Newkirk beats hurdles, ready for senior year

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al.com

Daquan Newkirk beats hurdles, ready for senior year

By Giana Han

8-10 minutes

When the football coaches at The First Academy first saw Daquan Newkirk they were stunned. All Curt Cramer remembers thinking was “Oh my.”

Head coach Leroy Kinard said they had been told he could play running back, so they weren’t expecting a 6-foot-3, 255 pound player. They also weren’t expecting the hair.

It was red — although neither is sure whether he meant for it to be that color — and it led to the nickname everyone in his hometown now calls him.

Although his Auburn teammates still call him “Red,” Newkirk no longer resembles the young man who transferred into The First Academy. Even since arriving at Auburn in 2018, he’s grown in size and maturity.

“The guy from a few years ago?” said Tyrone Truesdell, one of Auburn’s two returning starters on the defensive line. “Nah. He’s definitely changed. He’s matured. The one thing he does still have is that competitive edge.”

The journey from The First Academy to Auburn University has been long and filled with challenges. But Cramer, who considers Newkirk part of his family, said he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I told him (the other day), I wouldn’t give up those times for nothing,” Cramer said. “Because what you’ve become because of that is really special.”

The journey started when Cramer called the Auburn coaches, telling them he had a player they needed to see. Within five minutes of watching Newkirk work out at a camp, head coach Gus Malzahn, former defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and defensive line coach Rodney Garner were in agreement. They were ready to offer him.

Cramer has no clue how word got out so fast, but as he and Newkirk drove home from Auburn, their phones started blowing up. Teams across the country were suddenly interested in Newkirk, who didn’t even have a rating on 247Sports yet. Cramer and Kinard could tell that Newkirk was sold on Auburn — as were they –— but they didn’t expect him to commit so fast. On June 18, 2015, two days after he first stepped foot on Auburn’s campus, Newkirk tweeted out:

With the commitment, Newkirk made Malzahn a promise that he wouldn’t visit any other schools as he worked toward that goal. Whenever his mother, Patricia Newkirk, asked him if he was sure, Newkirk reinforced that Auburn was the only place he wanted to be. But his plans to get to Auburn got derailed in a different way.

During Newkirk’s senior year, his coaches noticed academic troubles. After consulting with guidance counselors, Newkirk and his family decided it would be best if he headed to community college in January instead of finishing at The First Academy.

Newkirk braced for Auburn to drop him, but just as Newkirk had stayed committed to Auburn, the school stuck with him.

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College brought on a different set of challenges. He was away from his home, from his mom, who is his biggest cheerleader, and from his team. He was even kept away from the game he loved as he redshirted his freshman year.

The freedom from the cut ties was a little too much for Newkirk. He didn’t do anything bad, Cramer said, but he also wasn’t on the path to becoming the man Cramer knew he could be. Cramer, Newkirk’s mother and the Auburn coaching staff stayed dedicated to Newkirk with calls, visits and expressions of support.

“I wouldn’t ever give up on him,” Patricia said. “I was always there pushing him not to give up, not to give up, because a lot of people counted him out and thought he was not going to make it.”

One day, as Cramer turned on the Mississippi Gulf Coast game, something caught his eye. As he looked closer, he realized that the man walking out among the captains was No. 11 — Newkirk. Cramer started yelling for his wife to get in the room and picked up the phone to call Patricia.

“I mean, it was a beautiful, beautiful sight,” Cramer said. “I realized right then that oh my word, Red’s returned and Red’s growing up.”

That season, Newkirk recorded 48 tackles, including nine tackles for loss, one forced fumble and an interception while playing across the defensive line. He grew up and realized his academic struggles weren’t about intelligence but about choice. He earned his Associates of Arts as well as a four-star rating as a junior college prospect. While other schools were interested, Newkirk never considered anywhere but Auburn.

"He was like, ‘You know, they stuck with me,’ " Patricia said. "They could have easily went ahead and went with somebody else, but they waited for me. They kept their word. I’m gonna keep my word.' "

On January 8, 2018, more than three years after he committed, Newkirk enrolled at Auburn University.

When he arrived to practice at Auburn, Newkirk described the journey to AL.com as “long, very long.” But Newkirk’s journey to the field was no easier just because he was at Auburn. Before his first spring practice arrived, he tore his Achilles tendon. Although he came back to play eight games in the fall, he wasn’t at his best. The next spring, Newkirk tore his other Achilles. This time, he made it back for 12 games and even started one game, but Cramer could tell that his injury was holding him back. The fear of reinjury lingered in his movements.

Then the pandemic interrupted spring practice before his senior season. Working with Garner and Auburn’s strength and conditioning staff, Newkirk created a plan to lose some of his bulk and get back to a size that would allow him to tap into the speed he demonstrated as a running back. His efforts showed.

“He definitely did what he had to do during the pandemic,” Truesdell said. “He took care of business and made sure that he was going to come back and really showcase himself, his talent, this year.”

Now, the season is approaching, and Newkirk is healthy and competing to fill the spots All-Americans Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson left behind. His chances improved when Coynis Miller, his main competition, left the team. From his high school and community college days, Newkirk brings experience at multiple positions across the line, a valuable skill during uncertain times.

To be able to start, Newkirk first had to learn how to play the inside defensive line position, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said. If you’re on the line, you have 300 pounds on both sides, each with “bad intentions to maul you.” Newkirk’s athleticism helped him transition, but it wasn’t a simple process.

“That takes time, and he missed a lot of time with it, but because of his athleticism, his work ethic, his attitude, he’s developed into a very good football player,” Steele said.

Whether he earns the starting spot, Newkirk is now a veteran and a leader. He’s infectious, both Cramer and Kinard said, so people will follow him. It’s up to him whether he leads them right or wrong. Cramer has seen a true desire in Newkirk to help others who went through similar struggles, and Patricia said he’s an inspiration to other young men that they should never give up. Kinard said he’s the type of player he’d want to come back and coach — and that’s something he’s said for years, before Newkirk matured into the man he is now.

Patricia gets a tear in her eye just thinking about all the possibilities the 2020 season holds. She’s watched her son go through so much and is ready for him to show Auburn why its loyalty was worth it. Her proudest moment hasn’t come from a play on the field, though. It came when she, and a large, loud group of family members, watched him walk across the stage and get his Auburn degree.

“I love that he has his football career, but that degree, because everything that he had to face, means so much to me,” Patricia said.

No one knows if the 2020 season will be played out, if everyone will play and if players will declare for the draft or take a redshirt. But graduation doesn’t necessarily mark the end of Newkirk’s Auburn career.

"I said, ‘Dude, how does Daquan Newkirk master’s degree sound?’ " Cramer said. "He goes, ‘Man, that sounds real sweet.’ "

[kennypowers 1,431]

D-Line is not going to be statistically eye popping, but it's going to be solid and mean.

[aubiefifty 18,231]

7 minutes ago, kennypowers said:

D-Line is not going to be statistically eye popping, but it's going to be solid and mean.

love the auburn pic..............