Garner challenging T.D. Moultry

[aubiefifty 18,201]

Rodney Garner challenging T.D. Moultry to be more consistent in 2019

Posted Jul 27, 8:52 AM

4-5 minutes

Rodney Garner and T.D. Moultry have had some discussions this offseason. Some serious discussions.

See, Auburn’s defensive line coach doesn’t want a repeat of 2018 for Moultry, the Tigers’ junior edge-rusher who struggled to turn the corner during his sophomore campaign last season.

“We’ve had some real honest and frank conversations about it because really, that first game last year against Washington was a fiasco for him,” Garner said Thursday before speaking to the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club in Hoover. “It was really indicative of the type of camp he had last year.”

After posting 15 tackles, with 2.5 for a loss and 1.5 sacks as a freshman in 2017, Moultry finished with similar numbers in 2018 despite seeing an expanded role at the Buck position along Auburn’s deep defensive line. He had 11 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss and 1.5 sacks as a sophomore in 13 games — the same number he appeared in during his freshman season.

According to Garner, Moultry was “dealing with some stuff personally” during fall camp a year ago, and the 6-foot-2, 243-pounder allowed that to bleed into his performance on the field and in practices.

“There are just some things he’s got to learn,” Garner said. “That’s a sign of maturity, just learning how to put things in the back of his mind and not let one bad play turn into two, turn into three, turn into four. Now you’ve had a bad ballgame, whereas if you made a mistake, let’s put that behind us and move forward and learn from it and see what we can do better.”

Despite Moultry’s struggles last fall, Garner thought the former four-star recruit put together a “really good spring.” Moultry himself said he was trying to use his time more wisely this spring and believed he improved far more this spring that he did the one prior.

That should be a good sign for Moultry’s outlook this fall.

“The challenge for T.D. is, a year ago he had a really good spring and sort of hit a little rough spot in fall camp and in the fall,” Garner said. “We just have to avoid that. We have to guard ourselves against that and not let that happen. We’re just looking for the consistency of what it’s going to take to perform at this level.”

That’s where those blunt conversations came into the picture this offseason.

Garner knows the type of talent Moultry has. After all, Moultry was a top-100 prospect nationally in the 2017 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, and he was good enough to carve out a role immediately upon arriving at Auburn two years ago. Now, it’s just a matter of putting it all together and finding the sort of consistency Garner is looking for, especially with the Tigers in search of their next great pass-rusher in the same mold as Carl Lawson and Jeff Holland.

While Nick Coe is the Tigers’ returning leader in sacks and is projected to start at Buck, his versatility and ability to play all four spots along the line means Moultry will see ample snaps off the edge again this fall, especially with how much Garner likes to rotate his linemen to keep them fresh as well as mix-and-match personnel. It will be on Moultry to turn the corner and make the most of those opportunities and realize his full potential.

“I think he will,” Garner said. “I really think he will. He’s trying to be a leader. He’s trying to take ownership. I’m pleased with the want-to. We just have to put it together. It just can’t be that (up and down). That’s the thing we have to guard against. We all have to be climbing (up).”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[CodeRocket 413]

CRG said it and I believe it! 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

2 hours ago, CodeRocket said:

CRG said it and I believe it! 

I have a hard time believing him when it comes to edge rushers.  History tends to show they're his weakness in both recruiting and development. 

[Metalsinger418 88]

13 hours ago, dyehardfanAU said:

I have a hard time believing him when it comes to edge rushers.  History tends to show they're his weakness in both recruiting and development. 

Dee Ford, Carl Lawson and Jeff Holland say hi.

[McLoofus 35,182]

On 7/27/2019 at 11:24 PM, dyehardfanAU said:

I have a hard time believing him when it comes to edge rushers.  History tends to show they're his weakness in both recruiting and development. 

A weakness, or just not quite as strong as we've been on the interior? 

Dee Ford was a miracle of development, even if a lot of it was his own initiative. The injury bug prevented us from realizing Lawson's full potential, but his rookie year at Cincinnati suggests that he was every bit the recruit that we thought he was. And I don't see how you can call Holland anything other than a recruiting and development success. Dude was a big time recruit and he produced big time results despite not having NFL metrics. And Nick Coe might leave without producing a ton of sacks but he's going to leave a rich man and a household name despite not actually being that heralded as a recruit. So I'd have to chalk him up as a win. 

I mean, yes, we've needed more than we've gotten in a couple years. Cowart was a spectacular bust. No questioning that. If we have to pick a weakness for Garner, it's edge rusher. But to say we can't even believe what he says about his guys? I'm not sure about that.

Oh, and I just now read the actual quotes. I don't find them encouraging at all. 

[dyehardfanAU 2,117]

6 hours ago, McLoofus said:

A weakness, or just not quite as strong as we've been on the interior? 

Relative to the numbers we've needed, yes it's been his weakness.