Chizik: Lattimore's balance is his secret

Auburn finished No. 2 to South Carolina in the Marcus Lattimore recruiting sweepstakes, so Auburn coach Gene Chizik has an excellent feel for the Gamecocks' star running back, not to mention a great deal of respect.

The Tigers were one of the few teams that kept Lattimore in check last season. He was held to 33 rushing yards on 14 carries in the first game and caught three passes for 28 yards. Then in the SEC championship game, Lattimore finished with 84 rushing yards on 16 carries and caught three passes for 36 yards. In the two games combined, he scored just one touchdown.

Lattimore leads the SEC in rushing with 611 yards heading into Saturday's game against Auburn, and the 230-pound sophomore is one of the main reasons Chizik says the Tigers will need their best defensive effort of the season to win this game.

"There are a lot of things that make him a great back," Chizik said. "No. 1, he has phenomenal vision and balance, so he can make cuts and stay balanced, see things and make cuts on a dime. The reason I use the word' balance,’ is because when he takes a hit, that’s why it’s extremely tough to bring him down because he has great balance and makes cuts and is able to do those things while still keeping his balance. He’s very difficult to tackle.

"They give him the ball enough times in the game right now to allow him to get into that groove, and when he gets into that groove, it’s hard to stop him."

Chizik said the underrated part of Lattimore's game is his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. He caught 29 passes for 412 yards and two touchdowns last season and is second to receiver Alshon Jeffery this season on South Carolina's team with 12 catches, including a touchdown.

"He has great hands and now you give him the ball a little bit further down the field, where he’s in more open space, and you’ve got the same problem, run game-wise, as far as guys trying to tackle him down the field in space," Chizik said. "The way they use him as a runner and a receiver is very tough to stop."

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Chizik offers impassioned defense of QB

An emotional Auburn coach Gene Chizik sternly told the media Tuesday during his weekly news conference that he wasn’t taking one question about any of the Cam Newton allegations.

That’s after spending more than four minutes defending his star quarterback and calling the latest FOXSports.com report that Newton was caught cheating multiple times at Florida “pure garbage.”

Last week, ESPN.com reported that a man claiming to represent the Newton family, former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers, tried to shop Newton to Mississippi State for $180,000. Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, said the NCAA asked him within the past month to provide bank statements. Both Cecil Newton and Cam Newton have denied any wrongdoing.

The NCAA is currently investigating, but Auburn officials have been emphatic that there are no issues with Newton’s eligibility at Auburn.

“Let me tell you something: He’s the leader of the Heisman race because he deserves it. That’s fact,” Chizik said. “So distractions or whatever’s out there, whatever people want to drum up and dream up and try to distract, it is what it is and it’s not changing. Cameron’s going to be focused on playing Georgia this week. Nothing’s changed in terms of who he is and what he is. But he is like our son here, and I’ve got a problem with this, got a problem it.”

Earlier, Chizik offered an impassioned defense of Newton, who wouldn’t address the cheating allegations.

“Cameron Newton is one of the young men on our football team that has not only excelled as a tremendous athlete, he has done everything we have asked him to do since the day he stepped on campus at Auburn,” Chizik said. "So I want to make this very clear, because I'm wasting my time addressing allegations that completely, to be frank, blow my mind that they're even out there because there are federal privacy laws that dictate that these things don't even get out in public.

“But I'm standing up here on a very important week trying to defend something that quite frankly is garbage. Is there a wizard behind the curtain? I don't know. Is there one? Is there two? Are there 10? I don't know, and I don’t care. But what I do care about is coming to the defense of not only a great football player, but a great human being who comes from a great family.”

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