Speaks softly but plays fiercely

[aubiefifty 17,488]

Auburn's Colby Wooden speaks softly but plays fiercely

ByPhillip Marshall

7-9 minutes

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Colby Wooden was disappointed. He’d enrolled at Auburn in January of 2019 and hoped to work his way into the playing rotation on the defensive line. Instead, though he played in three games, he was redshirted. But that year, he says, was the first step toward learning about the demanding life of a Southeastern Conference defensive lineman. He watched tackle Derrick Brown and end Marlon Davidson, both bound for the NFL, and he learned.

“I learned to approach practice like you want to play in the game, which is what I do now,” Wooden said. “Practice every day, hustle, effort, give it all, play like you’re playing on Saturday. So that way when the game comes, I’m ready for it.”

Wooden, 6-foot-5 and 278 pounds with uncanny quickness, turned heads in the spring of 2020. By the time the season started, he’d earned a starting job as a redshirt freshman. He was third in the SEC with 9.5 tackles for loss and was named to the Freshman All-SEC team.

Today, Wooden is a force on Auburn’s defensive line. He is fifth on the team in tackles with 40, a high number for a defensive lineman. He leads the team with seven. He and defensive end Derick Hall share the team lead in sacks. Quiet and unassuming off the field, Wooden is a fierce competitor on the field.

He has a winning mindset, first-year head coach Bryan Harsin says, to go with his considerable physical gifts.

“I think he’s got an intensity about him,” Harsin said. “When he gets in meetings, when he gets into practice, that shows up each day. And then obviously shows up come game time.”

None of it comes as a surprise to Andy Dyer, Wooden’s coach at Archer High School in Lawrenceville, Ga.

“He was a very hard worker in the weight room, on the practice field and always played well on Friday night,” Dyer said. “You could always count him. There were times he would slant all the way across the front and make the play on the other side. I’ve seen him do that even in college. Even if he doesn’t make the tackle, he sets it up. He’s going to play his tail off. I love him to death.”

Wooden has emerged as an alpha leader on an Auburn defense that has improved steadily under coordinator Derek Mason as the season as gone on. The Tigers are on a run of six consecutive quarters without giving up a touchdown, and Wooden has been crucial to that effort.

“Last year was almost like re-finding your love for the game,” Wooden said. “Coming from high school and being that guy to my freshman year sitting down to last year playing to this year we just keep getting better and better as the weeks go on. My time here has been great, to say the least.”

Hall, from Gulfport, Miss., and Wooden have been friends from the time they arrived at Auburn. On the field, they are a powerful combination.

“That’s my dog,” Hall said. “Me and Colby came in together. I love him. We’ve been through the storm together with Coach G and now he has Coach (Nick) Eason and I have Coach (Bert) Watts, but we still work together a lot throughout practice. He’s a guy that’s going to be really good with his size in the near future.

“… That’s my guy. He’s very physical. He’s very aggressive. He can pass rush well. He loves the game of football. Just seeing him produce and knowing where we come from and where we are now, especially the way his game has developed, is huge.”

It didn’t take long for Wooden to attract the attention of college recruiters. Georgia, located just 22 ½ miles from his house, offered him a scholarship as a freshman. That was just the start. Offers came from all over. In the end, he would narrow his choices to Auburn, Georgia and Clemson.

His parents, Nicole and Irvin Wooden, helped him work through the hectic recruiting process.

“It was just a lot for him,” Wooden’s mother said. “It was a good problem to have. He had family support. I can only imagine those that don’t. In the ninth grade, he got his first offer from Georgia. They stayed on him. He went to the camps and stuff like that. We went to the games. I was elated.

“As things started to pick up, he’d say ‘Mom, I got this.’ They were calling him like crazy, getting him on Facetime. Then he’d shove the phone in my face because they wanted to talk to me. He had so many choices.”

From early in the process, Auburn stood out to Wooden and to his parents. They liked the family atmosphere. They liked defensive line coach Rodney Garner, defensive coordinator Kevin Steele and head coach Gus Malzahn. But the real difference-maker was not a coach.

“We’d been to Auburn several times, been to Georgia several times and been to Clemson several times,” Wooden’s mother said. “Every time we went to one of those schools, I loved it. Auburn, for me, what really did it was Kristi (Malzahn). Kristi was the key to everything.

“We are very family-oriented. We do things together, we go to church together, all of that. When we met with Malzahn, Kristi said ‘This is our ministry. My goal is to see through a mother’s eye what the men and Gus don’t see.’ For me, that was my prayer being answered. I knew that was what my child needed. He’s not a big talker. He will just suck it up and deal with it. For me, that was comforting to know.”

As last season ended, everything suddenly changed. Malzahn was fired. Garner left for Tennessee. Harsin replaced Malzahn. Harsin hired former Auburn All-American Tracy Rocker to coach the defensive line, but Rocker left for the Philadelphia Eagles three weeks later and was finally replaced by Nick Eason.

“When they were gone, I was sad,” Nicole Wooden said. “You’d hear rumors. Once they were gone, I was like wow, it’s really happening. I was so much in shock. I was really hoping that they were going to keep Coach G. I couldn’t even bring myself to call him. I knew he knew that I wished him the best.”

Eason, with his NFL background, quickly made a strong impression.

“He met with the guys, and within 48 hours of him being there he was calling the parents,” Nicole Wooden said. “I was impressed by that. He’s a good guy. He loves the kids. He coaches them hard. He’s honest with them and honest with the parents. He wants his guys to play hard because a lot of them have potential to go to that level.”

Wooden and linebacker Owen Pappoe were practically neighbors. Pappoe played for Grayson High School in Lawrenceville. He knows Wooden better than most. They are roommates.

“Seeing the growth that he's had from when we first got here up to now, man, I'm really proud of him,” Pappoe said. “The man's come a long way. He is making a lot of plays. I've seen this ups. I've seen his downs. I see the work that he puts in an offseason, see how hard he's going in the weight room in the extra work. He gets in the film work. it was no surprise that he's been making the impact that he made these past two years.”

(Photo: Joe Robbins, Getty)

Back home, Wooden remains a hero of sorts. Though it’s Georgia country, folks follow him closely and celebrate his success.

“He’s having an awesome year,” Dyer said. “We are pumped. We are super proud of him. He was a great player in high school and even a greater kid. If he keeps rolling, maybe he can be a first-rounder.”

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Another Wooden will join the Auburn football team in January. Caleb Wooden, Colby’s younger, brother is a standout safety at Archer High School. Their mother says that, while Colby is quiet and almost shy, Caleb is outgoing and talkative. But they are alike more than they are different.

“They are really good football players, great kids,” Dyer said. “We are very excited.”

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[3rdgeneration 6,474]

Great article!