a pretty tough final. I graduate on Saturday, so it was worth it.”

Today, however, Swinton — the public adminstration major — will be back on the field as coach Tommy Tuberville’s Tigers begin two-a-day drills.

Such is life for a team that is still riding high off a dramatic Chick-fil-A Bowl victory against Clemson and is the preseason pick to win the Southeastern Conference West.

But preseason hype was not the only thing the Tigers were dealing with Wednesday.  They also are learning a new offense that appears to finally make receivers a focal point at a school more known for the likes of rushing stars Bo Jackson, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, Ronnie Brown and ex-Dougherty High School star Lionel “Little Train” James.

Twenty-five years since James and Jackson helped lead Auburn to the 1983 conference crown, the Tigers have won at least a share of the conference crown four times (1987-88, shared with Alabama and Tennessee in 1989, and won outright again 2004).

This season, Auburn is hoping to add yet another SEC title to its history.

For now, the Tigers are adjusting to a spread offense that could feature receivers like Swinton, who was just one of the Tigers’ wideouts seeing little playing time last season.

“He has come out of his shell a little bit,” Tuberville said. “He has tremendous speed.”

After struggling on offense last year, the Tigers hired offensive coordinator Tony Franklin away from Troy before the Peach Bowl and ran a season-high 90 plays for 423 yards.

But that only set the stage for a preseason quarterback controversy.

Kodi Burns, who scored the winning touchdown in overtime against Clemson, is battling with transfer Chris Todd. Todd, who has run the spread offense since middle school, originally signed with Texas Tech out of high school and spent two years there, including a red-shirt season. After transferring to Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, Franklin recruited him to Troy and brought him along to Auburn.

Tigers receiver Chris Slaughter, however, said Wednesday he doesn’t mind who throws it.

“I don’t really care, both of them are good to me,” the former Peach County High School star said. “I don’t really know who’s going to throw the ball. As long as we get the ball, it doesn’t really matter to us.”

  Going to pads Wednesday let players know there is hardly any time left for anything but hard work.

More importantly, it lets them know they’re going to get hit.

“The wide receivers, we’re prima donnas, we don’t really like to get hit that much,” Slaughter joked. “When we make contact with the linebackers or cornerbacks or something like that, we pretty much get mad.”

With all five offensive linemen back, however, the Tigers’ running game will provide enough balance to allow Auburn’s spread offenses to cause trouble for opposing defenses. Returning starter Ben Tate rushed for 903 yards and eight touchdowns last year.

With that in mind, those days of Jackson and James just might linger in Auburn’s gridiron tradition after all.

“You know, it’s still the same Auburn,” Swinton said. “We’re still going to run the ball, and if we’re killing somebody with the run, we’re going to keep on doing it. But the thing about this, it helps the receivers out because it gets the ball more in our hands, and we can get hotter and in the zone more, just like the running backs.”

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