Making three predictions for Auburn’s secondary

The summer offseason is in full swing, and Auburn Live is trying to survive it with our Position Week breakdowns. By the time all eight units (QB, RB, OL, TE, WR, DT/Edge, LB, DB) at Auburn have been covered, media days will have passed, training camp will have arrived, and the return of football inside Jordan-Hare Stadium will be just around the corner. We’re rolling out our positional weeks with the eighth group up: the Auburn secondary.

AUBURN — Among all the position groups on the Auburn football team, the secondary should be the most reliable and prepared entering the 2023 season.

Gone is freshman Cayden Bridges, who has been removed from the team roster and not expected to return to school. Bridges finished with 19 tackles last season, good for 14th on the team and 7th among secondary players. Former Iowa State transfer Craig McDonald entered the transfer portal yet again, having played in two games and recording zero tackles last season. And former high school signee AD Diamond entered the transfer portal after two seasons at Auburn. Diamond contributed zero stats and will continue his playing career at UAB.

That’s it. That’s the only departures from Auburn’s secondary entering this season under the tutelage of returning defensive backs coach and ace recruiter Zac Etheridge, and Wesley McGriff, who returns to the Plains for his third stint as a Tigers’ assistant coach.

New to the program is four-star high school signee Kayin Lee. Auburn stole Lee, the nation’s No. 126 overall player and No. 13 cornerback, from Ohio State late in last year’s recruiting cycle. Joining Lee as true freshmen are cornerbacks Colton Hood, Tyler Scott and Jacorious Hart. Hood and Scott were both On3 Sports Consensus four-star prospects. The three-star Hart, hailing from nearby Loachapoka, Ala., is listed as a cornerback on Auburn’s official team roster, but may also work at receiver to start his career. And from the junior college ranks, Champ Anthony joins the team as a sophomore.

At safety, Terrance Love, Sylvester Smith and CJ Johnson all arrive as true freshmen. Love and Smith are both On3 Sports Consensus four-star prospects, with Smith being a flip from a previous commitment to Tennessee. Johnson is a three-star prospect from the state of Texas.

Because of the amount of depth returning, the new Auburn coaching staff felt comfortable bringing in a deep high school class and shying away from needing transfer players in the secondary this go around.

These five to six newcomers will join one of the more veteran secondary units in college football. Returning are scholarship players Keionte Scott, Nehemiah Pritchett, DJ James and JD Rhym at cornerback, with Jaylin Simpson, Donovan Kaufman, Zion Puckett, Marquise Gilbert, Caleb Wooden and Austin Ausberry at safety.

Scott was fourth on the team in tackles last season with 54, with Puckett finishing seventh with 45, and Puckett finishing eighth with 40 tackles. Simpson and James both finished with 38 tackles, good for ninth and 10th on the team.

Pro Football Focus ranked James as Auburn’s top returning defender and top returning cover man during the 2022 season. Kaufman ranks second, with Scott third in terms of returning defenders. In short, PFF believes Auburn’s best three returning defenders are all in the secondary in James, Kaufman and Scott.

New assistant coach McGriff loves what he’s seen from his veteran group so far.

“I think this is a mature group. One of the things you look at is the questions they ask. You can tell they want to be coached. The thing that you appreciate about an experienced bunch is when you tell them something, they try and execute it that way. The other big thing that stands out is that leadership piece. You can see the veterans talking to some of those younger guys,” McGriff said.

“As coaches, we can make the mistake of talking over guys’ heads a little bit, but they can break it down and say, ‘he’s saying this.’ You see that leadership among those guys. Keionte Scott, you can see him coaching those guys up. Nehemiah Pritchett, he’s putting his arm around Kayin Lee and coaching him up. That speaks to the leadership and the bonding. That’s good to see.”

Auburn Live is wrapping up its eighth position week of the summer by making three predictions for the Tigers’ secondary in 2023.

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Prediction No. 1: James earns first or second-team All-SEC honors

Pro Football Focus ranked James the 16th-best cornerback in regards to overall coverage grades during the 2022 season. There was only one SEC cornerback ranked above James, and that was Emmanuel Forbes from Mississippi State. Forbes was named first-team All-SEC for good reason. He nabbed six picks last season, finishing with 14 for his career, and returned six for touchdowns over three seasons at State. James failed to earn first or second-team honors. Forbes was beyond deserving, going in the first round to the Washington Commanders. James was 11 percentage points better when it came to reception percentage, having been targeted eight more times and allowing two less receptions last fall. James enjoyed a really good season. Now, PFF grades aren’t the end all be all, but they do give a good indication of production.

But when the preseason All-SEC football teams were announced at the end of July, James once again was snubbed from the first and second teams, instead landing on the third team along with teammate Pritchett.

Auburn’s coaches consider James a “pro” that decided to return for one more season. If James can earn himself onto the All-SEC team, he’d be just the third cornerback in the last seven years to earn that distinction, following Roger McCreary in 2021 and Carlton Davis in 2017. James has the tools and the experience to earn himself onto the first or second-team All-SEC team by season’s end.

Prediction No. 2: Auburn will top the interception total from 2022

Simpson finished with two, and Hall, James, Pappoe and Scott all finished with one interception each during the 2022 season. The six-pick total was the lowest Auburn team total since nabbing just six in 2017. It’s the second-lowest team interception total in the last 14 seasons, behind only the two interceptions by the 2012 team that finished winless in the SEC. The best season for interceptions in the last 14 was the fall of 2014, when that group grabbed 22 interceptions. Jermaine Whitehead and Jonathan Jones both grabbed six picks each.

Roberts’ aggressive style of defense should create opportunities for turnovers, if the defense is executed effectively. Roberts’ three defenses at Baylor finished with 12, 19 and 13 interceptions over the last three seasons.

“Schematically, we’re going to be multiple. You have to be multiple these days in college football. You can’t just sit in a front, offensive coordinators will pick you apart,” Roberts said after arriving at Auburn. “The skill level is too good. We’ll be multiple in what we do, but we’ll play with aggression, we’ll blitz, and we’ll play with an aggressive style of defense.”

New schemes, new focus and some key defensive players hungry for NFL attention should lead to double-digit interceptions in 2023.

Prediction No. 3: Wooden, Gilbert and Ausberry will face tough decisions following the season

Wooden, Gilbert and Ausberry all enter their second season at Auburn with little production on their resume. Wooden played the most, but the trio combined for just 11 tackles in 2022. Ausberry played in only four games while redshirting. Gilbert arrived as a highly-ranked junior college player, but it didn’t translate, as he also played in just four games. Wooden played in six scattered games, but did play in three of the last four, tallying all nine of his tackles in those final three games played, including five at Mississippi State.

With Kaufman being a junior, and three true freshman arriving at safety in Love, Smith and Johnson, plus potentially more talented true freshman like commit Kensley Faustin, maybe top-target KJ Bolden and others, playing time at safety will be ultra competitive entering next spring. Wooden, Gilbert and Ausberry may all be entering their third season, and unless major developments are made, one or all could face tough decisions regarding their future either after the season or following spring camp.

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