AUBURN | The 10th in our series of ranking Auburn football by position concludes today with the defensive line at No. 1. We counting down from 10 to 1 this summer.
WHY NO. 1: It’s sort of a no-brainer with three projected high picks in the 2020 NFL Draft. It’s also a position with a lot of depth and versatility, and it has one of the nation’s most respected defensive line coaches demanding the best from the group.
OVERVIEW: Seniors Derrick Brown and Marlon Davidson, and junior Nick Coe anchor the group. The trio have combined to play in 104 games with 76 starts. Brown is the leader on and off the field, and is projected by just about every publication as a high first round pick next spring. He’s a playmaker inside and can command and beat a double-team. Davidson has started all but one game — due to an injury — in his entire college career, and there's a lot of excitement about the type of season he can remain relatively injury free. Coe may have the biggest upside of the three after leading the team with 7.0 sacks last season.
One thing that stands out about the trio is their versatility. Brown has played defensive tackle and defensive end, Davidson defensive end and defensive tackle, and Coe Buck linebacker, defensive end and defensive tackle.
Depth at defensive tackle comes from junior Tyrone Truesdell, sophomore Coyniss Miller and junior DaQuan Newkirk. Truesdell got a lot of work as a backup defensive tackle the last two seasons, Miller showed flashes of his potential as a true freshman last fall and Newkirk has as big of an upside as just about any of Auburn’s defensive linemen if he can just stay healthy.
Davidson is expected to start at defensive end with redshirt freshman Caleb Johnson and true freshmen Charles Moore and Jaren Handy providing depth. All three have the potential to eventually grow into a defensive tackle.
At Buck, T.D. Moultry finished spring as the starter and could be poised to take a big step forward as a junior. Junior Big Kat Bryant can play Buck or defensive end, another great example of the versatility in this group.
True freshmen Derick Hall and Colby Wooden both provide more depth at Buck with both going through spring practice after graduating high school early. Hall, in particular, looks like he’s ready to step in and contribute right away.
Another player that should provide depth at defensive end or inside at tackle is senior walk-on Gary Walker.
FINAL NOTE: Rodney Garner deserves a lot of credit for recruiting and developing this group. He’s won a lot of big recruiting battles against Power 5 heavyweight schools while also doing a great job of evaluating players early and finding some real diamonds in the rough. The one potential area of concern is Buck where Auburn needs Moultry or another player to step up and provide that true edge rusher like AU had with Dee Ford, Carl Lawson and Jeff Holland. Coe was good at Buck last season but would probably be better attacking from defensive end or inside at tackle. This group with a dominating outside pass rusher would be downright scary.
MORE RANKINGS
9. Quarterbacks
8. Linebackers
3. Safeties
