AUBURN | Nobody would have blamed Nick Coe if he chose to sit out spring practice.

The junior defensive lineman was just a couple of months removed from surgery to repair a dislocation and detached ligaments in his wrist, which occurred against Georgia Nov. 10.

But Coe had other plans. He participated throughout Auburn’s 15 practices including playing in the A-Day game. And his teammates certainly took note.

"He’s tough, man, and wants to get better,” linebacker K.J. Britt said. “I believe that he’s one of the guys that is going to have a breakout season because he wants to get better.

“It would be easy for him to sit out and not practice and just go through the motions, but he actually wants to come out here and learn and practice with us. That’s big.”

Coe, who is up to 291 pounds, didn’t just participate in spring, he worked at three different positions — defensive tackle, defensive end and Buck — while trying to improve his pass rushing moves.

“I like, situationally, to be able to do different things,” Coe said. “I like showing people what I can do, and not in just one position. I can play all around. It's really good for me to show other people what I'm about.”

Auburn’s coaches will definitely put that versatility to work this fall. Coe led the team with seven sacks last season and being able to move him around will make it more difficult for offenses to game-plan against him.

“He's a veteran guy now. He's very versatile, and that really helps us and it'll help him at the next level and all that,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “He's a guy that we have high expectations for to do a lot of different things, and I know Coach (Rodney) Garner has moved a lot of those guys around this spring to give them some experience and to help us with our depth with as far as the fall goes.”

And Coe will be doing it this fall without having to wear a bulky cast over his right wrist.

“I'll be able to help after all my stuff with the wrist and everything and be 100 percent. I feel good, I can still help right now, but I can help even more when I'm healthy,” Coe said.

Britt, for one, can’t wait to see what a bigger, better and healthier Coe can do this fall playing multiple positions up front.

“He’s a freak, man,” Britt said. “Ya’ll see how big he is and he can really run, really strong, really athletic and he’s just really good.”