AUBURN | Enrolling at Auburn early and going through winter workouts and a first spring practice is a lot for a true freshman.

Going up against veteran players with three or four years of experience while trying to learn a new system with a fired-up assistant coach in your face — it’s a whole lot.

For Malik Blocton, he has the added pressure of having his older brother, Marcus Harris, right there watching and giving input during the practices and post-practice film sessions.

Blocton, however, doesn’t see it that way.

“Marcus does a really good job of not yelling at me or not talking to me crazy,” said Blocton. “Because he knows how I am. He knows how to push my buttons and get me to listen to him.

“When we’re on the field, he tells me little stuff. He doesn’t try to go in-depth. He tries to be as simple as possible and play fast and let me work.”

Harris, who totaled 97 tackles, 23.5 tackles-for-loss and 11 sacks, as a starting defensive tackle over the last three seasons, has remained in Auburn to workout and train for the 2024 NFL Draft.

While there, he’s helping his younger brother to learn the ropes of playing defensive line in the SEC.

“I try to coach him up and then after practice, I try to watch film, teach him how to watch film and breakdown film. He’s been doing really good so far,” said Harris.

Blocton is joined by Amaris Williams and T.J. Lindsey as true freshman defensive lineman that enrolled at Auburn in January. All three are performing well along with true freshman Edge Jamonta Waller.

It’s not a surprise who Blocton is already drawing comparisons to from Auburn defensive line coach Vontrell King-Williams.

“He’s a young Marcus,” said King-Williams. “You think about mentally, in the game, Marcus made a lot of plays. The reason why — and Marcus will be the first one to tell you, he wasn't extremely talented or the best or was blessed with the best tools — was that Marcus was a smart football player.

“I see some of those things in Malik. The great thing about Malik is that he's a bit longer. He's a little bit more athletic than what Marcus was. So, you get to see some of those things. Malik plays with his hands. He's been coached before, he comes from a great program. So I'm excited to see what he turns into.”

That process began when Blocton was able to participate in a few bowl practices in December. He’s made a lot of progress since and is on track to play this fall.

“It’s been good because I’ve been getting some really good competition and making some good plays,” said Blocton. “Coach Vontrell told me the other day that I’m making some veteran-level plays, but I’ve got to fix some mistakes in my game. Some little stuff that can like get to big things.”

Auburn will conclude spring drills this week with practices Tuesday and Thursday, and the A-Day game Saturday at 1 p.m. CT.