Marlon Davidson and Derrick Browns secret weapon

[aubiefifty 18,222]

al.com

The secret behind Marlon Davidson, Derrick Brown’s quick hands and strip-sacks

Today 9:30 AM

6-8 minutes

Auburn Football

Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Marlon Davidson and Derrick Brown have been on a tear this season, tormenting opposing teams and constantly setting up shop in opponents’ backfields.

The result has been a dynamic duo of pass-rushers who have anchored one of the nation’s best and most talented offensive lines, with the two combining for five of a possible seven SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors. While there are multiple factors — changes in diet, a renewed commitment to offseason training and four years of experience — contributing to their torrid play this season, Davidson believes the two are also getting a boost away from the field.

This one, he said, is coming from the classroom.

Well, not just any class, but an elective that the two senior defensive linemen — as well as redshirt junior Nick Coe — are taking this semester: Taekwondo.

“That’s probably the best class we ever took,” Davidson told AL.com.

It was a decision the trio of linemen came to after discussing it with defensive line coach Rodney Garner in the summer. The thought, Davidson said, was that taking the martial arts elective — which meets on Tuesday afternoons (Davidson was actually on the way to the class right after meeting with the media at the team’s athletics complex this Tuesday) — would benefit the players on the field.

Taekwondo requires discipline, of course, but Davidson believes it has also helped him and Brown with improved hand speed, which has translated to their dominant play of late. He and Brown have combined for four forced fumbles this season, all on strip-sacks, with three of them coming in the Tigers’ last two games. With two apiece, Brown and Davidson are tied for 21st nationally and ties for most in the SEC in that category among defensive players.

The two forced fumbles are already a career-high for Davidson, who didn’t have any in 2018 after recording one in each of his first two seasons, while Brown’s two match his career-high from 2016 — and are already an improvement on his one from a year ago. Brown has also shown off his quick hands with a career-high three pass breakups this season.

“I think my hand speed is a little faster now,” Davidson told AL.com. “Just making sure, because fighting you have to keep your hands up and protect your face and your numbers, so that’s just like protecting your numbers in football with offensive linemen. I think that plays a tremendous role”

Brown got his first of the season against Texas A&M last month, when he sacked Kellen Mond and jarred the ball loose early in the third quarter of Auburn’s 28-20 win. His other came during Auburn’s loss to Florida earlier this month, when he stripped Kyle Trask early in the fourth quarter of what was then just a one-score game. Davidson’s first of the season also came in that game, when he sacked Trask and knocked the ball loose late in the first quarter—on the same play that Brown recovered the ball and nearly returned it for a touchdown before tripping over himself at the Florida 35-yard line.

Davidson’s second came on the opening drive against Arkansas last weekend, when he sacked Ben Hicks on the third play of the game while reaching up and swiping the ball away from the Razorbacks quarterback before recovering it himself and setting up Auburn’s first touchdown of the 51-10 rout.

“We’ve talked about before the season started, Nick Fairley had a dominant season (in 2010) and those two guys right now are in that same category,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “They’re doing it week in and week out, and so both of them are dynamic impact players and they’re both playing at a very high level right now.”

It’s not the first time Auburn’s defensive line has turned to martial arts to gain an edge on the field. In 2017, edge-rusher Jeff Holland adopted the “Sensei Mud” persona after Auburn’s staff brought in Ben Creamer of Ignition Athletic Performance for a two-day offseason seminar on hand-to-hand combat techniques that could translate to pass-rushing on the field.

“Man, if we were doing (taekwondo) then, I think we would be totally different, for sure,” Davidson told AL.com. “I think we would be way more better than we are now. Just having that class as a backup source for us, helping us outside of football, I feel like is probably the best decision we made.”

That course has been an important asset to Davidson and Brown this season, both when it comes to their hand speed and in continuing to build the bond between them that dates back to their freshman seasons, when they came in together as part of Auburn’s 2016 recruiting class. Brown, Davidson and Coe are all close-knit, but Brown and Davidson have a particularly special bond as roommates. They see each other every day, and they also compete in everything — a brotherly rivalry that has fueled their performances this season and driven each to try to one-up the other.

It has produced an ongoing war of words between them, with each calling the other “fat” in interviews with the media in recent weeks, and even back in July at SEC Media Days. That back-and-forth, Davidson said, extends to their taekwondo class

“It’s bad,” Davidson told AL.com. “It’s bad. We call each other fat probably every day. He just comes up to me and says, ‘You fat.’ I tell him he’s fat, but just, you know, we always have each other to push each other — I mean, you can’t ask for nothing more than that.”

They’ll continue to push each other this weekend, when No. 9 Auburn travels to Baton Rouge, La., to take on No. 2 LSU in what is potentially a “do-or-die” game for Auburn’s College Football Playoff chances. Davidson and Brown represent Auburn’s biggest matchup advantage in Death Valley, and they could be the team’s best chance at pulling off the upset and snapping a 20-year drought in Tiger Stadium.

“It's crazy,” Davidson said. “It's like, dang. You know, we're doing it at the same time now instead of just being one person having a breakout season. You know, just having two guys on the defensive line like dang they can't block us. It's scary for an offense, to be honest.”

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

[Sizzle 3,948]

That taekwondo class should be a requirement for everybody on our defense

[LKEEL75 2,567]

If I am not mistaking this is what Sensei Mud was taking last year.  Was it not?

[aubiefifty 18,222]

we so bad we can kick dat azz during AND after the game.......lol. and mr ikeel i believe you are correct.

[Zeek 16,953]

1 hour ago, Sizzle said:

That taekwondo class should be a requirement for everybody on our defense

Wrestling should be required for all high school football players (especially OL/DL)

[Sizzle 3,948]

36 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Wrestling should be required for all high school football players (especially OL/DL)

Yeah but I think quite a few probably play basketball as their second sport. And those sports are during the same time

[AUsince72 11,084]

39 minutes ago, Zeek said:

Wrestling should be required for all high school football players (especially OL/DL)

Instead, here's a quick video of OL practice that was smuggled out under the veil of secrecy.  Better watch now before it's gets deleted...

 

[Viper 3,498]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

“It’s bad,” Davidson told AL.com. “It’s bad. We call each other fat probably every day. He just comes up to me and says, ‘You fat.’ I tell him he’s fat  

 

[Zeek 16,953]

1 hour ago, Sizzle said:

Yeah but I think quite a few probably play basketball as their second sport. And those sports are during the same time

Waste of their time 😤