Defense shines on A-Day
While the offense had some big plays and showcased what they could do, it was Auburn’s defense that looked the strongest on Saturday.
The Team Auburn defense was the first-team defense, took on Team Tigers, which was the second-team offense.
Overall, Team Tigers was held to 122 yards. At halftime, Team Auburn has only given up 37 yards.
“I thought the blue defense played well,” head coach Bryan Harsin said. “Our second offense did not move the ball very well or very consistently. I think that’s because the defense had been playing really around the football fast.”
Similar to the 2020 season, it was linebacker Zakoby McClain who led the way for Team Auburn.
Walk-on Trey Elston had a game-high six tackles, while McClain led Team Auburn with five tackles along with a TFL and a pass breakup.
“We did real good. Everyone did their job,” McClain said. “Hard-nosed football, making plays and getting stops. There was a lot of communication and a lot of improvement.”
McClain’s counterpart Owen Pappoe, who was second in tackles for the team during 2020, echoed a similar sentiment.
“Yeah, it's been a really productive spring for us, man,” Pappoe said. “I think everybody came out and did their best today. The future's going to be bright for us. Everybody did their job. There wasn't too many busts out there. So, proud of what we did today.”
The defense returned most of its starters from 2020, but has been tasked with learning the new defense brought in by Derek Mason.
Some of his new schemes were shown off on Saturday, including utilizing a 3-4 front.
The starting defensive line consisted of Derick Hall at EDGE and Caleb Johnson at defensive end, with Colby Wooden, Marquis Burks and Tyrone Truesdell on the inside.
“The defense did a good job today,” safety Smoke Monday said. “The d-line looked really good. The linebackers look good all the time so that’s nothing new. I feel like we’ve got a lot of things that we can work on but at the end of the day I feel like we had a good day and a really good spring. We didn’t get spring last year but it’s really going to help a lot of guys out going into the fall.”
After severe weather canceled a practice earlier in the spring, Auburn will use its 15th and final practice on Monday.
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