New member of defense has potential

[aubiefifty 18,231]

247sports.com

 

New member of Auburn's defense has potential to help this fall

ByMark Murphy

3 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–Going into the 2018 football season the Auburn Tigers made a surprise position change that worked out about as well as could be expected.

The Tigers are hoping for a repeat of what happened when they moved wide receiver Noah Igbinoghene from wide receiver to cornerback for his sophomore season.

Following his second season on defense, Igbinoghene was selected with the 30th pick of the National Football League Draft by the Miami Dolphins after a strong performance in 2019.

As the 2020 Tigers wrapped up their first week of preseason practices with a scrimmage on Saturday, Coach Gus Malzahn noted that he has high hopes that former wide receiver Matthew Hill’s transition to the secondary will be a smooth one.

“A lot of people recruited Matthew to play defense,” Malzahn pointed out after his team practiced at Jordan-Hare Stadium where they will open the season in five weeks vs. Kentucky. “It was kind of one of those things that he wanted to do.

“I think he has done some good things,” the coach added. “I think he will have a chance to help us on that side of the football.”

Hill caught eight passes for 46 yards last season as a redshirt freshman. He played in four games in 2018 before redshirting after making two catches for 21 yards.

 

Matthew Hill is heading into his redshirt sophomore season. (Photo: Jason Caldwell/Inside The Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)

Smoke Monday, who started twice last season at safety as a sophomore, is a player who has a good chance to break into the starting lineup on a full-time basis as a junior with last year’s starters, Jeremiah Dinson and Daniel Thomas, being seniors in 2019.

Monday notes that he likes what he has seen from Hill so far as a defensive back getting looks at cornerback and safety. “I feel like Matthew Hill is going to be a big contributor to the defense because he is very athletic,” Monday said. “He can run. He has nice hips. I feel like he is learning the playbook very well and I feel like he can help us in a big way this year.

“He definitely can help us,” Monday added. “He is really smart. When he steps on the field, he is very confident in what he is doing. He is going to help us really good this year.”

Hill contributed two tackles last season on special teams.

12COMMENTS

“The thing about Matthew, he is a football player,” Malzahn said. “He was one of our best special teams players last year and that usually equates to being a good defensive player, too.”

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[aubiefifty 18,231]

man he had forty something catches on "O" last year. are we hurting that bad in the secondary? yes i am sure the coaches know what they are doing but it is still a worry.

[Grumps 3,706]

17 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

man he had forty something catches on "O" last year. are we hurting that bad in the secondary? yes i am sure the coaches know what they are doing but it is still a worry.

Hill caught eight passes for 46 yards last season as a redshirt freshman. He played in four games in 2018 before redshirting after making two catches for 21 yards.

[aubiefifty 18,231]

2 minutes ago, Grumps said:

Hill caught eight passes for 46 yards last season as a redshirt freshman. He played in four games in 2018 before redshirting after making two catches for 21 yards.

thanx grumps. i misread where i thought he caught 46 passes. now i am not worried.................

[Sizzle 3,948]

1 hour ago, aubiefifty said:

man he had forty something catches on "O" last year. are we hurting that bad in the secondary? yes i am sure the coaches know what they are doing but it is still a worry.

Our secondary is thin, we needed extra help

[Cardin Drake 2,076]

I'm sure what Noah was able to accomplish opened some eyes.   Hill played both ways in high school, and now he's a big db instead of an average size WR.  I think he is wisely increasing his shot at the NFL.  Of course, doing what Noah did is pretty rare, but this move probably makes a lot of sense for him and the team.

[bigbird 60,939]

3 hours ago, Sizzle said:

Our secondary is thin, we needed extra help

Replace secondary with Linebacker and see what happens.

[Pedaler 1,025]

I can definitely see this move working out. Hill had two key plays in last year’s Iron Bowl that showed his mettle as a defender. He laid himself out on Waddle’s kickoff return and was an inch from getting him, and on a third down pass he was stopped 2 yards short and bulled his way to a first down.

[Gr82batigr 97]

Would love to see M Hill return punts. He was pretty electric with the ball in his hands in his HS days.  

[Sizzle 3,948]

58 minutes ago, Pedaler said:

 He laid himself out on Waddle’s kickoff return and was an inch from getting him

That was the day I wanted to see what Hill could do on the defensive side of the ball. He plays with a real physicality on special teams. I loved his effort on that play