AUBURN — One word means more than anything to Derrick Brown these days: Kai.

Auburn's defensive tackle has been a father since Dec. 20 when Brown and his girlfriend welcomed 7-pound, 5-ounce Kai Asher Brown into this world. Kai consumed Brown's thoughts in the moments leading up to the blowout bowl victory over Purdue. Kai consumed Brown's thoughts as he worked his way through his NFL Draft decision. Kai consumes Brown's thoughts most moments of most days, including regular mentions Monday when discussing his decision to return to Auburn for his senior season.

Kai was certainly at the forefront of Brown's focus in late December when he — unknowingly for a few hours — received a string of text messages from fellow defensive linemen Nick Coe and Marlon Davidson. Davidson started a group chat late in the season that began with the message, per Coe: "So… you guys coming back?"

Coe had recently (and quietly) announced on Instagram his own plan to return. Coe wanted others to join him, so he messaged Davidson and Brown. Brown, tending to Kai for the night, saw several messages the next morning from Coe that all said the same thing:

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

Then Davidson, who hadn't made his own decision yet, chimed in wanting to hear from Brown first:

You’re ignoring us. Why are you ignoring us?

"And I really wasn’t ignoring them, but just in the mix of the whole day going on, and Kai wasn’t feeling good so he was fussy all day, and it was just one of those things where my attention is all the way over here and like — it’s just one of those things where you laugh at the end of the day," Brown said. "I texted them and I told them, 'I’m sorry. I’ve been busy all day.' And they’re just like, 'Mmhmm. Tell us right now. What are you going to do?'"

Brown still wasn't ready to make a final decision, but his thought process became clearer.

He had received a late-first to early-second NFL Draft grade. Sure, it could've been early-to-mid first, but it was good enough to make the move if that's the route he decided to go. The possibility of living out his dream as an NFL player could happen sooner rather than later.

But there was one key factor Brown couldn't ignore in his decision.

"I had 27 academic hours of my major left. It was like, come back and do it now, do it two semesters, or try to do it in the spring, and take the next 3-4 years to be able to accomplish that," Brown said. "I definitely thought about it a lot, but the main point of coming back was to go ahead and finish my degree."

Once Brown made his decision, the common feeling was that Davidson would return to round out the defensive line trio. But Davidson hadn't finalized anything yet. There was something about the magnitude of Brown's choice, however, that struck Davidson and Coe. Passing up a first-round draft grade to return to school? They weren't sure if they could've done it.

Even Coe, who already planned to stay, said he felt like Brown's decision set the tone for everyone else to do the same.

"We knew he was really going to make the decision for our whole entire group," Coe said.

The weight of Brown's decision and love for Auburn was recognized among offensive players weighing their own decisions, too.

"That was huge. Derrick is just a true Auburn man. I don't know if I could've done that if I could've been a first-round pick," offensive tackle Prince Tega Wanogho said. "But Derrick is a leader and loves Auburn. He sets an example."

Brown's last order of NFL Draft decision business: Convince Davidson, his close friend and roommate, to make the same choice.

Davidson pointed to a few reasons why he made the final decision he made. He wanted to come back for a more productive season to improve what he called his "Auburn legacy." He felt another year with better statistical production could improve his late-second to early-third draft grade toward first-round status. He wanted to win championships he felt they were so close to winning earlier in his career.

But Brown's decision? That helped make it a no-brainer for Davidson who announced a day later that the full draft-eligible defensive line would be back for one more.

"I know a D-line room, we expect domination. We get after people's butts, and we're going to continue to get after people's butts with the Big 3 coming back," Davidson said. "We came back to party. I don't know about everybody else, but we came back to party. It's going to be a fun year. ... This year is going to be a party. It really is. And I just can't wait for y'all to see it."