Rhett Lashlee
Auburn football offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee serves as the Celebrity "N" during a timeout during the Florida game Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014, at Auburn Arena in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)
-- The same man who will try to stop
Rhett Lashlee
's offense Saturday gave the Auburn offensive coordinator a call in January.
Rory Segrest
, a
, spent a season coaching alongside Lashlee at Samford in 2011. The friend needed a favor and some advice on the best schools in the Fayetteville area for his eighth-grade son.
"I've got great respect for him, and he did a heck of a job with our special teams and D-line that year (at Samford)," Lashlee said. "I'm looking forward to seeing him."
Lashlee grew up in Northwest Arkansas, of course, and played under
Gus Malzahn
in Springdale, where they won a state title at Shiloh Christian Schools and later joined forces as coaches at Arkansas State and now Auburn.
It's not often a relatively young coach faces off against a former co-worker, but Lashlee will get his first taste Saturday at 3 p.m.
"Rhett's a great guy, great family man and obviously a good football coach," Segrest told reporters in Fayetteville. "I'm looking forward to seeing him."
The two haven't exchanged text messages or phone calls this week. They're too busy preparing to beat each other.
Segrest coaches the Razorbacks' defensive line, where the game could be won or lost for Arkansas. Having defensive end Trey Flowers, the Huntsville native who sacked Auburn quarterbacks 3.5 times in 2012, certainly helps Segrest's efforts underneath coordinator Robb Smith.
The main mystery entering the game is Auburn's plans at quarterback.
Jeremy Johnson
will start, but how long
Nick Marshall
will remain on the sideline has not been revealed by the Tigers' coaching staff.
Segrest
Segrest won't dare ask Lashlee either.
"At the end of the day, it's all about the guys in front of us," Segrest said. "Before we start worrying about who has the football, we have to beat those blockers in front of us."
Segrest, a 1996 Alabama graduate, served as a student assistant at Alabama in the early 1990s and was a greaduate assistant at Auburn from 1997 through 1999. His coaching career has placed him in spots like Samford, Southeast Missouri State and in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Lashlee and Segrest will chat on the field before the game. It's a season opener filled with intrigue stemming from a hurry-up, no-huddle debate between
Bret Bielema
and Malzahn in 2013 -- and the deep roots several Auburn coaches have in the state and with the Razorbacks.
and graduated from Arkansas before jumping into the coaching profession in the late 2000s.
"We're all professionals, and at the end of the day, I'm a part of the Auburn family, I represent Auburn, and I'm trying to do everything I can to represent Auburn and myself," Lashlee said. "Rory is the same way over there at Arkansas, but other than for those three or four hours we're competing on Saturday, we'll shoot texts, call whatever — just probably not as much this week."