Auburn at Arkansas

Auburn buck T.D. Moultry plays on defense in the second half against Arkansas on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

During his first two seasons at Auburn, Jeff Holland waited behind Carl Lawson, absorbing everything he could and waiting for his time to take over the buck defensive end role on the Tigers’ defense.

T.D. Moultry did the same thing behind Holland this season, watching the breakout star total 45 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and four forced fumbles in his first year as the starter.

And now that Holland has decided to forgo his final year of eligibility and enter the 2018 NFL Draft, Moultry has the chance to follow in his footsteps next season. Just ask the guy he played behind this year.

“He’s a freak. So coming up next year, he’s going to keep working hard and he’ll do the same thing I did,” Holland said after Monday’s Peach Bowl, two days before announcing he would enter the draft. “His future is very, very bright.”

Moultry finished his true freshman season at Auburn with 15 tackles, 2 ½ tackles for loss, 1 ½ sacks and a pair of quarterback hurries over 13 games, and he did it playing a position that he didn’t expect to play coming in.

When the Birmingham product signed with Auburn as a four-star recruit out of Jackson-Olin High this past February, he did so ranked as the No. 3 inside linebacker in the Class of 2017. But as soon as he arrived on campus, defensive line coach Rodney Garner saw pass-rush potential in the 6-foot-2, 240-pound rookie.

Before long, he was pestering linebackers coach Travis Williams to let Moultry take some reps at buck.

“He’s build like a Greek god,” Garner said this past fall. “He’s explosive, he’s quick, he’s powerful. So I think he has a tremendous skill set. But like I said, I think we need to do more fundamental work to help him with his pass rush. He has natural pass rush ability, so now let’s get everything fine-tuned and get him shined up.”

Garner eventually got his wish. When Auburn released its first depth chart prior to its Sept. 2 opener against Georgia Southern, Moultry was listed as Holland’s backup.

“I hadn’t envisioned it, but they always told me,” he said Monday. “I didn’t know how true it was until they put me there.”

A nagging injury slowed him some early in the season, said defensive coordinator Kevin Steele, who added that he called the true freshman “field goal” until he had a full sack on his stat line. But Moultry came on late in the season, recording the first half sack of his career at Arkansas on Oct. 21 and getting his first full one at Texas A&M two weeks later.

“We started feeding him a little bit more at buck and by the end of the year, and he was a very, very effective pass rusher for us,” Steele said last month. “But he had started to play the run technique at another level. He's young, still got a ways to go. But he's got a high motor, tremendous athleticism. Tough guy, and he loves ball. So we've got a good start.”

Moultry thinks his background as a standup linebacker helped.

“The best thing I love, coming from linebacker, is the physicality I have, so I try to bring that down to the buck,” he said. “I won’t be upset from the pass. But the run, if you running on my side, I’ll be really upset, because I make sure I stop the edge.”

That could help him ascend to a starting role as a sophomore in 2018, something Holland did as a junior this past season. The fact that Auburn is returning its three other starters in defensive end Marlon Davidson and defensive tackles Dontavius Russell and Derrick Brown should help the rising sophomore along.

Of course, Moultry will have some competition for the role. Returning contributors Nick Coe and Big Kat Bryant showed the ability to provide pass-rush from multiple spots this season, and the Tigers have already added a few newcomers to the defensive line in recruiting.

But with a season now under his belt, Moultry might be willing to bet on himself.

“I think I grew a lot of confidence,” Moultry said. “I always told myself, nobody can beat you but you.”

Josh Vitale is the Auburn beat writer for the Opelika-Auburn News. You can follow him on Twitter at @AUBlog. To reach him by email, click here.