AUBURN | Keionte Scott was the last of Auburn’s 2022 class to report, just two days before the start of preseason camp.

The junior college transfer might end up being the best of the bunch.

“Baller. I mean baller, man. That’s the only way you can explain it,” said secondary coach Zac Etheridge of Scott, who signed out of Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. “He’s very instinctual in what he does. He just loves football. He plays the game the way it’s supposed to be played. He’s smart. He understands leverage.

“But I’ve really been impressed with him making the time and sacrifice to come in early in the morning to hear the install twice to try to make sure. Not only that, he walked in day one, day two and he gained the respect from the guys in the room … Guys now can’t be complacent because he’s a guy that’s hungry to change the trajectory of his life.”

Scott, 6-foot and 185 pounds, is playing both cornerback and nickel as Etheridge cross-trains all of his defensive backs. With Scott not going through summer workouts and conditioning, Etheridge made sure he knew what the expectations would be the moment he arrived in Auburn.

“He had kind of been educated by myself and the staff,” said Etheridge. “But again, he loves football. Every day, he was sending in workout videos. He's training. He's getting himself in shape. I warned him about the heat coming from Vegas — coming out here, it's gonna be hot, but it's gonna be different. Just really been impressed with his endurance level and the things that he's been able to do on the field.”

The competition at cornerback is intense. Auburn returns two talented veterans in Nehemiah Pritchett and Jaylin Simpson, added transfer D.J. James from Oregon along with two talented freshmen in J.D. Rhym and Austin Ausberry. On top of that, redshirt freshman A.D. Diamond is stepping up and making plays in camp.

Despite that numbers and talent, Scott has continued to standout, making plays every day according to nickel Donovan Kaufman.

“He a baller,” said Kaufman. “You can tell that he came in with the intentions of 'I'm about to play. I'll make sure that I'll play.' I love it. I love his game. And then he wants to learn. He'll come ask 'What do I need to do with this? How do I do this?' Knowing that somebody wants to get better, it makes it easier for you to try to help them.”

The Tigers will continue preseason practice Friday morning and hold their first full-scale scrimmage Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.