11/24 at 12:16 AM

Smirks crossed both center Jason Bosley’s and offensive play-caller Steve Ensminger’s faces when Terrence Cody’s name was dropped this past week.

Ensminger, of course, had the bigger grin because he won’t be lining up across from the 6-foot-5, 365-pound Alabama nose guard Saturday in the Iron Bowl.

“He ain’t bothered me a lick,” Ensminger said.

Bosley, though, will be the one trading licks with Cody, a projected first-round pick in the 2009 NFL Draft if he opts to forego his upcoming senior season.

Bosley, a senior who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 273 pounds, gives up plenty of weight on Cody and will likely need help from one of Auburn’s guards to prevent Cody from squashing Auburn’s tailbacks or quarterback Kodi Burns.

“You got to get lower,” Bosley said. “You got to stay underneath him and keep your feet going and use your leverage.”

Cody missed two games in the middle of the season with a knee injury, but has returned and appears to have made a full recovery. He still wears a protective brace.

“It feels good,” Cody said. “I can walk around without the brace, but they want to keep it on.“

Keeping the pressure on Cody will be key if Auburn doesn’t want an unwanted guest wreaking havoc in its backfield play after play Saturday.

“We’ll have a plan for that,” Ensminger said. “You can’t just go out there and try to run a zone to his side because he’s going to get push and that kind of throws the timing off all the plays.

“As much as we can double-team him, we will.”

Injury update
Coach Tommy Tuberville said placekicker Wes Byrum (inflamed right knee) kicked during Sunday’s practice, but was unsure if the sophomore would be available Saturday against the Crimson Tide.

“I don’t know,” Tuberville said. “We kicked really short ones today.”

Tuberville said a number of players who did not practice last week returned to the field Sunday. The only player that is definitely out, Tuberville said, is tight end Tommy Trott, who had successful surgery on his torn anterior cruciate ligament Thursday.

Hello, old friend
Defensive end Michael Goggans will go through a reunion of sorts Saturday. His former coach at Benjamin Russell High School, Willie Carl Martin, is now the director of player development at Alabama.

Goggans said he has not recently spoken with Martin.

“It will be great talking to him,” Goggans said. “I know he’ll wish me the best of luck.”

Talkin’ about practice
Tuberville said that he plans to hold Auburn’s practices at Jordan-Hare Stadium every day leading into Saturday’s Iron Bowl.

“The offense really likes it,” Tuberville said. “It gives you a stadium sensation, security, all those things. We don’t have a lot of people out there watching like they normally do. It’s a little change of scenery and a little extra incentive.”

Because of Auburn being out of school all week for Thanksgiving break, Tuberville said he plans to hold longer practices. The Tigers will also have extra sessions for group work, particularly with the kicking team.

The two days Auburn had off prior to Sunday afternoon’s practice was apparent, defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said.

“I saw a fast football team today at practice, so I know the 50 hours from when we ended the last practice to today paid off,” Rhoads said. “As we take advantage of this extra time and scale down as the week goes along, it will pay off.

“I’m confident that we’ll put as fast a football team on the field as we can Saturday at 2:30.”

Players who aren’t on the travel roster will be sent home Thursday morning.

Turkey talk
Auburn’s Thanksgiving workload promises to be light, but the eating, Tuberville said, certainly will not.

“We’ll watch a lot of film,” Tuberville said. “There’s nothing for them to do, so we’ll spend time over here, go through gameplan, walk-through and eat two or three times.”

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