Tommy Thigpen has had just two practices and roughly seven hours of on-field interaction with defensive secondary cohort Phillip Lolley, but he’s already noticed an odd change coming over him.

“I thought I had dropped my accent,” said Thigpen, a native Arkansan. “I get around Lolley and it’s coming right back.”

Now, Thigpen hasn’t caught onto all of the Southern sayings Lolley spits out during practice. And he said he was floored by the way Lolley enunciates “-bama” whenever he says Alabama.

“I’m still learning,” Thigpen said. “He puts that ‘bama” in there as good as anyone I’ve known.”

It might be an odd couple of sorts at the moment, but the pair said the partnership, so far, is rolling along just swimmingly.

“The camaraderie has been unbelievable,” Lolley said.

Thigpen, whose specific title was unknown before Thursday, is in charge of Auburn’s safeties, while Lolley handles the cornerbacks.

At times during Thursday’s practice, a brief portion of which was open to media, Thigpen and Lolley ran drills in tandem. At others, Lolley took the cornerbacks over to a standup sled, while Thigpen had the safeties focusing on footwork.

Lolley said it’s “his love” to zero in on a certain position and work on the finer details.

“In there it’s very crucial. One mistake, someone hits their head on the goal post,” Lolley said. “Those guys coming at you, they’re great athletes, they’re on scholarship too, they have great speed, so every step is very important.”

Thigpen left a likely lifetime job at his alma mater, North Carolina, for what could be viewed as a lateral move to coach alongside Lolley. But when Coach Gene Chizik approached him about the job, Thigpen said “he had to look at it. You have to look at Auburn football.”

A conversation with Texas coach Mack Brown, who coached above Thigpen at North Carolina and hired Chizik as his defensive coordinator in 2005, made his decision much easier.

“Mack is one of my biggest confidants. I ask him about my career all the time,” Thigpen said. “He said ‘I’m going to tell you one of the best, fiery young coaches, most talented coaches coming up, one of the best I’ve ever had coach for me, is Gene Chizik.

“When he told me that, it was a no-brainer. Pack up, it’s time to go.”

Lolley’s move was just a little bit simpler.

Lolley, who had been on the Auburn staff since 1999 and served as secondary coach from 2002-03, already knew Auburn’s defensive backs very well, as he served as another source of advice the players could turn to.

He said moving back to the field was a no-brainer. Being able to get back into prospective players’ houses made the decision even easier.

“It’s the recruiting,” Lolley said. “Coaching is coaching. The game is always the way it is. The recruiting part is the deal that’s different to me.”

| 737-2561