Posted by: Chris Vannini on August 7, 2012

Auburn assistant head coach/wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor is always throwing out smart and quirky lines and metaphors. Talking about the young and inexperienced Tigers players, Taylor shared some wisdom he learned playing under and working for legendary Baylor head coach Grant Teaff.

"I learned as a young coach a long time ago from coach Teaff. I was coaching defensive backs, and a guy couldn't line up where I wanted him to. So what does that mean? I said, 'Hey, coach. I've told that kid a hundred times to get that right.'" Taylor said. "He looked right at me and said, 'What's so special about 100? Tell him 150, tell him 1,000. Coaches come and go, but he's going to be here for four years.' It didn't take me long to figure that out.

"It's the same with these guys.  It's really important that these guys understand they can't count the reps, they have to make the reps count."

Taylor said he's been happy with the competition within his position group. Older players are always worried about young guys passing them on the depth chart, but the competition has to be fair.

"The old guys don't want the young guys in there, because they think they're going to show them up, or they're trying to steal each other's reps," Taylor said. "You have set reps you want going into it. That's one of the biggest things I'm doing in practice, making sure of. 'It's not your turn, clown, it's his turn. Let him get his reps.' They want their jobs, and these young guys want them too. It's been great competition."

Here is Taylor's complete media session.

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Chris Vannini is a lead writer for CoachingSearch.com and has covered Michigan State sports for The State News, The Oakland Press and MLive.com. He writes a weekly column for the Detroit Free Press on behalf of SB Nation. Vannini lives in Big Ten country, so his foot speed is far from SEC caliber, but his pulse on coaches is hard to match. Be sure to follow @CoachingBuzz on twitter and send your feedback to chris@coachingsearch.com