Sherwood and Smoke Show

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Sherwood and Smoke Show: Auburn safeties ready to shine

ByPhillip Marshall

4-5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama – On Sept. 1, 2018, freshmen Jamien Sherwood and Smoke Monday shared an experience for which they had dreamed and worked for so long. They played college football on national television. They celebrated with their teammates after a 21-16 victory over No. 6 Washington at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Thus began a journey that will continue on Sept. 26 when they are Auburn’s starting safeties against Kentucky in the season-opener at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Sherwood grew up in sight of the ocean in Jensen Beach, Fla. Monday grew up in the big city of Atlanta. But as so often happens in college athletics, the city kid and the beach kid became more than teammates. They became fast friends, brothers in a very real way.

 

Smoke Monday says Auburn's defense could be among nation's best. (Photo: Auburn University)

“He makes me better and I make him better,” Monday said. He’s just one of those guys I know I can depend on to get me going, to get my energy up if I need it.”

It’s the same off the field, where the seriousness of football practice and football games is often replace by the levity and fun of being college students.

“You have to have a relationship outside of the practice field to have a relationship on the field,” Sherwood said. “And then, when we're on the field, since we have such a great relationship, I know where he's going to be at all times, and he knows where I'm going to be.”

They play bit parts as freshmen in 2018. They were backups behind Daniel Thomas and Jeremiah Dinson last season, but defensive coordinator Kevin Steele makes it clear that was in name only.

“They're good tacklers,” Steele said. “They can cover. They can get people lined up. Jamien may be one of the best tacklers I've ever seen in the secondary. He's that talented with his balance and body control and just a really, really good tackler. He's always had good coverage skills.

“Probably the biggest jump that Jamien's made this year is that he's a quiet person by nature. He's just really a quiet person. He has become more talkative and more assertive on the field. If he stays healthy and keeps the mindset that he has, he can be very, very special.”

The COVID-19 pandemic took away spring practice and has drastically altered preseason camp, but Sherwood says he’s seen progress from the first day back on the field.

With our DB coach (Wesley McGriff), he’s very intense on how we work at practice,” Sherwood said. “He’s hard on us at practice. He always talks about keeping the top on the coverage. So with us, that’s our main goal — never let anything get behind us and just communicate. As we communicate better with each other, we perform better. We just have to have 11 cleats set in the ground.”

Despite the loss of four starters in the secondary and two dominant players on the defensive line, Monday and Sherwood say no one should fret about Auburn’s defense in 2020.

“I feel like we have all the pieces to be a great defense this year,” Monday said. “We just have to communicate and stay focused on keeping everybody level-headed. We know that we won’t have four starters coming back, but the other guys have played enough snaps for them to be prepared for this season.

“I feel like Coach Steele is doing a great job taking it slow, teaching everybody the fundamentals of our defense. If we play with effort every single play and tackle, we’re going to have the best defense in the country, I feel.”

Sherwood echoes those feelings. Even with the departure of Derrick Brown, Marlon Davison, Dinson and Thomas and others, he says leadership will be a strength.

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“I feel like we’re going to have a great defense this year,” Sherwood said. “I feel like we have a lot of leaders, I feel like on defense. We have a lot of dudes that know what to do. A lot of 2017 and 2018 kids are out there, so we’ve been together for a while. I feel like we have great chemistry with each other and I feel like we can either be just as good or better than any defense that has played at Auburn before.”

The Tigers returned to the practice field Friday. They will go to Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday for t he third scrimmage of the preseason.

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[bigbird 60,939]

I pray they go the route of Derrick and Marlon. 2 years starting will vault them up the draft boards.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

48 minutes ago, bigbird said:

I pray they go the route of Derrick and Marlon. 2 years starting will vault them up the draft boards.

Why just 2?  This is a free year.  Make it 3!