AUBURN | It’s hard to recall Rodney Garner speaking about Dontavius Russell the past couple of years without raving over his work ethic and his ability to do the dirty work.

But with Russell off to play for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, Garner is looking for his replacement. And the starting job opposite All-SEC defensive tackle Derrick Brown remains fairly wide open going into the start of preseason drills.

The candidates include juniors Tyrone Truesdell and DaQuan Newkirk, and sophomore Coyniss Miller.

"I thought Trues has gotten better every year. I'm really proud of him and the growth that he's made, not just as a football player, but as a person. I've seen tremendous growth out of him,” Garner said. “Coynis, I think he's a guy that's very talented. Hopefully he'll be able to take that next step. The biggest problem with Coynis is really between his ears. Like most big guys, you know, just learning to push themselves past their comfort level.

“Obviously Newkirk, if we can get him healthy, he's a very talented young man that has all the skill set. He checks every box. If you were going out and trying to scout one, and this is what you're looking for, that's what you're looking for. Just a healthy version.”

Those are the options if Marlon Davidson remains at defensive end and Nick Coe at Buck. But it’s likely those two veterans will play multiple positions this fall, especially in pass-rushing situations.

“Those are two guys that can definitely play inside, especially if you're not playing against a bunch of 21 personnel or 12 personnel where it's all downhill with combo blocks and all that,” Garner explained. “But if it's more zone, outside zone, all those things, those guys have got time on task in our rabbits package, anyway, playing inside, so those are always going to be some options, too.”

Coe actually spent a good portion of spring working at defensive tackle. He led Auburn with 7.0 sacks last season at Buck. The year before, he served as Davidson’s backup at defensive end.

"We're going to use everybody We're going to try to find the best combination that's going to give us the best opportunity to be successful,” Garner said. “I'm sure we're going to mix and match and do a lot of things based on who we're playing against, the different kind of personnel we're facing, the kind of offense we're facing. We just got to be creative.

“Obviously, our thing is, and one of the goals we came out of last season with, is we just need to create more negative-yard plays on first down. If we can do that, we can get people into third-and-long situations where we feel like we can maybe create some mismatches with the front and in pass-rush situations.”

Garner said he’s hearing positive reports on Russell’s early work with the Jaguars. The seventh round pick has been working mainly with the second-team behind Abry Jones, a former Garner player at Georgia.

He finished his five-year Auburn career with 49 starts.

“Don was such a steady player. He didn't wow you with his stats and all that, but when you graded that film on Sunday, man, you appreciated having him,” Garner said. “That's the same thing I was looking at -- I was looking at some tape today, because we had a recruit in there, and he did some good stuff. He really did. He did a lot of that dirty work that a lot of people don't want to do, especially in this day and time."

Auburn begins preseason practice Aug. 2.