3/30/23 Football Articles

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si.com

 

Hugh Freeze is revitalizing Auburn football recruiting

Jack Singley

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The Freeze warning has been in affect and looks to keep going into the summer.

The typical Auburn fan has become used to something, that something would be a subpar on-field performance. Auburn has not had a winning season since the 2020 season, and yet despite this winning season, long-time Head Coach Gus Malzhan was fired. Malzhans successor, Bryan Harsin, tried to create an image of hard work and perseverance. The team might have worked hard but the onfield product led to consecutive losing seasons and ultimately the firing of Harsin and the hiring of Freeze. 

The key to a winning program is recruiting high-level players, who can make an impact on the team. In a case such as this, Auburn needs an immediate resurgence in recruiting to get back to a contending spot in the SEC. Hugh Freeze knows this most of all as he helped to make Ole Miss, a school that had won a total of six wins in two years before Freeze took the helm, a national name and led them to three top-five finishes in the National Recruiting rankings according to 247 Sports. 

Freeze's knowledge and proven capability are needed as during the past five years Auburn has only finished in the top 10 of these rankings once, which was the 2020 class that included future NFL pick, Tank Bigsby. 

The 2024 class currently ranks as the 22nd class so far according to 247. The class has four members, all of which are four stars. Walker White, the Arkansas QB who is ranked as the ninth quarterback of the 2024 class, J'Marion "Phat" Burnette, the Andalusia RB who is the tenth-best back in the nation and a top ten in-state prospect, and a pair of in-state DBs in A'mon Lane and Jayden Lewis. 

As of March 29th, this class is higher than every class since 2020 when Kobe Hudson, Avery Jernigan, Jay Hardy, and JJ Evans were all members of the class by March. The worst part of this is that every player besides Jernigan has transferred to a different team. 

The average of those players mentioned was 92.85 making them middle-tier level four-star recruits. That class ended up with an average of 90.92 which was good for the fifth-best class in the SEC for that recruiting period. The current class average is 92.04, which would put us on pace for the highest class average since the mid-2000s. 

Freeze has the experience and the knowledge of recruiting in an SEC landscape to take Auburn to heights that have not been seen since the years of Tuberville, Chizik, and the early years of Malzahn. Hugh hopes to be able to take them to where only a generational quarterback in Cam Newton was able to take them, the National Championship.

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247sports.com

 

Riley eager to do more as a senior linebacker

Mark Murphy

5–6 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama–A returning starter and one of the more experienced defenders on the Auburn football team for the 2023 season, Cam Riley said on Wednesday that he would like to be even more productive as a senior. He is expected to get that opportunity.

“I feel like going into my fourth year, I have a big role that I have to take upon myself,” said Riley, who finished the 2022 season with 66 tackles, second to the 91 from Owen Pappoe, who is moving on to pro football.

“With me being a veteran, since I have been here four years and I am an upcoming senior, I feel like the problem I had when I first got here is I really didn't talk as much, but I feel like now, it is time for me to actually start talking and be more of a vocal leader.”

Last season Riley, who stands six-foot-five and weighs 230 pounds, was credited with 39 solo stops and 3 1/2 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Those numbers are solid, but with his combination of size, speed and experience the potential is there to do more.

Asked what he can do to improve his production the former Hillcrest High star from Evergreen said, “My biggest thing is, with me standing so high at 6-5, that is kind of rare as an inside linebacker, but I would say it is probably a plus to me with length and stuff like that.

“I would say my biggest thing is me working on my pad level and staying low because I have a tendency of standing high at times, which can cause problems because sometimes it may cause me to crossover. But, with me staying lower, I feel like it will help me out with me being able to move side to side quicker.”

Riley, who is celebrating his birthday on Wednesday, noted, “Spring is going pretty good, you know, just adjusting to the new defense. I am able to take roles inside and outside so that pretty much complements my playing style, being able to help across the field.”

Most of his spring training time has been spent at linebacker, but he has worked at the jack spot as an outside pass rusher, something he was very good at in high school.

“Adjusting to the new coaches has been a change,” he pointed out. “I had like three to four new coaches each year so I feel like it’s been very beneficial to me because it will help me out for future purposes. In the league (NFL) you have to learn new defenses, new coaches each day. I feel like with that happening, it kind of helped me out for future purposes.”

The new leader of the defense is Ron Roberts. The coordinator has good things to say about how Riley has performed this spring and noted that Riley and fellow senior Wesley Steiner are among the players making progress.

Asked about Steiner, Riley said, “I feel like he has taken a tremendous leadership role. He is trying to make sure everybody’s on point and doing the right thing. He knows the defense in and out.

“He just always puts other people before himself,” Riley added about his teammate. “That’s how he has always been since he first got here, but he has most definitely took a big leadership role as well and became a huge vocal leader.”

Two newcomers who are expected to immediately contribute at linebacker are DeMario Tolan, a transfer from LSU, and Austin Keys, a transfer from Ole Miss.

“I feel like they most definitely add a lot of extra talent to the room,” Riley said. “With DeMario, he is a young guy, but he is coming along. He can move very good. He’s probably...I wouldn’t say he is the most athletic linebacker in the room—of course, I am going to say myself—but DeMario, he is very athletic. He is a good addition to the room.

“Keys as well, with him having a lot of SEC experience, he will just add a lot more to the room as well.”

Among the changes this year for the defense is a new linebacker coach, Josh Aldridge. Asked about his position coach, Riley said, “He takes time with us learning the defense in and out. He is a family person so he always checks up on us each day. He just cares a lot about his players and stuff like that. Great to have him here.”

The senior linebacker pointed out that the Tigers are upbeat this spring with Coach Hugh Freeze in charge of the program.

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“This year I would say the biggest change was everyone came together,” Riley said. “I know you hear that a lot, but I actually kind of feel like everyone actually came together this year. I feel like there was a lot of things going on last year within the team that brought a lot of diversity and things like that, which caused a lot of division, but I felt like everyone actually came together and wants to play as one.

“We preach every day about Auburn and getting back to what it used to be with winning games and things like that,” he added. “I believe everyone actually believes that is what it is going to be this year. I feel like we have got a pretty good chance of getting back to what we were.”

">247Sports

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si.com

 

California vs Auburn listed as one of college football's best matchups of 2023 season

Lance Dawe

3–4 minutes

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Could Auburn's road trip to Cal be one of the best matchups this upcoming season?

Auburn's 2023 football schedule will feature a pair of opponents the Tigers have never faced before. Coupled with the usual daunting SEC slate - now subject to change in 2024 with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the league - Hugh Freeze's first year on the Plains should be an interesting one.

The Tigers' four games in September are particularly interesting, as it includes two road games: a trip to College Station on September 23rd, and a non-conference game at California, a team Auburn has never faced.

Considering where both of these teams finished last season (5-7 and 4-8), this game smells of potential chaos - especially when looking at Auburn's last four matchups with Pac 12 schools (all one possession victories).

Grant Hughes of 247 Sports recently released his 23 best matchups of the 2023 college football season, with Auburn's matchup with the Golden Bears being one of them.

Here's what Hughes had to say about Auburn vs Cal:

"Cal's home opener presents one of the most intriguing culture shocks of the season as Auburn makes the long trip out west for its first-ever matchup with the Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium," Hughes wrote. "As it stands, Auburn has three players vying to be Hugh Freeze's first starting quarterback at Auburn. Starter Robby Ashford returns after an up-and-down 2022 season, along with junior T.J. Finley and redshirt freshman Holden Geriner. Whoever wins the starting job will look to keep Cal from claiming its first win against an SEC opponent since its 28-20 win over Ole Miss in 2019."

California is coming off a 4-8 campaign in head coach Justin Wilcox's sixth season with the Golden Bears. Cal hasn't had a winning record since 2019, a winning record in Pac 12 play since 2009, and a 10-win season since 2008. They have the 10th best all-time win percentage out of all current Pac 12 schools.

The Bears are 48th nationally in returning production, with 78% of their defensive production (from a unit that was 111th nationally in total defense) coming back.

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DC Ron Roberts: Auburn defense needs 'growth' to get to 25 reliable contributors

Updated: Mar. 29, 2023, 9:46 a.m.|Published: Mar. 29, 2023, 9:29 a.m.

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Ron Roberts doesn’t have to worry about having Auburn’s defense ready to play for another five months. That’s good, because for as “outstanding” as he said his first spring as the Tigers’ new defensive coordinator has been, the unit still has work to be done to get to a spot where Roberts is comfortable, at least from a numbers standpoint.

As Auburn winds down spring practice, with the A-Day game just 10 days away, Roberts said he has about 16 or 17 players he believes can be relied on to contribute for the defense. The number he wants by the end of fall camp is closer to 25.

“What I really want to see for the remainder of spring is having more guys get in the can-do category,” Roberts said. “…We’ve got to get more guys to the boat that can be functional when we get on the field, to execute the scheme and know what we’re trying to get done and be able to do that.”

Read more Auburn football: Tate Johnson’s surprise return from injury a “bolt in the arm” for Auburn’s offensive line

Hugh Freeze explains value, balancing act of honestly assessing Auburn’s quarterbacks publicly

Holden Geriner’s stock on the rise as Auburn’s quarterback play sees overall improvement

To get to that 25-player threshold, Roberts wants Auburn to be able to go three-deep along its three-man defensive line (nine players) and at inside linebacker (six players), plus at least a couple reliable Jack linebackers while rounding out that number with defensive backs.

Through 10 spring practices, Roberts is feeling pretty good about the inside linebacker group, believing the Tigers currently have five they can count on to contribute this fall. Ole Miss transfer Austin Keys has been running with the first team alongside senior Wesley Steiner, while Cam Riley and Robert Woodyard Jr. have been the second pairing. LSU transfer Demario Tolan and former North Carolina transfer Eugene Asante appear to be the next two vying for spots in the rotation.

Along the defensive line, Roberts believes Auburn has six or seven players who are ready to go at this point. The first grouping during Monday’s practice included Marcus Harris at end, Jayson Jones at nose tackle and Kentucky transfer Justin Rogers at defensive tackle. The second unit saw Jeffrey M’ba at end, Purdue transfer Lawrence Johnson at nose and Maryland transfer Mosiah Nasili-Kite at tackle. The first two Jack linebackers in the rotation were Vanderbilt transfer Elijah McAllister and freshman standout Keldric Faulk.

The secondary is where Roberts expressed more concern about numbers, even as that unit is largely viewed as the strength of the Tigers’ defense heading into this season.

“Really, I’m going to be honest with you, we don’t have a lot of depth in the secondary,” Roberts said. “That’s probably the biggest one right now.”

Auburn returns several key pieces to its secondary from last season, including its top-two corners in Nehemiah Pritchett and D.J. James, safeties Zion Puckett and Jaylin Simpson, and star/nickels Keionte Scott and Donovan Kaufman. For all that returning experience, though, Auburn doesn’t quite have a functional two-deep on the back end of its defense yet, according to Roberts.

That’s in part because of injuries. Sophomore J.D. Rhym, for instance, is out for the remainder of spring with an injury, leaving Auburn with just three available scholarship corners at this point: Pritchett, James and freshman standout Kayin Lee. That trio will be part of the equation come fall, when Auburn will also add reinforcements, both from a health standpoint and a group of incoming freshmen.

Auburn also has “some youth” at safety behind the top-two of Puckett and Simpson, and Roberts wants to see more progress there to feel comfortable with the depth heading into the season.

Getting to that solid 25-man rotation on defense is a process, as Roberts and his staff evaluate and grade each position daily based on alignment, assignment, technique and ability to get the job done. That process takes time, and it will not only include the final five practices of spring, but it will also continue into summer workouts and the duration of fall camp.

Fortunately for Roberts and the rest of the defensive staff, time is on their side — for now — as they try to identify the remaining nine or so players who can develop into contributors, whether it’s as core rotation pieces, players who can give them 10 snaps a game at a position or someone who can step up in the even of an injury “without taking a major drop-off.”

“That’s the biggest thing,” Roberts said. “We talk about getting in that category: There’s a certain level of play of alignment, assignment, technique and production that you show up with that you have to meet in order to step on a football field. So, I think there’s still some guys that — we call them, they’re in the gray category, which is a question mark — and we’ve still got some growth to go with them.”

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

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yahoo.com

 

What's holding back the Auburn football wide receiver group under first-year coach Hugh Freeze?

Richard Silva, Montgomery Advertiser

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AUBURN — Auburn football held its second spring scrimmage Friday, and coach Hugh Freeze tried something new.

Instead of having coaches and assistants on the field with the players to give them tips and make sure they're performing properly, Freeze pulled aside all his staff.

It gave him an opportunity to see how his players, specifically his wide receivers, reacted without guidance.

"I think it’s a great test for us there," Freeze said Monday. "And we’ve still got some improving to do on alignment and assignment. And technique, of course."

SPRING PRACTICE:Holden Geriner with Auburn football's first group, other observations

HOLDEN GERINER:Why Auburn football coach Hugh Freeze said QB 'really, really stood out'

AUBURN FOOTBALL RECRUITING:Hugh Freeze lands commitment from 4-star RB J'Marion Burnette

Freeze said March 20 that two positions stuck out in his mind as needing the most work: Receivers and quarterbacks.

Just over a week later, the QBs have seemed to turn a corner; Freeze sang the praises of redshirt freshman Holden Geriner on Monday, one week after he wished the position group was "further along." And at practice that day, Geriner was among the first group during the offense's pace drill. TJ Finley was behind him and Robby Ashford, who came out with the first unit March 20, was with the third group.

But for all the progression from the quarterbacks, the receivers have lagged. Freeze attributes it to new requirements from his coaching staff. Whether its being able to read the defense and decide which RPO should be run or how to counter a certain technique from a defensive back, Freeze explained it's all new.

“Not as much as I would like," Freeze said Monday when asked if the receivers were progressing well, also citing injuries that were holding players back.

 

Auburn football wide receivers coach Marcus Davis during spring practice at the Woltosz Football Performance Center on March 22, 2023.

 

The receiving corps at spring practice is simultaneously a veteran, yet inexperienced, group. Cincinnati transfer Nick Mardner is the only player at the position that wasn't on the roster last season, but among sophomores like Camden Brown, Jay Fair and Omari Kelly, there's plenty of ability left untapped.

Brown, Fair and Kelly collectively caught 14 passes for a combined 213 yards and two touchdowns in 2022. And others like Landen King, who originally came to the Plains in 2021 as a 6-foot-5 tight end before transitioning to receiver, posted low numbers last season.

Freeze recently talked about how much he prioritizes having tall, lanky receivers with large catch radiuses. In addition to King, Brown is 6-3 and Florida International transfer tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, who is a threat in the passing game, is listed at 6-4.

"They’ve got to play without us on the field," Freeze said. "It wasn’t as far a step forward as I would have liked for us to have seen with (the coaches) off, but I’m confident we can help them get better this week."

Asked if he'd be interested in adding a receiver or two via the transfer portal when it opens after spring practice wraps up, Freeze didn't mince words.

"We are open to the portal business for anyone that fits our culture at Auburn and can help us improve our team quickly," he said.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on Twitter @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn football: Receivers must improve through injuries, inexperience

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247sports.com

 

Damari Alston impressed Auburn's coaches 'from Day 1' this spring

Nathan King

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AUBURN, Alabama — Damari Alston’s first college football touches came earlier than he expected — in the first game of the season against Mercer as a true freshman.

The butterflies were plentiful then, before his first carry in Jordan-Hare Stadium. But his first real taste of high-level college football action came two weeks later.

The running back worked on Auburn’s kick-return unit all season, and in the Tigers’ Week 3 loss to Penn State, Alston said he ran full speed into a Nittany Lion, attempting to block for return man Jarquez Hunter, and was blasted back in his first contact with an opposing Power Five player.

“I was walking off the field just seeing stars,” Alston said Wednesday. I was like, that was my welcome to college moment, for sure.”

That freshman sensation has worn off for the former 4-star recruit, though, who’s making a larger impact in his first full offseason with the program.

Working with a couple veterans in the backfield in Hunter and USF transfer Brian Battie, Alston has hung right there in terms of reps in spring practice. He and Battie have split work on the second team, as Alston looks to solidify a role in the Tigers’ new-look offense in his sophomore campaign.

“”I’ve thought from the start of spring camp, he’s the guy that’s probably surprised me a little bit more out of the running back room than anybody,” offensive coordinator Philip Montgomery said this week of Alston. “From Day 1, I thought he had a pretty good feel with what we were trying to do in the run game, with seeing it, setting up blocks and still had that physicality about him. But the speed that he brings — man, he’s got gears in there.”

The nation’s No. 28 running back recruit from Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Alston carried 14 times his freshman year for 85 yards. He was third in the rotation behind Tank Bigsby, who’s now off to the NFL, and Hunter, who looks to take over as the Tigers’ lead back with 6.5 yards per carry across two seasons.

“Even though Tank and Jarquez were in front of me, I still came in competing like I was coming for the starting job,” Alston said. “I feel like that's how I am this year, as well.”

Alston prided himself, as both a recruit and a freshman, as a young leader for the program during a shaky time at Auburn, as the Bryan Harsin era slowly but surely crumbled. His positive mindset is one of his most important attributes, he said, and he still attempts to carry that over onto the practice field now.

But at the end of the day, the sophomore called Auburn’s tumultuous 2022 season “a blessing in disguise.”

“Things happen and it is what it is,” Alston said. “But I feel like with Coach Freeze, a lot of the culture just changed. … I feel a change in the relationship that I have with Coach Freeze than I had with the previous staff. I feel like I can talk to Coach Freeze anytime that I want to.”

For Alston, of course, having his own position coach retained was a massive sigh of relief, when Hugh Freeze kept Cadillac Williams on staff and promoted him to associate head coach.

Unsurprisingly, Alston said Williams’ time leading the team as the interim head coach didn’t go to his head.

“Cadillac is just going to be Cadillac,” Alston said. “Ever since I came in, he’s always coached us the same. He’s always just been a real standup guy. He’s always kept it real on and off the field.”

With Auburn’s focus on tempo within its new offense, Montgomery said he envisions a true, three-man running back rotation between Hunter, Battie and Alston. Auburn hasn’t had more than two running backs carry the ball at least 50 times apiece in a season since 2019.

“I think we’ve got guys in there that all kind of feed off each other,” Montgomery said. “... It’s probably going to be some version of a rotation that’s going to happen in the backfield. I think being able to keep a guy healthy throughout the season is important for us. We know what Jarquez is going to bring and how tough he is and the physicality that he brings and being able to catch the ball out of the backfield and do those things. But I think all of those guys are bringing the same thing to the table and I’ve been really impressed with that room.”

With Auburn’s passing game still very much a work in progress — with a wide-open quarterback competition and a receivers room looking to “change the narrative” about its production in recent seasons — it’s no surprise Freeze and Montgomery want to lean on their ground game, where they believe there’s plenty of potential in a trio of exciting ball-carriers.

“I feel like us as a whole, we're so connected,” Alston said. “We brought (Battie) in with warm arms, open arms and ever since then we've all just been going at it, competing, helping each other on the field and off the field. I feel like our running back room is at its best right now and it'll keep getting better.”

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[aubiefifty 18,259]

al.com

 

Why Auburn’s linebackers have been a pleasant surprise this spring

Published: Mar. 30, 2023, 7:05 a.m.

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Hugh Freeze hasn’t hesitated to earnestly critique his team or point out its deficiencies in his first spring on the Plains. That has been particularly true when it comes to Auburn’s quarterbacks and wide receivers.

There’s one position, however, that has warranted a few more plaudits from the Tigers’ first-year head coach — linebacker.

“That’s actually one group that I think that we’ve improved ourselves from practice one,” Freeze said last week. “…I don’t feel as good about some others as I do that one.”

Read more Auburn football: Auburn’s wide receivers look to “change the narrative” this season

Hugh Freeze on Nick Saban: “I want to beat the crap out of him during the Iron Bowl”

Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts’ magic number for contributors this season is 25. Here’s where that stands this spring

That assessment from Freeze came at the start of the third week of Auburn’s spring practices, just before the team took the field for its seventh practice under Freeze and his new staff. It’s a feeling Freeze hopes to still have coming out of the A-Day spring game on April 8.

So far, though, he has been impressed with Auburn’s linebacker corps, even as the team must replace last year’s leading tackler and four-year starting linebacker Owen Pappoe.

What Auburn returns to the group, as well as what it was able to add during the first transfer portal window, has Freeze feeling comfortable this spring. The Tigers welcome back two of their top-their top rotation linebackers from a year ago in upperclassmen Cam Riley and Wesley Steiner, as well as top 2022 signee Robert Woodyard Jr. and former North Carolina transfer Eugene Asante. The team also added a pair of SEC transfers in the offseason, with former Ole Miss linebacker Austin Keys and former LSU linebacker DeMario Tolan entering the fray.

“I feel like, you know, at this point we got a lot of older guys in the room so it kind of helps out,” Riley said. “(There are) about four veterans we have now, so with three or four of us having SEC experience already, it kind of helps out going into the season and the spring as well, just stacking reps on top of reps with everybody.”

Riley stepped into his largest role to date last season, when he finished second on the team with 66 total tackles while making seven starts alongside Pappoe at inside linebacker. Steiner, meanwhile, saw a similar uptick in playing time while making five starts and tallying 46 tackles — though his production and snaps tailed off during the final month of the season.

Keys appeared in 23 games and made five starts across three seasons at Ole Miss, where he totaled 51 tackles and a pair of sacks during that span. Tolan was a four-star prospect in the 2022 class when he signed with LSU and proceeded to play in 12 games as a true freshman last season.

That’s a solid amount of SEC experience in the room, even with Pappoe’s departure, and it has yielded some positive returns on the practice field this spring as defensive coordinator Ron Roberts implements his system. Roberts would like to rotate six linebackers for the two inside positions, and through the first 10 practices of the spring, he already feels comfortable with at least five of the Tigers’ linebackers.

The veteran defensive coordinator is by no means ready to name starters this far in advance of the season, but Keys and Steiner have been receiving much of the first-team work at linebacker this spring. Riley and Woodyard have been the second tandem on the field, while Tolan and Asante have been in the mix rounding out that six-deep group.

“I think we have a talented room of linebackers,” Roberts said. “…We throw a lot at our linebackers on a mental standpoint, and I think they’ve done a great job of doing that. They can all run. They can tackle. Tremendous attitude. That’s a heck of a head start with them.”

As Roberts mentioned, his system asks a lot of the linebackers. They drop back in coverage and play against the run, but he has also been known to blitz with them more often than Auburn did with the prior staff. That’s something that appeals to Riley, who yearns for the opportunity to create some havoc in the opposing backfield after not recording a sack last season. When it comes to coverage responsibilities, a lot of it is based off formation, so Roberts will often provide the linebackers with multiple calls pre-snap and adjusting depending on what the offense shows.

“That’s new for a lot of them to have to do that, but it’s kind of the nature of college football nowadays,” Roberts said. “If you don’t do it, you’re going to be — they (the offense) are getting the pencil last, and they’re going to whip you.”

But Auburn’s new-look group of linebackers have caught on quickly to Roberts’ system this spring while working with position coach Josh Aldridge. It has been a welcome development for the Tigers defensively, as the position group appears to be further along than the others on that side of the ball — at least from an overall comfort of the scheme and sheer game-ready depth — as spring winds down.

“I think Josh has done a nice job with those guys,” Freeze said. “The additions we’ve made there helped. I think we’re a little deeper and better there than I originally felt. I hope I feel that way after 15 practices.”

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

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247sports.com

 

Could Gordon get a look as a pass rusher?

Jason Caldwell

3–4 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—If there’s a position on the current Auburn roster that needs the most immediate help it’s at the jack linebacker spot where the Tigers are still searching for a true speed pass rusher after the losses of Derick Hall and Eku Leota from last season.

While true freshmen like Keldric Faulk and Brenton Williams have come in and provided some immediate help this spring, the guy that can fly off the edge to get after the quarterback is still missing from this roster.

Or is he?

Getting a chance to step up and rush the passer in last week’s scrimmage, redshirt freshman Powell Gordon showed some of the skill set that made him a feared pass rusher at Auburn High School during his time with the Tigers. It’s something that made veteran linebacker Cam Riley sit up and take notice when he flashed it on the field.

“I actually saw him play during the scrimmage last week, he had -- I can't describe it -- it was some move that he did that I've never seen before,” Riley said. “But once I saw that, I was trying to tell the coach, 'We need Powell on the edge. He'll make every play.' After the play I saw him make, I was like, 'Yeah, we need him down there.'"

And it may be something that happens soon, according to Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts. Saying they’ve had discussions about Gordon getting a look coming off the edge, the first-year assistant for the Tigers said that has shown up some on the field already as he’s continued to try to transition to being a true inside linebacker.

“He’s athletic,” Roberts said. “He probably looks his best when he’s on the edge; I think he’s a little comfortable with it, where he was at in high school. He’s a young guy. He’s probably behind a little veteran group of linebackers.”

Finishing with 20 total sacks in his last two seasons at Auburn High while playing in a tough 7A region, Gordon showed the ability to rush the passer night after night. That also showed up against powerhouse IMG Academy when he beat current Alabama offensive lineman Tyler Booker repeatedly in their matchup.

After the game Booker told Auburnundercover that Auburn was getting a great one in Gordon.

“Powell is a dog,” Booker said following the game. “He gave me a run for my money today. I appreciate him for it. It’s probably the most I have been challenged all year. Auburn is getting a great one out of him.”

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With a big need at that spot for Auburn’s defense and with Gordon showing the skill set to potentially help out, Riley said he’s all for seeing the redshirt freshman come off the edge in this defense at times.

"I'd like to actually see him down there, though, because I feel like he'd do a pretty good job at edge,” Riley said. “I feel like if he can get a little bit more weight on him, he can possibly be one of the ingredients for us."

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Second-year Auburn linebacker ‘a whole new guy’ this spring

Nathan King

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama — For one of the best-rated recruits on Auburn’s roster, the combination of a healthy offseason and a reset button in the coaching staff is hoped to be a formula for success in 2023.

As the Tigers’ linebackers continue to earn high marks from the coaches for their consistent play during spring practices, redshirt freshman Robert Woodyard appears to be making strides with the goal of working his way into a role on the defense this year.

"He looks like a whole new guy from a couple months ago during the season at practice,” senior linebacker Cam Riley said Wednesday.

The top-rated recruit in Auburn's 2022 class, Woodyard got his feet wet on special teams as a true freshman but still maintained a redshirt. It’s also worth noting the former Alabama commit spent a good portion of his first offseason with the program recovering from the season-ending knee injury he suffered as a senior at Williamson High School in Mobile — but he was still able to earn scout team player of the year honors by last year’s coaching staff.

Now healthy this spring, Woodyard has been a fixture in the main linebacker rotation this spring, along with Austin Keys, Wesley Steiner and Riley. Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts said his linebacking corps probably has five players at the moment that appear ready for significant playing time, and Woodyard is among those.

“(Woodyard) is a physical guy, he's always around the ball,” Riley said. “He has a knack for the ball, like he wants to make every play. He takes the time to actually learn the defense. He's a new guy, man. I can't believe it."

A signing-day flip from Alabama, Woodyard is a former top-150 overall prospect, rated as the No. 13 linebacker recruit in the country last year.

He appeared in only four games in 2022, mostly on kickoff coverage, while preserving a redshirt and nursing his knee injury. Woodyard played one series at linebacker, though, in the home loss to Arkansas.

“He's definitely made a lot more growth than I had, than I did my freshman year, as far as trying to understand and learn the playbook and how to understand the concepts that we're doing,” Steiner said last season. “I think he's grasped it well for the most part.”

Auburn addressed its depth needs in the linebacking corps via the transfer portal, adding Keys, a starter at Ole Miss last season, and LSU youngster Demario Tolan.

But a healthy Woodyard certainly has the talent and size — at 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds — to develop into a contributor at middle linebacker. After all, the group is under new management with position coach Josh Aldridge, and it doesn’t necessarily have much star power returning from last season, after four-year starter Owen Pappoe departed for the NFL draft.

“He can strike, he can make tackles, he's athletic,” Roberts said this week of Woodyard. “For him, it's just being young, and you want to be able to see him be more vocal on the field with communication and getting everybody in the right spots, being able to help people out on the field. That's some of the things we kind of expect from that position, so we kinda need him to take those growth steps forward.”

Auburn returned to practice Wednesday and will scrimmage for the third time this spring Friday evening.