senior to anchor defensive front

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247sports.com

 

Tigers will count on senior to anchor defensive front

ByMark Murphy

3-4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–A player whose role has steadily grown with the Auburn football team looks to be in a good position to be one of the keys to its success for the 2020 season.

Tyrone Truesdell, a 6-2, 326 senior defensive tackle from Augusta, Ga., is a player who has won praise from his position coach, Rodney Garner for improving since he arrived on campus.

Kevin Steele, who is beginning his fifth season as Auburn’s defensive coordinator, has noticed the change in Truesdell’s performance level due to “the development that Rodney has done with Tyrone.”

Steele said, “He is a rock solid football player that can line up inside where it is hard to do and hold the point, command double teams, keep people out of the linebackers,” Steele said.

“He understands the defense,” the coach added. “He does not make mental errors and to say how far has he come, well the third day of practice when he was a freshman, he couldn’t even do up-downs. That’s how far he’s come.”

As a true freshman Truesdell played in nine games as a reserve and was credited with four solo tackles, one assist, one tackle for lost yardage and one fumble recovery.

He improved his totals to five solo tackles and four assists as a sophomore in 2018. Last year Truesdell started 10 times and was credited with 10 solo tackles, 21 assists and five tackles behind the line of scrimmage with three quarterback sacks. He also recovered a fumble.”

 

Tyrone Truesdell is headed into his senior season. (Photo: Jason Caldwell/Inside The Auburn Tigers, 247Sports)

With All-American tackle Derrick Brown gone, Truesdell said that he is trying to be a leader, especially with the defensive line group “to show the younger guys the ropes and show them the foundation that the older guys left for us so that the Auburn tradition for defense still goes on and lives on for years to come.”

Truesdell added that one of the ways he has tried to be a leader is by example, even when spring practices was cancelled and players were sent home to take classes on-line. “I didn’t take a day off,” he said. “I kept working, like, no matter what.”

The senior noted, “I took that time as ‘okay, let me work on me” like I don’t need coaches to be there to get me to do this. I can do this on my own.”

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Truesdell and his teammates are two weeks out from their home opener they play host to the Kentucky Wildcats. Kickoff is set for shortly after 11 a.m. CDT at Jordan-Hare Stadium to begin Auburn’s 10-game regular season schedule featuring five Southeastern Conference home games and five league road contests.