Auburn | Auburn’s linebacker room has a wide range of experience.

On one hand, there is Owen Pappoe and Eugene Asante, both of whom are entering their senior seasons. On the other, there are guys like Cam Riley, Welsey Steiner and Desmond Tisdol who have only played sparingly thus far.

With Pappoe being the alpha of the group, the others are competing for starting jobs in camp.

Asante, a transfer from North Carolina, missed a few weeks due to personal reasons so he has had to play a bit of catch-up, but the talent is evident.

“He's got great speed,” said Head Coach Bryan Harsin. “I think he's done a really good job of getting himself back. but he's had to recover some of those days. He has to really focus in training camp, he's got to make sure that every lift that we do is intentional, and even through the season, he's just kind of playing a little bit of catch-up from that standpoint.

Riley has taken strides in becoming more vocal in addition to becoming more comfortable on the field.

He has also been productive in the weight room as Schmedding praised him, Coach Jeff Pitman and his staff for the weight he put on.

“If you look at Cam Riley from the time I walked in, until the time of now, you barely recognize him,” Schmedding said. “He had to put in that work as well and he's very athletic for a guy of his length.”

Steiner is a "very vocal player" according to Schmedding and he is someone that has impressed Pappoe.

"I think the future of the Auburn defense is going to be in great hands once he’s really that guy," Pappoe said about Steiner.

Competition will be big for this group, which also includes Tisdol, Joko Willis, Kameron Brown and a couple of true freshmen. It’s a competition that will become more intense once the pads are put on.

“That group is competing every single day,” Schmedding said. “We believe that the guys will rise to the top once that competition gets going.”