Wooden has taken a big jump

[aubiefifty 18,231]

al.com

 

Colby Wooden has 'taken a big jump' for Auburn

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

4-5 minutes

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Defensive lineman Colby Wooden (middle) fights through a double-team by offensive linemen Brandon Council (71) and Brodarius Hamm (59) during fall camp on Aug. 25. (Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics)Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

Colby Wooden wasn’t himself during his first season on the Plains. The former four-star defensive end redshirted in 2019, appearing in just four games after a bout of mono set him back as a true freshman.

He couldn’t work out with his teammates during that time and dropped a bunch of weight — dipping below 240 pounds. Toward the end of the season, though, Wooden bounced back. He was stronger and “leaner and more powerful and explosive,” former defensive end Marlon Davidson said in December, and his weight was back up to 260.

As Davidson put it, Wooden got his “juice back.”

Following a prolonged and unusual offseason, Wooden has the juices flowing again and could take the biggest step forward this season among Auburn’s returning defensive linemen as the Tigers try to maintain their dominance up front following the departures of Davidson, Derrick Brown and Nick Coe.

“Colby Wooden is a guy that you would have to say is not the star, but you would have to say he’s one of the guys that has just taken a big jump from last year to this year,” defensive coordinator Kevin Steele said. “He’s played really well. Very mature.”

A big reason for that jump in readiness, Steele said, is credited to the work of strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell this offseason. After Wooden shed all that weight last season during his bout with mono, he certainly had the most to gain from a full offseason of work with Russell.

Now, Wooden enters this season at 6-foot-4 and 268 pounds — a significant increase from the 243 pounds he was listed at during his freshman campaign. But it’s not just that Wooden has added mass; it’s that the added weight is functional, and he’s stronger as a result.

“He’s filled out,” Steele said. “He’s stronger — a lot stronger.”

The added weight has also allowed him to be more versatile along the defensive line. Whereas last season he was listed at Buck, Wooden now has the flexibility — and strength — to play on the exterior or the interior of the line, according to Steele.

“Colby has really bought in,” defensive end Big Kat Bryant said. “I really think he has. I’ll be honest, his physicality has definitely been the biggest thing, the biggest improvement I’ve seen in him.”

It’s not just Wooden’s physicality and flexibility along the line that has Steele raving about the redshirt freshman’s potential impact this season, though. It’s the passion with which Wooden has approached this season — and fall camp, including defensive line coach Rodney Garner’s tough-love style of instruction — after a personally frustrating 2019.

“We try to make it sometimes where practice isn’t lovable,” Steele said. "You’ve got to ask people to do hard things; you’ve got to push them a little bit. But he really works hard. It’s important to him. He’s a smart guy. He’s worked hard in the weight room. He’s done all the little things. He’s very, very competitive. Very competitive. He realizes every play has a life of its own. Every drill that he does, there’s a winner and a loser. That’s just the way it is. It’s the business we’re in.

“So, when you’re lined up one-on-one in individual drill on practice 13 against an offensive lineman, it’s not just a drill. There is a winner and there is a loser. You either get your job done or he gets his done. He is the kind of guy that will fight you 'til he drops. He goes about every drill, every play to try to be the best he can be.”

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

[Sizzle 3,948]

Wooden was one of the guys who I thought would contribute as a true freshman. I think he can be big time for us, especially in pass rush