AUBURN | Deshaun Davis, Darrell Williams and Montavious Atkinson played a lot of football for Auburn over the previous few seasons.

So it’s not surprising when all three seniors and their 73 combined career starts at linebacker wrapped up their eligibility last season, that there would be questions and concerns about their replacements.

Not anymore.

Led by junior K.J. Britt, Auburn’s linebackers have been a strength of one of the nation’s best defenses and instrumental in the Tigers 4-0 start.

“Like I told you after spring and fall camp, I didn’t think we were going to have too much, if any, of a letdown and so far we haven’t,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “Those guys are playing downhill, they’re playing with great physicality, they’re tackling well. Some teams have tried to matchup their running backs on them in pass situations but I think they’ve played fantastic so far.”

Britt is second on the team with 21 tackles and also has 3.5 tackles-for-loss, 0.5 sacks and one quarterback hurry. He’s become an enforcer at middle linebacker, delivering big hits on opposing running backs that test Auburn between the tackles.

“He's relentless. He's always relentless. Physical,” said senior cornerback Javaris Davis. “That's just him. And hard-nosed. And I feel like that's just our whole team mindset, and KJ's just a prime example of that.”

Starting next to Britt the first four games has been true freshman Owen Pappoe. Junior Chandler Wooten and sophomore Zakoby McClain are part of a four-man rotation that play the majority of the snaps.

The group along with Auburn’s highly rated and highly productive front four have held opponents to just 89.5 rushing yards per game, which ranks second in the SEC.

“You just look at the guys up front, man. They do a good job,” Britt said. “They just make everything bounce back, no direct runs. It's fun to play behind them guys.

“I think we've got a pretty good thing going against the run — and in the SEC, you've got to stop the run to win. Everybody knows that. It's not even a secret. What we're doing right now, we have to just build on it and do it. Just keep doing it.”

And it’s Britt, who hasn’t shied away from being a leader in his first season as a starter, who is becoming the heart and soul of that hard-hitting front six.

“He's very important,” Davis said. “He's like a leader, the captain of the linebackers, so he keeps everybody on board. And we just feed off him, feed off one another and play for one another.”

No. 7 Auburn returns to action Saturday against Mississippi State. Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN.