2010 Preview: The Defense

The 2009 defense gave up more points than any team in Auburn history. On top of that, Antonio Coleman who led the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss has graduated on to the NFL along with top cornerback Walter McFadden. That being said, the biggest weakness of this unit last year was the severe lack of depth which has been addressed in the off-season with the return of three defensive backs from injury and the addition of 13 players from the 2010 recruiting class ranked #4 in the country. With the hurry-up no-huddle offense that Gus Malzahn runs on the other side of the ball the defense inherently will be on the field for a lot of plays and with little rest between series which makes it hard to be ranked high statistically. What will be critical is if this defense can hold up stronger in the 3rd and 4th quarters where the 2009 team crumbled, blowing 14 point leads against UGA and Alabama and giving up 14 4th quarter points to a mediocre Kentucky offense.

Defensive Line
In addition to losing Coleman defensive tackle Jake Ricks graduated leaving two returning starters on the defensive line. Starting on the "power end" side is Michael Goggans who is returning for his 3rd year as a starter. Goggans isn't flashy but with his experience and knowledge of the defense he will be a solid starter and a valuable mentor for the younger players stepping up behind him. The player described by D-Line coach Tracy Rocker as his "secret weapon" is Nosa Eguae. The redshirt Freshman was blowing the coaches away this time last year in his first months on campus in fact slated to start the first game of his career before suffering a season ending injury before the season started. Back in camp again and still impressing the coaches Eguae is sure to see plenty of playing time and offer Goggans some valuable time off he didn't have last year. On the "speed end" side Antoine Carter is poised to step up to be next in a long line of successful Auburn pass rushers. After battling through nagging injuries that kept him out of the first three games "Hot Boi" is hoping to finish out his career strong. Like Goggans, Carter has tons of experience playing in this league and now will be in his second year in this system which should only improve his play. Backing up Carter will be Sophomore Dee Ford who was thrust into the playing rotation last year as a true Freshman due to a lack of depth. Ford played 2009 at 215 pounds which just wont cut it in the SEC. Now that he has beefed up to a hearty 240 pounds he is much more prepared to provide quality depth and, while having to play as a true Freshman was less than ideal in Ford's situation, the experience he gained was invaluable. Rounding out the playing rotation at defensive end will be a trio of newcomers. Four star junior college transfer Joel Bonomolo is working on the "speed end" side and is working on adjusting to the speed of the game at this level and learning the defense so he can contribute as a back up pass rusher this year. Four star true Freshman Craig Sanders graduated high school early so that he could get to Auburn early and the decision is paying off. Nicknamed "The Animal" because of his dedication in the weight room, he has added 15 pounds since arriving on campus and is up to 240 pounds on his 6'4" frame. The additional time in the spring to learn the playbook and add weight has put Sanders in a great position to contribute this year as a true Freshman. The most herald true Freshman signed on the defensive side of the ball was Corey Lemonier. Through just two weeks of camp Lemonier has proved why he had such a lofty ranking and has really impressed the coaches. Weighing in at just 230 pounds on his 6'5" frame there was some who thought he may need a year to add weight before he could contribute but, with the ability he has shown thus far it will be hard to keep him off the field.

With the loss of Ricks Auburn returns just three tackles who have any significant playing time under their belt. Two fifth year Seniors slated to start on the interior are Zach Clayton at the nose and Mike Blanc at the three technique. Clayton had been progressing nicely in his career after a very promising Sophomore year but struggled with injuries throughout the entire 2009 season, missing seven games. So far Rocker has been excited by what he has seen out of Clayton so far this camp as he has been a great leader for the other players despite entering his first year as a starter. Blanc has had a very consistent, though unspectacular career so far and is now entering his third year as a starter. Similar to Goggans, Blanc is loaded with experience and should have a better grasp of the defense and his responsibilities in his second year working with coach Rocker. Perhaps the most athletic interior lineman returning is Junior Nick Fairley. While showing plenty of upside and flashes of brilliance, Fairley needs to work on being more consistent after disappearing for parts of the 2009 season. With a year of experience under his belt at this level he will be expected to make a bigger impact. Redshirt Sophomore Derrick Lykes has played sparingly so far in his career and needs to work hard to not be passed up by younger players. Lykes was an unheralded recruit as one of the many "diamonds in the rough" of the previous staff and has yet to prove he was worth that scholarship. There is still plenty of time for that to change and coach Rocker has said he has seen "spurts of life" but he needs to work on being more consistent. One player who has surprised coach Rocker with his play this summer is redshirt Freshman Jamar Travis. Travis played well in the team's first scrimmage and showed that he might be worthy of some playing time this fall. One of the biggest additions to this unit, both literally and figuratively, is incoming Freshman Jeffrey Whittaker. The 6'3" 308 pounder was rated the fifth best defensive tackle in the country coming out of high school and has shown why with his play thus far. With his size and ability there is no doubt that Whittaker will play this year and could make a significant impact. Another four star incoming Freshman is Kenneth Carter who already has proven that he too will be able to contribute some playing time this year and at 6'5" 285 pounds he has the size and athleticism to make a difference.

In 2009 Auburn played with a four man rotation at both defensive end and tackle and for the majority of the season at least one player was missing from those units due to injury which can be expected when playing in the SEC. A three or four man rotation just wont cut it and puts far too much pressure on your starters to take every snap. Coach Rocker has said he expects to see a greater effort on each play from his line this year since they now know that they can go all out for a couple of plays than get a breather as opposed to last year when they knew they had to conserve their energy. In 2010 there are now seven ends and seven tackles for coach Rocker to form his rotation from and the talent level has been significantly improved with the addition of five players rated as four star recruits.

Linebacker
As thin as the defensive line was on depth, it was nothing compared to what this linebacker unit suffered through in 2009. As hard as it is to believe, Auburn played the entire game against Alabama and Arkansas with three, yes THREE linebackers. The starters, one being a true Freshman, played every snap. With tackling machine Darren Bates moving down from safety, Eltoro Freeman becoming more comfortable with his role on this defense in year two out of junior college, and the addition of four Freshman linebackers collectively ranked the sixth best linebacker class in the country, there is no doubt the depth issues have been addressed. Auburn will return the most productive pair of linebackers in the SEC in Seniors Josh Bynes and Craig Stevens who combined for 199 tackles. Bynes returns for his third season as the starter at middle linebacker and is a pre-season 1st team All-SEC selection by the media. Stevens is making the switch from the strong side to the weakside linebacker position and was selected to the 2nd team pre-season All-SEC team by the coaches. Stevens is the most experienced player on this defense entering his fourth year as a starter and looking to build on a streak of 26 consecutive starts. Filling in on the strong side will be Darren Bates. After making the switch from safety, Bates has bulked up to 215 lbs and has shown the coaches enough through the spring and this summer to name him the starter. The reason for Stevens making the switch to weakside and the smaller Bates playing on strong side is because in Auburn's defense the responsibilities of the strong side linebacker have that player dropping back into coverage a lot more when playing over the tight end or covering the slot receiver. Bates is a perfect fit for that roll and gives the defense a lot of versatility to run the base 4-3 and nickle packages with the same personnel. Junior Eltoro Freeman had a tumultuous first year on the Plains, showing flashes of his ability but struggling most of the time with playing within the defense and understanding the playbook. His ability to cope with those struggles only exacerbated his problems, often being extremely hard on himself, letting one little mistake affect his attitude and play for the rest of the game. So far this summer Freeman has shown his coaches and his teammates that he has made great strides in both his understanding of his role in the defense and his attitude on and off the field. Playing at his more natural weakside linebacker spot, Freeman should provide quality depth behind Stevens. Sophomore Jonathan Evans was the player asked to step up last year as a true Freshman due to the lack of depth and he played admirably. Evans was one of the three linebackers who played every snap against Alabama and amassed eight solo tackles in that game. Being able to step back into a reserve role should help Evans play better on the snaps he is in there for and the experience he gained in 2009 only bolstered this unit's quality depth. Harris Gaston is currently listed at second team at middle linebacker after redshirting last season due to a season ending injury in preseason practice. Gaston has been quiet so far and it will be interesting to see how much playing time he sees this year as there are some very talented true Freshman who will be vying for that playing time. That group of Freshman includes Jessel Curry, who participated in spring practice after enrolling early, LaDarius Owens, the highest rated out of the four incoming linebackers, Jake Holland, who amassed nearly 300 tackles through his junior and senior years of High School, and Jawara "Rah Rah" White, who reported at an impressive 6'1" 243 pounds. Holland is a perfect fit at the middle linebacker spot, and Curry is best as an outside linebacker but Owens and White will likely learn all three positions and play where they are needed.

While returning all the contributors from the 2009 team and building depth through the return of players from injury/maturity and adding four talented recruits, there is no doubt that this unit should perform better than it did last year. It is nothing short of miraculous that this coaching staff was able to transform a front seven with 12 contributors in 2009 into a deep and talented team with 24 potential contributors in 2010.

Defensive Backfield
Walter McFadden was drafted in the fifth round of the NFL draft giving Auburn four cornerbacks drafted in the past three drafts and they will likely improve on that number after this season. When starting safety Zac Ethridge went down with a season ending injury during the Ole Miss game in 2009, the third cornerback and junior college transfer Demond Washington was asked to make the switch to safety, a position he had never played before in his career. Washington, while much better suited at corner due to his size (5'9" 180), excelled at safety and showed off extremely impressive speed. With McFadden now gone Washington has returned to corner to start opposite Neiko Thorpe to form one of the better cornerback duos in the SEC. Thorpe is a Junior in 2010 has started since his Freshman year and was recently named by Mel Kiper as the highest rated NFL prospect on Auburn's team this coming season. At 6'2" Thorpe has unique size for a cornerback and should be able to match up well against the taller receivers he will see this year such as A.J. Green, Julio Jones and Terrence Tolliver. Providing depth behind Thorpe and Washington will be redshirt Sophomore T'Sharvan Bell who really had a breakout game against Northwestern in the bowl game. Now as the primary backup at corner he will see an increased roll in the defense and could begin to emerge as a player who can be counted on in critical situations. Fellow Sophomore Anthony Morgan (previously Gulley) made the switch from receiver to cornerback last season and is beginning to settle into the position and get a better grasp on the technique. Rounding out the depth chart at cornerback will be true Freshmen Chris Davis and Jonathan Mincy. All the reports from camp thus far have been positive regarding the progress of the Freshmen and having the opportunity to work with Gene Chizik who has coached three Thorpe Award winners between Auburn and Texas should assure some great development of depth at this position. Also, true Freshman athlete Ryan White has been given the opportunity to try his hand at quarterback where he played in High School but most believe his future is at cornerback and that switch should come sooner than later.

No position was hit harder with injuries in 2009 than the safety position. Before the year began Auburn lost Senior Aairon Savage for the second straight year with a season ending injury and in the Spring of 2009 Junior Mike McNeil suffered a broken leg which some thought he may recover from in time for the season but the rehabilitation was much slower than anticipated and he is just now returning to full speed over a year later. In addition to losing those two players prior to the season Zac Ethridge was lost mid-season after breaking a vertebrae in a collision with teammate Antonio Coleman when converging on a ball-carrier. The good news is that all three players have reportedly made full recoveries and are on track to play in the season opener. McNeil used his redshirt year and Savage was granted a sixth year of eligibility so both players return in 2010 in the class they entered the 2009 season. The trio will likely get the majority of the playing time at the safety position but it is unclear which two will get the starting nod. Behind them are two redshirt Juniors Mike Slade and Drew Cole. Both players have a lot of playing experience in their careers though neither has emerged as a quality starting option as evidence by the move of Washington to safety last season and being passed up by true Freshman Darren Bates after just a couple months on campus. The hope is now with even more experience and a second year in this defense both of these players will make strides their Junior season towards being more complete players. In addition to Slade and Cole, two true Freshmen have joined the mix at safety. Demetruce McNeal and Ryan Smith are fighting for playing time and so far McNeal has really emerged as someone who could get some early playing time. Through the first two team scrimmages McNeal has gotten a lot of reps and has stood out in a positive way to safeties coach Tommy Thigpen. Last season Darren Bates played his way into a starting role as a true Freshman and while it doesn't appear likely McNeal will be starting this season (barring more catostrophic injuries) it seems very likely he will get some quality playing time.

Losing McFadden will hurt but it seems like this unit is well prepared to replace his production and continue reloading with NFL quality cornerbacks. With the return of three veterans with starting experience, the leadership and experience at safety will be unmatched by any other team in the SEC. If, and it is a big if, those players can return to pre-injury form and can stay out of the trainer's office for extended periods of time this season than this secondary should be even better than last year. There is more depth at safety to handle an injury here or there but losing three players from the secondary like last year would be difficult to deal with, as it would be for any team.

Overall there is a lot of room for improvement on this defense and it appears as if this coaching staff has put the pieces in place to make that improvement. Coach Chizik, a former Broyles Award winner as a Defensive Coordinator himself, has said now that he is more settled in at Head Coach he feels like he will be able to spend more time being hands on with the defense. Coordinator Ted Roof will undoubtedly love the additional depth at his disposal and should be able to incorporate more packages into his play calling. This may not turn into the defenses from the Tuberville days but it should definitely be much improved from last year and will hopefully be able to come up with some of those critical stops in the fourth quarter that could have translated into three more wins on last year's team.