Auburn Tigers spring football: Remarks and quotes from the defensive line room prior to spring training
Hugh Freeze’s second spring camp at Auburn is scheduled to begin on February 27 and is quickly approaching.
After that, the Tigers will have thirteen spring practices in order to get ready for Auburn’s spring game, also referred to as A-Day, which is scheduled for April 6 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
AL.com will examine the Tigers’ roster position by position before spring practices begin, this time focusing on Auburn’s defensive linemen.
Seven defensive linemen from Auburn’s roster at the end of the 2023 campaign will be gone as some decide to play in the NFL, some ran out of eligibility, and still others chose to transfer.
However, Marcus Harris’ decision to forgo his final year of eligibility and declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, which he did on December 12, represents the Tigers’ biggest loss.
Even though at the time it seemed unexpected, it was inevitable given Harris’s year. Harris led the team in tackles for a loss (11 total) and finished 2023 with 40 total tackles. In addition, Harris recorded a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and seven sacks.
Lawrence Johnson lost his eligibility to the draft, and Justin Rogers filed for the draft together with Harris. Rogers and Johnson, who together played in all 13 games and totaled 29 tackles, were two important members of Auburn’s defensive line rotation last season. Mosiah Nasili-Kite is likewise ineligible after missing a significant portion of the season due to a bicep tear.
Three young defensive linemen, Wilky Denaud, Stephen Johnson, and Enyce Sledge, saw very little action in 2023 and decided to transfer during the offseason.
In the defensive line room, who are the Tigers returning?
Prior to spring camp, Auburn will welcome back five familiar faces to the defensive line room: redshirt freshman Darron Reed Jr., sophomore Keldric Faulk, junior Quientrail Jamison-Travis, senior Zykeivous Walker, and senior Jayson Jones.
Faulk was the most effective of the five return players from the previous campaign, playing in all 13 games as a true freshman and recording 35 total tackles. Following his stellar debut campaign, Faulk emerged as Auburn’s 2023 recruiting class’s standout player.
Regarding Faulk, Harris remarked, “I’ve always said that he’s one of those guys that always wants to get better since he got here in the spring.” “He wants to stay after practice to identify his areas of weakness and work on them. He has simply been consistent throughout the season, the spring, and the fall camp thus far—consistently improving and desiring to carry out the same actions.
In contrast, Jones and Walker were tied for the most tackles in 2023 after each played in all 13 games as rotational members of the Tigers’ defensive line. Jones finished with 20 total tackles while Walker added 21.
In the previous autumn, Jamison-Travis played in three games, while Reed saw less action.
To the defensive line room, who did the Tigers add?
Freeze expressed his opinion repeatedly during the previous season that the Tigers lacked sufficient depth on the defensive line. Auburn hit the transfer portal and the recruiting trail hard as the Tigers sought to bolster their defensive line in an attempt to address that.
Additionally, Kansas transfers man that five fresh faces will be joining the five returning players in Auburn’s defensive line room come spring camp. Gage Keys, transfer from Texas The position group is joined by 3-star signees TJ Lindsey and Malik Blocton, 5-star signee Amaris Williams, and Trill Carter.
