McCreary continuing to make 'great plays'
After making a strong impact for Auburn early on, cornerback Roger McCreary continued that with several big plays against Ole Miss, which earned him the defensive and special teams helmet stickers.
“The interception he had in the end zone was a huge play,” Malzahn said Sunday. “And then special teams, he also got the helmet sticker for special teams with the fake field goal, which I thought was a really big, you know, turning point, or one of the turning points in the game.”
Starting the season against Kentucky, McCreary started off his year with a bang.
The Mobile, Alabama, native had four tackles and an interception in the end zone that would’ve been a 109-yard pick six if Derrick Hall hadn’t been called for targeting
Pro Football Focus graded him out as allowing the second-lowest passer rating, a 2.8, for his performance against the Wildcats.
Against Ole Miss, McCreary had several huge plays for the Tigers.
On Ole Miss’ second drive, just as they looked primed to find the end zone, McCreary picked off Corral in the end zone.
Again with Ole Miss looking to put points on the board, the Rebels holder pitched it to kicker Luke Logan who tried to scramble for a first down. McCreary sniffed it out and stopped him before he could go anywhere.
“Travis Williams is really in charge of our field goal block team. He brought a block on the other side,” head coach Gus Malzahn said after the game. “They got in a really good stance like they were coming, so that's the reason they ran the play. And, of course, Roger made a great play.”
And finally with Ole Miss looking to potentially ice the game with a little over four minutes remaining, the Rebels put in speedster John Rhys Plumlee on second down trying to pick up some yardage.
McCreary read the quarterback sneak like a book and tackled him for a loss of five yards.
McCreary and the Auburn secondary currently rank second in the SEC in passing defense, allowing opposing quarterbacks to pass for just 220.4 yards per game.
The group, as a whole though, is still working to get healthier and improve.
“We’ve done a good job in the pass. Getting the -- [Marco] Domio was back, played some snaps and so that was good,” Malzahn said. “But I think our secondary, I think they’re growing. And they’re getting experience each week. Jaylin Simpson’ another guy, you know, played a lot of snaps. He’s starting to get healthier. So that’s a good thing.”
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