AUBURN | Nehemiah Pritchett had a lot of good reasons to return for his senior season at Auburn.

And one of his biggest goals for this fall has nothing to do with himself or his play on the field.

“It’s a great opportunity for me to try to coach and give the young guys the best knowledge that I can, seeing the stuff that I have seen and handing it over to them,” said Pritchett. “I’m trying to coach them even when Coach E (Zac Etheridge) is not around, just giving them the game. I’m trying to help them as much as I can.”

The Tigers have a pretty veteran group of cornerbacks including Pritchett, junior Jaylin Simpson and junior D.J. James, an Oregon transfer.

But they also have a couple of freshmen expected to play right away in J.D. Rhym and Austin Ausberry, along with junior college transfer Keionte Scott.

Rhym arrived in January, Ausberry at the end of May and Scott just a couple of days before the start of camp.

“Rhym has been practicing in the first practice and has been running with the ones,” said Pritchett. “Him just being in the film room and soaking everything up, it’s helping everybody. You can tell he wants to play. He’s in the playbook. Another person, Austin Ausberry, has been working.

“I didn’t get a chance to see the second practice yesterday, but Keionte Scott just got here a couple of days ago and he’s already picking it up pretty quick. Yesterday he got an interception, which I think is incredible for this defense that he can come in and try to learn things as fast as he can so he can help the defense out as well.”

Along with being a leader and mentor, Pritchett has been working to improve every facet of his game. He enters his senior season with 56 career tackles along with 17 pass breakups and two interceptions in 30 games.

He also returned 10 kickoffs for 313 yards last season.

“It’s just a blessing to be here, to be honest,” he said. “I guess playing my press technique, my off technique, all of it. I can still improve on it. I’m just working at this point.

"Improve on everything for the scouts and for the things they don’t see, just try to put my best stuff on tape for my senior season.”

After taking off Monday, Auburn returns to practice Tuesday morning. The Tigers open the season against Mercer Sept. 3 at Jordan-Hare Stadium.