AUBURN | The cornerback room will be bursting with talent this fall.

Auburn returns its top three cornerbacks from last season in Roger McCreary, Nehemiah Pritchett, added one of the top overall transfers in West Virginia cornerback Dreshun Miller and signed junior college cornerback Ro Torrence.

True freshman A.D. Diamond could also figure into the mix as could walk-on Trey Elston, who was A-Day Defensive MVP this spring.

“We’ve spent a lot of time this summer -- myself and Coach (Derek) Mason -- just talking about the back end, studying things, how to utilize certain guys within the scheme,” said Auburn cornerbacks coach Zac Etheridge. “The beauty about it is that we have depth -- that was one of the things we wanted to make sure we have depth where we’re going to be able to play guys and not just be in a situation where you don’t have guys who give yourself a chance to win.

“We’ve got a plan for those guys; at the end of the day, the best man wins the job in terms of the competition in the room, and that’s what we’re looking for is to make sure we’ve got iron sharpens iron.”

The competition for the starting positions at cornerback is sure to be intense during preseason practice. The nickel position is also up for grabs and considering the offenses that the Tigers will face in the SEC this season, Etheridge and Mason may want four cornerbacks on the field together at times.

Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss all like to feature three or four wideouts in their attacks, many of which are future NFL players.

“It gives you a lot of flexibility scheme-wise,” said Etheridge of defending spread offenses. “That’s important because a lot of teams now have gone to four-wide spreads, not traditional where you have two backs. Guys are starting to spread it out, so you want to have guys that you can take a Roger McCreary and move him inside and play the best receiver if it’s a slot receiver. You want to have guys on the outside that have length and can get a taller receiver.

“So we have a variety of different guys, but I think it’s important that we’re able to put more DBs on the field because the game has went that way, and be able to play those guys so they can be successful -- not only outside at corner but having some guys like Roger, Nehemiah, put them in the slot and be able to get those elite, shifty receivers.”