AUBURN | When it comes to Auburn’s defensive line, the rich get richer.

The Tigers, which are blessed to have three of the nation’s best defensive linemen in Derrick Brown, Marlon Davidson and Nick Coe, are seeing another talented player emerge this season.

Junior Tyrone Truesdell is one of Auburn’s most improved players, seeing significant snaps at defensive tackle and currently ranking second on the team in tackles-for-loss with 3.0 and sacks with 2.0.

“Tyrone Truesdell really showed up today. He showed up tremendous today,” said Davidson, who leads the team with 4.5 tackles-for-loss and 2.5 sacks. “He was making plays with me and talking junk about it, having fun, showing excitement about it. He's an emotional guy, shows emotions all the time. To see him out there, just having fun and being passionate about the game, man, it's really exciting.”

Truesdell, a junior, barely played his first two seasons at Auburn registering just nine tackles all of last season. He’s started two of the first three games this season, posting a career-high with 2.0 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks against Kent State Saturday night.

“I would say as time moved on, I started getting better each year,” Truesdell said. “This year it was just, OK, you know this, you've got this, now this year was the put-it-all-together year.”

Truesdell was a late addition to Auburn’s 2017 class, joining the morning of Signing Day after receiving word that the Tigers had a spot for him. Truesdell picked up a number of top offers as a junior, but his stock faded after he came into his senior season overweigh and his production dropped.

He had a lot of work to do when he arrived in Auburn the summer of 2017.

“I've come a long way, especially if you ask anybody. Yeah, definitely, been a rough ride, but it's paying off in the end,” Truesdell said.

Truesdell credited AU defensive line coach Rodney Garner for pushing him to realize his potential, along with playing behind veterans such as Derrick Brown and Dontavius Russell the previous two seasons.

Brown is a a senior All-American while Russell is currently playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“I feel like Don helped groom me and showed me how to be a leader and show up for the team, and what you can do,” Truesdell said. “Basically, when he left, he was basically leaving me the torch to go on ahead and show what I'm capable of -- and what he knows I'm capable of, and everybody else.”