Auburn football signs Fa'Najae Gotay | Auburn Tigers Podcast

Intro Auburn signed the linebacker and he's pretty [Music] good you are locked on Auburn your daily podcast on the Auburn Tigers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes welcome on into lock on Auburn your daily Auburn Tigers podcast I'm your host Zack blackbean thank you so much for making locked on Auburn your first listen every single day of course part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day we're dapping it up this Friday with the Daryl dait Montgomery radio Legend and we'll talk from several different angles about the big news happening yesterday the goate the former maryn linebacker out of nowhere signs with the Auburn Tigers we'll get locked on turps host Trey Moors his thoughts on it uh we'll talk about how it impacts the roster both current and future but as far as his play on the field darl this guy can play he's got instincts he held his own in the Big 10 which is the closest thing to the SEC that you can get and and to me the worst case scenario is he's a really solid depth piece but I think this guy's good enough to play surprising on a Gotay couple fronts a surprising that this commitment and sign sign e just came out of nowhere obviously say you know didn't hear any smoke on this I'm surprised that he stayed in the portal as long as he did and and that no one else snatched him up tells me that there's some specific things we'll get into later that I think are targeted that he wanted is why he came here because I feel like he could have went other places and and got more of a I don't know opportunity to start um so I'm very surprised pleasantly surprised by this and again that he stayed in the portal as long as he did there's a lot of schools even in the SEC that would have loved to snatch up goate allame team goate great name I think that I've done a little you know when I found out about this this morning I've watched some tape I watched what Cole Pinkston broke down I went to the original locked on turps podcast when he did jump in the in the portal and I've looked at some film I think there's some things number one football IQ is off the charts and I'm hearing that a lot with how he reads the line of scrimmage and that kind of thing so that's what you're getting in a player uh a thumper he'll hit you there's no doubt but he's extremely smart extremely uh a football high football IQ and oh by the way his best game of the year last year was against aubert in the bowl game so that's kind of funny it's it's what it's the Bruce Pearl method right your player does well against you and you snatch him up so that that is not to be undervalued or understated that freeze got to see him with his own eyeballs yeah this guy's been playing college football so long that he has a relationship with Durkin from back when he was at Maryland he has a relationship with John Heisman what are you talking about no kidding no kidding I mean he graduated high school in 2018 his first year of of college football at Maryland was in 2018 and between you know getting that red shirt and and the covid Year this is his last year he'll run out of Eligibility after the season which is what made the initial news somewhat shocking to me I mean I wasn't familiar with uh goate when I saw Auburn Twitter post the that they had signed a linebacker I wasn't familiar with him and I'm like oh okay this is a young guy to kind of help backfill the recruiting class and maybe he'll get a little bit of depth work this season and then he could be a guy next year but no no this is a guy who has one year left of Eligibility similar situation to Dory myusi um but to me it just says okay DJ Durkin likes this guy Hugh frees like this guy clearly they felt the need to add another linebacker but we'll talk about the the roster implications of this but I mean you got to think from a playing time standpoint this has to impact doryan myusi yeah I can't imagine him not Gotays impact getting in the two deep I mean I'm sorry but you don't bring in a seventh year player to just play special teams seventh year player you know what I'm saying he he's expecting to play and make an impact right away because of his experience and his again this is the kind of kid that can catch up quickly by not being here in the spring we've heard some things some scuttlebutt about his football mind is one that DJ Durkin really really likes it could see him down the road maybe in coaching if this is a kid that durken recruited then that's another draw that goate you know obviously feels like he wants to come play for Durkin imagine that which we love to hear uh I I just think that you don't get a guy that again when you watch film and I'm not a guy that's you know a Sant with that kind of thing I I can I can see things and he it when it's obvious and he jumps off the screen and it's but I hear when I hear analysis of people that I do trust talk about how smart he was to to pick this particular Gap or to slide this particular way or recognize this guard coming at you in the Box those kind of terms or the back coming out of the back field and he drifts back and picks him up that kind of stuff excites me you don't keep that on the sidelines I mean I'm not I'm not saying this guy's Gonna Get You know the the bener award but I don't see how you don't let him play some significant number of snaps I think I don't think he's just an insurance policy Zach I think that he is brought in to play some snaps with linebacker depth and to keep everybody fresh and yes that could impact Dorian May mausi again I wait to see on that because myusi another smart guy was here in the spring how much of is there a Gap that has to be you know closed yeah we don't have a ton of experiences or proof I can't think of the word but of guys specifically linebackers who have come in after spring and have done well uh Like Larry Nixon was a guy who came in after spring last year and I think most people would agree that he underachieved with kind of what we were expecting um I think this guy has a better resume and a better body of work and a higher level of competition there you go Larry Nixon was coming from a group of five this guy played Big 10 football I think that matters yeah it's a big difference it's a big difference and he's familiar with Durkin which is a huge part of this as well and he's just been playing college football for for so long and and in a similar scheme it's just it to me it's a no-brainer it's an absolute no-brainer and and I think he is going to play so once again like worst case scenario depth piece but I think this guy's going to play I think he's going to play early and often darl Veteran leadership what it does is it gives you two viable options at both inside linebacker positions that are veteran guys I love Woodyard I love rck there's guys like that that have been really you know we've heard a lot about rck being a fast Riser we've had good heard good things about Woodard coming out of the spring um but what you get is Asante mausi keys and goate all dudes that have played a lot of football um ironically if I think about all four of the all four transfers none of them are homegrown through the recruiting class um two who have played for Durkin before in his defense with chees and goatee I that I don't know something about that just makes me feel kind of warm and fuzzy I don't know I like that the uh the whole continuity of that and having to deep and having experience in veteran leadership at your to deep so if there was God forbid an injury or something happened and someone was having a bad game again Auburn plays his first five games at home and right you know how it is with attrition at linebacker Zack this could be big I think so I think so uh so all in all huge G how does it impact the roster we'll discuss in just a moment right here unlocked on Auburn Today's Show is brought to you by our friends at eBay Motors darl you love eBay Motors you've used them firsthand you need it aart for a hard to find vehicle so you go to eBay Motors you typed in the makeing model and then boom the selection was there anytime you are looking for a part for a 1984 Ford flatb truck I mean there's listeners right now they're like 1984 wow that was when yeah no one the people weren't alive but it's hard to find you can't go to a a dealership or go to a mechanic and say Hey I want this far I mean it's hard and or you're gonna go and they're just G to order it it's like well I can order it and'll and there it's gonna be marked up significantly when they do that too eBay Motors does not do that and they keep that in line and it's it's a it's a catalog for us now that we use really consistently on a lot of our Fleet yep yep so with eBay Motors you're burning rubber and not cash well all the parts you need at the prices you want it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com eligible items only exclusions apply eBay guaranteed fit only available to you as customers darl when you look at the depth chart and we kind of touched on this already to some extent but in no particular order um well no I I'll give a particular order Eugene Sante Austin Keys Dory myusi baj goate Robert Woodyard which is interesting and then your freshman Demarcus rck and DJ Barber I think the addition of goatee makes the the path to playing time tougher for rck and barber and longterm I don't know if that's ideal but as far as performance in 2024 it makes the room better yeah and does it does it now give Redshirting Auburn the opportunity to red shirt one of those young young guys or both there you know and then have them next year when you now you lose a lot of experience at linebacker when goate and Assante which Rhymes oh if they're in the if they're in at the same time that sounds pretty sweet doesn't it I just thought about go and Asante yeah I like that bur's gonna be all over that he will um Keys probably has another year right I don't know about my USI you may lose three or your four inside linebackers on your two deep next year so if you could perhaps red shirt rck and barber and keep them from burning eligibility that would be huge and and then obviously focus on that in your recruiting class upcoming and in 2026 yeah yeah I mean we it's so funny I mean this addition it adds to the dynamic of this roster even more where it's a bunch of old guys and a bunch of young guys and this like that's why I was so surprised when I saw his name it's like oh this is a junior that's got two years left and obviously that's not the case so it's just to me I I'm surprised goatee chose Auburn it makes you think okay he must really like Durkin and must want to play in the SEC or you know you you talk so much about his football Acumen you know maybe he wants to do coaching at the next level and like Durkin or something who knows but to to me it's just a winwin situation for Auburn like there's no downside here like the absolute worst case the absolute worst case scenario is he's a great depth piece that's played like well over a thousand snaps in his career I mean who gets that that's incredible he's appeared in 42 games Roster over his career you know when you talk about how does this impact the roster I have to go back to how does it impact him when he looks at how he'll impact the roster so what was he looking at that made him say okay I think Auburn's inside linebacker core is pretty solid they've got a pretty good to deep right now you know there's an argument to be made that rck had passed some people so now Go's got to beat out ridic to even get into that too deep I I would imagine he would because of like we talked about all the attributes but what is he looking at what that's the surprising thing you you normally hear guys that want to say they want to jump and go okay yeah I want to play in the SEC but is there another school in the SEC that doesn't have three or four inside that's why I love the fact that he it's kind of like he really really had his eyes and his heart set on alurn and I think that has to be the DJ Durkin thing sure um I let's you know here's the thing I don't know I mean there's a lot of variables I don't know has a dude even taken a visit had he ever been on campus before I didn't see it reported anywhere if that was the case so think about that Zack he commits and signs to Auburn basically sight unseen that's pretty strong I mean I I don't I don't know if he's been on campus but to do that without ever even walking into Jan hair and getting all the treatment visit treatment I that's pretty impressive so the oldest guy in the room after those four Four Guys the core four is Robert Woodard as a red shirt sophomore a guy who we mentioned could be a candidate to enter the portal after spring thankfully he wasn't what I saw of him this spring he looked really good I don't think he's gonna get as much playing time this year now because of this could that be anything that hinders him wanting to stay at Auburn or since it's a one-year rental it's not going to matter anyway because it was more about next year for Woodyard regardless it's a good thing I think it Keys will hinder if he felt like he was going to get in the two deep and although not be a starter still get a lot more snaps yeah if those snaps Go away You're gonna have to sell him on the fact of just be patient and you can start next year if you do what you're supposed to do we lose three of the four maybe all four just be patient and you'll have your shot it's hard though it's hard in this day and age of nil and the portal to convince a kid to stay that we kind of felt like had one foot out the door already uh maybe thought like he had crept into the top two now or the two deep and that may go away I don't know I there has to be some very very real conversation honest conversations with him that promises him you know stay and next year could look a lot different yeah I think Keys is done after this year well then yeah he's played in Four Seasons but one of them was 2020 and so his fourth year would be this year right yeah yeah so ready for like the folks that played in 2020 to be done because it's just so hard to keep track of it well and in that case you would have a a combination of Woodyard Barber rck whoever else and obviously you're going to go to the portal and get some experence he played in four games he played in a bunch of games in all of these Seasons so he couldn't have been reded any of those three non2 20 years so I'm pretty sure he's done after this year correct me in the comments if yall think contrary to that I'm curious but all in all like to me this year I thought okay this impacts my USI in the future does it impact Auburn's standing with Woodyard those are the two immediate names that popped in my head when I was kind of processing what this move could mean yes exactly Win Now or Win Now but it also makes me think that Alburn is more sold selling out to win a lot more games this year than maybe originally people thought you know oh year two I think it's there's this win now uh urgency thing that I know he's building when he wants to build but you know there's if if you get someone like this that you think can help you win immediately and you do it it that gives me a little bit of an inside on what the mindset is yeah sure which which is what the fan base wants like they want to win now as they should and this coaching staff wants to win now too which is obvious so uh all right let's jump into our conversation with Trey he host locked on turps get the Maryland perspective of all of this but before we do that darl how could people check out everything you've got going on uh follow me on socials xap 6410 uh Instagram darl dap and then with you Wednesdays and Fridays yes and all next week as we will be live from Dallas at Radio Row for SEC media days crossover segment with lockon tur coming FanDuel up today's show is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel fanduel's America's number one sports book I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but it's playoffs are well behind us and championships have been W we've got MLB and that's it that's it which MLB is fun especially when the Braves are playing well but this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or bonus daily yes there's something for everyone every day all summer long much like locked on so head over to fanduel.com and start making the most of your summer FanDuel is the official sports betting partner of Major League Baseball and the locked on podcast Network joining us now here on the show Trey Moore Trey Moore host of locked on turps Trey it's weird how many crossovers we've done usually Auburn and Marland don't have a whole lot to do with each other that's not been the case lately Auburn has uh signed Fage j goate a very experienced linebacker he's played a ton of football at Maryland what are your thoughts on goate as a as a player and a potential addition for for the Tigers yeah I mean I have a couple of different thoughts I think in terms of how the Auburn fans should look at it number one thing I think he's going to bring is leadership he's going into his seventh season playing college football so he's been around a ton he's gone through a bunch of different things he's been injured he's had some good years he's had some decent years so I think he can relate to a lot of different guys um in the Auburn defense and just the Auburn team overall so I think that's the number one thing that he'll kind of bring and the kind of player that he is just having that experience he can bring a lot of different types of leadership quality that I think can benefit Auburn a lot I know you guys have some young really good players some really talented players um and he's going to be able to put a lot of those guys in the right spots give a lot of those guys good advice so when I start with goate I thought he was a great leader for the Maryland team yeah sure sure when I saw this signing and Auburn announced it on their social medias I wasn't familiar with him this kind of popped up out of nowhere Trey and I just assumed that this would be a guy with a few years left of Eligibility and it's like okay cool he can be a special teams guy and a and a depth piece and then possibly get a larger role down the line that's that's not what this is this is a guy who's out of Eligibility after this year and but you say he's a leader I don't know I'm just a little surprised I'm a little surprised that he would choose to go to Auburn given Auburn's situation at linebacker I just kind of wonder where the playing time is going to come from yeah I mean that's kind of the question mark that was with Maryland a little bit like he was definitely going to play and everything but Maryland likes to rotate a lot of different guys in so it was like he was never like quite the starter but he would still play a ton of time and it was kind of interesting in that type of way and so it kind of looked at it the same way as Maryland so I'm not really understanding why he kind of decided to go to Auburn I don't really understand that 100% I mean maybe he just wants to play in the SEC and try and play in that type of environment and it's it's really cool to play for Auburn football but I I don't know exactly why because it doesn't seem like that much of a different situation than he's going into uh than what he was at with Maryland it might even be worse to be honest so I don't really know if maybe playing time wasn't his number one priority but I feel like that would be so I don't know exactly how the Auburn dep chart lines up at linebacker um sounds like there's definitely some guys in that room but I I I don't know exactly why he chose Auburn to be honest yeah what was the mood or reaction from the Maryland fan base when goate said hey I'm in entering the portal it it was interesting a lot of Portal different kind of opinions on it some people didn't get it because they're like you've been here forever it's your last year um why why enter the portal now after coming back for a seven season uh you were in line to play a good bit where else could kind of benefit you this feels like the right program for you and then other people I said I understood it sometimes when people have been around a long time it's just time to get a different change in the building and uh see different things and I also kind of understood it because in the Maryland spring game one thing that came out that was really weird that I didn't understand was we went um in our spring game we went first team offense versus first team defense and he was on playing against the second team offense and playing with the second team defense which I didn't understand which is another reason why I thought it was very possible that he um entered the portal uh that's the reason I brought up on locked on TPS but um so that that's kind of where I go uh with that uh there was different opinions on it for sure um it definitely impacted our linebacker room because we already lost uh jaon baram to Michigan who was one of our most talented players probably our most talented player so losing another guy like goe definitely didn't help us um but it's it's nothing we have a couple young guys as well and also some veterans in that room so we fans weren't freaking out about it but it definitely was a loss for sure sure sure so I mean you and I may split hairs on which conference is the best but I do think we would agree that the SEC and the Big 10 are the best two conferences in college football goate as a linebacker in the Big 10 I mean did he hold his own was he average was he slightly above average what kind of tier would you put him as okay this was Go's status in the Big 10 I'd say he's pretty much average that's kind of exactly where I think he lines up I think it's a he's a great death type of player but he's not going to go around and be a star and make all these different plays all over the field I don't think he's that type of player but he's the type of guy that you have in for depth and he's going to always do exactly what you need him to do like I said he's going to be a leader so he's not going to be some guy that goes off and is a NFL draft pick I don't think or anything like that he's just a guy that's going to be a solid piece to your team and he was very solid for Maryland uh I never I never thought of him as that next level type of player but he's also not a poor player by any means I don't want anybody to think that he's not a good player like he's a very average I would say big 10 linebacker which would probably lead to being about an average SEC type of linebacker uh which I think it's not a I think that's the level that he is I think that's who he is as a player so we're recording this just what 30 minutes after the announcement so a lot of this info is still new but I'm just looking at he's been in college he's been playing college football so long that it looks like Durkin actually recruited him because I mean he was he was at Maryland from 2016 2018 and goate played in the 2018 season so I mean that's I'm sure there's a connection there too yeah yeah okay yeah that would make that makes sense with the um defensive coordinator which is wild that he's been playing college football that long that's insane I know cuz that feels like a while ago that uh the Durkin thing at Maryland that feels like pretty far removed now now yeah no question about it no question so this is a guy who I mean I'm just looking at how he was used at Maryland snap countwise at Pro Football Focus looks like they used him some an outside linebacker but for the most part he was an inside guy some of the highlights that he shared on socials and that I've seen like him running down quarterbacks did that I that look like that happens a lot but I mean do you see him being used as like a pass rusher potentially or is he truly a linebacker ah he he definitely did play a little bit of outside linebacker and sometimes we just line him up and just let him get after the quarterback I think you can do it I'm not in love with him out there I think he can do it I think that's one of his better spots coming from a linebacker as a Blitzer I think that's one of his uh best kind of traits but lining him outside and just saying go get the quarterback I don't think he would be particularly great at it but he did do it some at Maryland but um it was a lot of inside linebacker just lining him up blitzing him uh he he was good against the run I didn't never thought he was great against the pass uh he had an interception last year but I just never thought he was great against the pass but he he's he's solid overall He he'll get a couple plays in the back field if you just lined him up to Blitz he's good at he's definitely good at that but I don't really see him playing that much outside linebacker I don't think he would create a lot of chaos back there um in terms of getting past SEC type of uh tackles sure sure well regardless goatee seems like a great depth piece at worse in this situation for Auburn Trey thank you so much for your time how could people check out all of uh the Maryland content here at lockon yeah make sure you guys go over to locked on turps and make sure you guys go check it out if you guys are any Maryland fans are just interested in Big 10 football uh you can go and check out locked on turps yeah yeah like I said weird kind of Auburn connection right now with with Durkin with Rico Walker and now yeah vaj go so hey please like the video please subscribe and we will see you next time this has been lockon alurn