Auburn's Taylor, Roof staying busy

Trooper Taylor hasn’t had time to unpack his things and the rest of his family is still living in Stillwater, Okla.

As for Ted Roof? He’s set up shop in Auburn, but now he has the U.S.’s mortgage crisis hitting close to home.

“You don’t know anybody who wants to buy a house in Minnesota, do you?” Roof joked with reporters. “Not just a good deal; a great deal.”

The two coaches, who met with the media Thursday for the first time since their respective hirings, have had few moments to catch their breath, as the job of shoring up Auburn’s 2009 recruiting class went well beyond the 9-to-5 parameter.

“I used to have an afro,” said Taylor, whose head is shaved. “It’s gone now.”

The two coaches, along with the rest of Auburn’s new staff under Gene Chizik, have had so many things on their plate right from the start that getting to know the players on the current roster — “the guys who you’re going to win with,” as Taylor said — got knocked down to a lower priority.

That’s February’s project.

“Everybody cooks their dinner a different way,” Taylor said. “We can’t control what happened in the past, but we can control what happens in the future. We need those guys to buy in.

“We’ve set the standards high and the expectations and we want those guys to get on board. But in order to do that, you have to build relationships. I can’t come in and say I love you and we ain’t been through nothing. That’s something that’s earned and we want those guys to understand that. But we don’t want to be fake about that.”

Taylor and Roof have taken advantage of Auburn’s staff of eager graduate and quality control assistants and used elaborate ways to match the new names with the new faces.

Taylor said he had an assistant snip photos of each player out of the media guide and required each player make a list of goals for the upcoming season. He said he also dug up video of each of his receivers during their high school days from Auburn recruiting Web sites.

“You want those guys to be a part of your family, too,” Taylor said. “It’s not like you’re going to trade them or cut them or anything like that. We’re not looking at that. We’re looking for them to be a part of our family and us be a part of their family.”

Roof, meanwhile, said he briefly met with each member of the defense within the first 72 hours upon arrival. On the road, he was able to watch in-game footage of the players, as quality control assistants made 10-play highlight reels for each one.

“I wanted to see what they could do,” Roof said. “You don’t get to know them, but it’s a start.”

Neither Taylor nor Roof would delve into specifics about current personnel. Taylor offered up a few names, while Roof said he wouldn’t evaluate Auburn’s current talent through the media.

“The bottom line is, we’ll find out this spring,” Taylor said. “My deal is, one that won’t is no better than that one who can’t. They’ll both get you beat. That’s a bad combination for a coach. I’m not going to let that happen.”

Until then, Taylor and Roof will have ample time to get adjusted to football-looney Auburn.

“I think that’s exciting,” Taylor said. “Even at restaurants, guys, you can forget eating. That’s not going to happen.”

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