Surprise Contributors Emerge For Auburn During Fall Camp Scrimmage | Auburn Football 2024

welcome back to another episode of rock boys football Hugh freeze the Auburn Tigers wrapping up their first scrimmage of fall Camp Saturday morning in Dill we got a lot of fascinating emergers and contributors for this Auburn program during fall Camp want to get into I don't know if I would use the word surprise because we talked a lot about these guys heading into fall camp that being said it's nice to see some of this young Talent you know really put it together during fall camp but I think my biggest takeaway and you know we kind of talked about it earlier this week this Auburn program heading into 2024 just has a much better feel for who they're going to be and who their guys are going to be heading into the 2024 season where we backtracked 12 months ago we didn't know who the starting quarterback was going to be we had no clue what the wide receiver rotation was going to be and on the defensive side of the football you had multiple freshman that had to play early for this Auburn program I continue to read the fall Camp notes and just say hey we know the guys and we know who are going to be the guys heading into 2024 I think that's a massive storyline for this Auburn program really excited to get into some of these surprise contributors coming out of the scrimmage for this Auburn program before we get into it as always just want to say thank you to you guys and to the Auburn fans deal whether we're talking fall Camp whether we're talking recruiting just so much Buzz around this program we've personally had a blast talking it the amount of support the amount of war eagles you guys throw in the comments M section we can't thank you guys enough if yall do enjoy the content consider subscribing to the channel without further Ado D I want to start on the defensive side of the football we spent a lot of time talking about this Auburn offense I know the national media kind of just focuses on this Auburn offense we think this defense can be extremely salty in 2024 and I want to focus on the defensive line where kind of our biggest question mark heading into fall camp in the 2024 season was the depth on the defensive line you are starting to hear of freshman that are going to play early for this Auburn defensive line kind of headlined by one ble blockton who I think is probably the most important freshman on the defensive line I think amarus Williams probably the best freshman on the defensive line but Malik blockton probably the most important because we're a little concerned about the depth on the inside of the defensive line if Malik blockton can be a guy for Auburn as a freshman I think that's a massive storyline for this Tigers defense really is because I I think you kind of look as amarus Williams emerges you obviously have McLoud you have Kon Crawford you have kelrick folck you kind of know you have a solid stable Edge rushers but I think as that depth emerges through the middle especially with guys who can play at a high level because you essentially do have depth I would say for this Auburn team but it's a question do you have like that high level where Auburn wants to be in like a couple years kind of Dept in talent and top end ability and again you kind of look at the end of the day for Auburn it's going to more come through recruiting it looks like it's really hard to build really great players through that defensive line through the portal so you kind of want to look for guys like even a Darren Reed or Malik blockton to start developing into essentially what I think aub's gonna want their defensive line MD it's coming I mean we've talked about it extensively a lot of the emphasis on Auburn on the recruiting trail goes to the offensive players but you look at what Auburn's doing on the defensive side of the football specifically along the line of scrimmage that Elite front seven is coming I think you have Elite Playmakers on the edge I don't know if you have Elite guys on the inside but again if Malik blockton can emerge as a dude for Auburn as a freshman I think some massive storylines that I don't know if Auburn's gonna dominate on the inside of the defensive line but we were very concerned about it coming out of the 2023 season now we feel pretty good that it's going to be a solid unit in the SEC in 2024 with primarily your star power coming at that Ed rusher spot now another really interesting story coming out of that scrimmage D on certain packages they're kicking calri Faulk to the inside and I am a massive fan of that for two reasons one I think keldrick Faulk is such a phenomenal player and one of the best values that he brings to this Auburn defense is his versatility right he can play the five he can play the three Tech you can move him all along the defensive line I don't know if you've seen pictures of Krick faul he's up to 66 290 pounds this is a guy that can handle himself on the inside and that athleticism in length it's going to be a problem for interior defensive lineman but why I think that's so important is it allows Auburn to kind of maximize the talent on the defensive line where you want to get Jaylen McLoud you want to get Kon Crawford all on the field at the same time and having the ability to move Faulk to the inside have keldrick Faulk Kon Crawford jayen McLoud all on the defensive line playing at the same time that's a massive storyline deal you saw Michigan do that a little bit last year where they had so much talent on the defensive line they would move Mason Grant to more of that five tech position have Kenny Grant Chris Jenkins on the inside because they wanted to maximize the talent that was on the field you can only do that when you have special players that have the ability to move all over the defensive line the fact that keldrick faul has that the fact that they're able to get all these players on the field at the same time that's it kind of one is really exciting for an Auburn fan because that's a lot of good players on the defensive line but more importantly continues to mitigate maybe some of those question marks about difference makers on the inside of the defensive line because Krick fol he's going to be a Difference Maker wherever he is on the defensive line and especially on passing Downs because that was probably the one huge issue it felt like with auburn last year pass rush just was very mediocre it felt like again they had good addressers and Jaylen McLoud was doing his thing but they didn't really have guys on the inside who are winning so again if you can you have enough depth I think in that Ed room to get those guys in whether it's even bringing guys like amarus Williams or jamonte Waller who frankly feel like they're as ready to play as any freshman in the country like those type of guys compared to maybe the inside so again you have those guys kind of waiting in the wings if you can get keldrick Falon to the inside let Philip bedy play on the inside I think you see that pass rush go just kick way up because last year just was really weak through the middle but they do have their hammers I mean Jason Jones Isaiah reags they'll do what you want them to do in terms of like being those early down players heat up block that's probably the recipe right hey we're gonna play Isaiah re or guy like Jason Jones we're going to win on first and second down stop the run when we get teams into third and long we're GNA have keldrick Faulk on the inside we're gonna have Philip bleedy on the inside we're gonna have Kon Crawford and jayl McLoud rushing on the edge that is a formidable I would even say very good pass rush for this Auburn defense in 2024 Now you kind of talked about the lack of pass rush for Auburn in the 2023 season another thing that I continue to get fired up about and we could have said this heading into fall I love the combination of DJ Durkin coming into this Auburn offense with the kind of linebackers that they have you go back to Texas A&M one of the things they were a lead at on the defensive side of the football was rushing the passer they sacked the quarterback 11% of dropbacks that was number two in the country a lot of that production came from those offb linebackers and you continue to hear about guys like Eugene Sante or Austin keys or a guy like Demarcus rck as a true freshman being Difference Maker ERS in some of these Blitz packages D some of your best pass rushers on this Auburn defense are at the linebacker position with Austin keys and Eugene Asante you know DJ Durkin is going to turn it up on opposing offenses and I think he's stepping into an Auburn front seven that has the exact Personnel that he's looking for to run his kind of defense well especially at that linebacker spot and I really think that's led by a because you saw him even kick down and go back to that old Miss game play a little bit on the edge I mean he's legitim good passer he's not just a guy who you need to scheme scheme open if you will or scheme a blitz up who he go he comes free and it's great if you can get those opportunities but again the way Adan Cooper was playing and how effective he was at beating blocks not just being schemed up I think that's kind of what you're looking for and especially with a guy like Eugene Assante playing next to him who can cover so much ground and has so much range I do think that frees up a little bit of them letting Austin keys go to work and same with Eugene Asante frankly too because he's good at chasing guys down you viously saw that with Jaylen milro so I think that they do have a really interesting linebacker room to work with and it frankly it probably wasn't as productive as he would have wanted it to be like yeah you know DJ D I mean Adrian Cooper LED Texas A and em and Sachs from that linebacker position I I don't think that's going to be the case because I think he got some horses up front guys like Jaylen McLoud and calri Faulk that being said I could certainly see a reality where Eugene Sant Austin Keys leads this team in sacks in 2024 now the big question Mark if you are going to fire your linebackers and Blitz your linebackers you got to make sure you can hold up in the back end I think my biggest takeaway from Fall camp and specifically the scrimmage on Saturday morning is the continued emergence of depth at the quarterback spot this was probably a question right because you look at Keon Scott and K and Lee I think that is a very good quarterback 204 Auburn the question mark was who's cornerback three four and five right and Keon Scott's been dealing with the hamstring injury didn't play in the scrimmage which look I almost think that's kind of a blessing in disguise like obviously I want keante Scott to be full go in 2024 it sounds like that's going to be the case but it allows guys like Antonio kite or JC Hart to get more opportunity to hone in on their craft and emerge as kind of that nice depth at the quarterback position you read the scrimmage notes and say that's kind of exactly what you're hearing apparently a guy like JC Hart is going to be someone that contributes for Auburn in the cornerback room it's fun to talk about the starters but fall Camp a lot of the times I'm more focused on what the depth is emerging for these programs and for aubon defense it sounds like you're getting that depth that you want in that secondary room now Dill going to the offensive side of the football I think there's a couple fascinating story lines that at least in my opinion kind of kind of flying under the radar and I want to go to x factors on the offensive side of the football specifically in the wide receiver room where hey we know who the wide receiver won two and three are probably going to be right cam Coleman Keandre Lambert Smith have kind of asserted themselves as the top two wide receivers cam Coleman's getting the Superstar treatment and cam colan's not even playing much in these scrimmages because hey we know what cam Coleman is we don't need to play him like the other freshman kre Lambert Smith sat out my biggest takeaway is some of the guys that don't get a ton of Love are going to be contributors within this Auburn offense specifically Sam Jackson Bryce Kane and Malcolm Simmons again a lot of the excitan in the wide receiver room goes to a guy like cam Coleman Auburn brought in a ton of talent in the wide receiver room after cam Coleman and guys like Perry Thompson Malcolm Simmons the state champion the long jump you look at Bryce c one of the fastest players on the football field these kids aren't I shouldn't say kids these guys are not going to be playing every single snap for Auburn in 2024 but they are going to be guys that you can kind of sprinkle in give 15 20 plays a game and maybe allow them to kind create some of those gamechanging plays those gamechanging explosive plays on the offensive side of the football that we so desperately didn't have in 2023 for this Auburn offense it's just even looking at being a little bit more diverse in the offense in terms of what Auburn was doing because so much for last year everything kind of flowed through their run game and if they got their run game going they could kind of get The Passing attack going to an extent obviously it never really got humming but everything seemed like it was based off strictly if they could run the ball they'd have a shot I think again when you have more diverse set of skills on that outside out on that boundary position if you will I think that helps you just open the offense up and be a little bit more unique in multiple and diverse and put more pressure on defenses where at times last year it did feel like well again if they can make a play with jarz Hunter they have a chance or if they can catch someone on a read option they have a chance but there wasn't something they could always go to to attack or switch up or or kind of get make a stupid analogy but I'm just going to try to make it anyways I mean Hugh freees essentially a chef he opens the Pantry in 2023 he's got two ingredients jarquez Hunter and revaldo Fairweather right and now he's opening up the coverage and saying I got so many ingredients I know H free is a damn good Chef if we give him the ingredients he's gonna make a damn good meal and I feel like the meal is going to be more complete like what you said there's just more ingredients to add into the Auburn offense to manufacture some of those explosive plays where last year you had again raldo Fairweather or jarquez Hunter if the ball weren't in those two guys hands this Auburn offense really couldn't create anything explosive last storyline that I continue to monitor is the offensive line I think a sneaky storyline that is not getting talked enough about but I think it's going to be talked about over the next couple years as we see the transfer portal become a bigger bigger player in the sport of college football offensive line continuity is going to emerge right there is so many different programs that you take a look at what their offensive lines are going to be it's going to be completely new faces we kind of saw that with Colorado last year where they just kind of threw a bunch of new faces on the offensive line it obviously didn't work out you look at this Auburn offensive line there's not really any position battles like we know what the starting five is going to be they're repping every single day in Fall Camp a lot of these guys have played a lot of football together and yeah you lose guys like Avery Jones who kind of just got beat out by Conor Lou at the center spot you lose some solid football players and Gunner Britain and cam STS both who struggled with injuries because they struggled with injuries guys like Jeremiah rri as xaven Miller got a chance to play a lot of football so I look at this offensive line and say you got four guys that have played a lot of football together you bring in Percy Lewis who were fired up at the left tackle spot think this offensive line is sneaky going to be a strong suit for this Auburn offense which you kind of said it best you freeze wants to run this offense through the Run game I expect the Run game to be significantly better than it was in 2023 not only because the offensive line but you also have a passing attack that you can work your run game off as well you still got JZ Hunter he's still one of the better backs in the FC and I think you're right at the end of the day I don't think we'll see many offensive lines be prod particularly productive if you have more than two transfers on I think at the end of the day the teams that are gonna be really good think of the georgas the michigans the Oregons even like those offensive lines that have built themselves up through homegrown talent I I just don't see another way to do it I just think you see how few really quality like tackles let's say hit the portal I mean you can get a couple Percy Lewis is kind of one of those guys who certainly not saying you don't want to have transfers on your offensive line because I do think Percy Lewis is a big addition for them I think it allows again as you said Dylan Wade to play a much more natural position but at the end of the day you see a lot of guys who are now in their second third years in this program I think that that's a huge kind of sticking point for me at least yeah I again I'm not I'm not a dabble Sweeny guy I'm not saying you can't use the transfer portal specifically even on the offens line but I think you're right the best offensive lines that we're going to see in 2024 are the offensive lines that have played a lot of football together and have kind of built their offensive line from the high school ranks if you can go get a Percy Lewis in the transfer portal go out and make it happen again I think he's a left tackle that could emerge as one of the better tackles in the conference make your offensive line better but you don't want to be in a position where you got three or four guys who are new faces coming in the transfer portal starting on the offensive line Auburn doesn't have that a lot of really exciting buzz and D I feel like the national media is finally catching up like Auburn I just I think maybe it has to do with what they're doing on the recruiting Trail just garnering a little bit more attention I feel like people are kind of waking up to what this Auburn team could be in 2024 because they significantly added to the roster they got better in the spots they needed to get better in specifically the wide receiver room it's going to be a really fun team in 2024 we'll cut it there again appreciate you guys rocking with it if yall do enjoy the content consider subscri subscribing to the channel appreciate you guys and we'll talk to you'all later peace